BQ West Midlands Issue 3

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ISSUE THREE: AUTUMN 2013

WHEELS OF FORTUNE From back streets to a booming market LIVE DEBATE Creating a future for our talented youth CARRYING ON REGARDLESS Property man’s long game reaps rewards SHINING EXAMPLE Silver linings amid the gloom ISSUE THREE: AUTUMN 2013: WEST MIDLANDS EDITION

SUPRA HERO The rapid rise of a true pioneer

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

WEST MIDLANDS EDITION

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BUSINESS QUARTER: AUTUMN 2013: issue THREE We’ve interviewed plenty of big names for this edition of BQ, providing you with the best insight on business and industry across the West Midlands.

As the first signs of ‘recovery’ start to build momentum, top academic David Bailey shares his detailed view on the economy. Are the beginnings of an upturn really there? And what needs to be done next by the Government and business leaders to keep things moving?

Bailey explains all, and in a way that can be clearly understood.

Andy Street, the managing director of John Lewis and chairman of Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, tells us his positive views on what many others see as a disappointingly small amount of devolved spending planned by the Government. He also reveals his secret life as an open-topped bus tour guide! Meanwhile, property developer and entrepreneur Paul Bassi explains why his businesses are coming out on top despite five years of recession.

And if you enjoy peeking into the future, you’ll be interested to see that Birmingham Airport has now published its vision for a multi-billion pound expansion that could include a second runway. You can find out more about these plans in ‘The Big Issues’ section, and then read about leading businessman John James’ views on how they might be achieved in his ‘As I see it’ article.

We’ve also interviewed several entrepreneurs to show how a variety of SME businesses are thriving across different sectors in the region.

Two of them are men, two are women, two are relatively young, one is in her 50s and one is of retirement age – which just goes to show that anyone can make a success

of their own business.

Ginny Murphy describes how facing scruffy mechanics in back street garages prompted her to launch The Wheel Specialists in 2006 – now a thriving franchise business which will soon have 28 outlets across the UK. David Ogden explains how he persuaded a disenchanted American company to grant him a UK franchise by first chasing down all their European debtors. He’s since sold £56m of their ‘key safe’ product.

Julie Summerell proves that it’s never too late to start a business: she was in her early 50s when she launched TR Fleet, a fleet management company, and has tripled turnover and profit in the first two years. And we talk to silver-maker Martin McDonagh about how a tough conversation down at the Austin car factory changed his life in the mid-1960s. He ended up launching Heritage Silverware in an 8ft-by-8ft room back in 1976 – and now employs 25 staff, creating silver, crockery and glassware for Premiership football clubs, top restaurants and the world’s best hotels.

Finally, read about BQ’s Live Debate, which saw the region’s top business leaders and experts discussing how to tackle the shortage of apprentices and the resulting skills gap. This debate makes for a fascinating read – especially the unanimous decision of all 14 guests to take direct action to meet the challenge head-on in 2014.

Once you’ve had a read, please feel welcome to send me your feedback and ideas at steve. dysonmedia@gmail.com Steve Dyson Editor, BQ West Midlands

CONTACTS room501 ltd Christopher March Managing Director e: chris@room501.co.uk Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk EditorIAL Steve Dyson Editor e: steve.dysonmedia@gmail.com Design & production room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk Photography KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk Chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotography.com advertising Alan Dickinson Project Manager e: alan@room501.co.uk t: 07917 733 047 Mike Moloney Media Sales Consultant e: mmmikemoloney@aol.com t: 07801 849367

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CONTE BUSINESS QUARTER: AUTUMN 13 46 BQ live debate

FORWARD THINKING

Stopping the talent drain and creating opportunities for young people

56 getting results fast

Features 26 supra hero’s rise The key safe pioneer who created a lucrative new market from scratch

34 forward thinking Business academic David Bailey tackles the region’s burning issues head on

42 wheels of fortune How a back street trade became a booming West Midlands business

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

Alastair MacColl on what’s driving the rapid emergence of the BE Group

64 two way street John Lewis MD and LEP chief Andy Street on his double life in business

76 carrying on regardless Far-sighted strategy in the depths of recession pays off for Paul Bassi

88 gaining ground The entrepreneur who started her business relatively late but is now flying

92 shining example How a harsh truth was the catalyst for a now thriving family business

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34 WHEELS OF FORTUNE

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TENTS WEST MIDLANDS EDITION

38 commercial property

Reporting on major deals and developments happening here

71 wine Business leader takes on BQ’s Indian wine challenge with relish

Regulars

72 motoring A long time admirer of BMW’s 6 series samples what she’s been missing out on

GETTING RESULTS FAST

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80 equipment 08 the big issues Birmingham Airport’s vision for a second runway comes into focus

12 news Who’s doing what, where and when here in the West Midlands

The world is watching as colours and nostalgia dominate timepiece trends

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

96 a bit of chat With BQ’s backroom boy Bill Borde

24 as i see it Why MPs and MEPs must pull together for the good of the regional economy

CARRYING ON REGARDLESS

98 events Business-boosting events for your diary

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76 BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

THE BIG ISSUES

AUTUMN 13

>> A second runway in Birmingham’s £7bn expansion plan Birmingham Airport’s vision for a second runway has been backed by more than 150 companies and trade organisations across the West Midlands, as Steve Dyson reports Birmingham’s planned second runway is part of £7bn expansion plans that have been submitted to the government’s Airports Commission, which is considering how best to provide long-term aviation capacity in the UK. Birmingham Airport argues that the UK economy should support at least four major ‘national’ airports – in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland – each helping to drive that region’s economic growth strategy.

Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport, said: “Our proposals show Birmingham Airport can sit at the heart of this network, serving a valuable catchment area and relieving pressure on congested airports in the South East.

“We have the potential to grow to eventually serve 70 million passengers – the equivalent of the size of Heathrow today – whilst reducing the number of people currently affected by night noise.

“Our submission has widespread support from LEPs, local councils and local businesses because people recognise that we need direct international connectivity to encourage inward investment, support trade and grow local economies.”

Rob Bhol, chief executive of DBS Law, said: “This would be a major boost for the West Midlands economy providing thousands of

jobs in construction and in service industries, and creating lots of new business opportunities in the future.”

William Wang, managing director of MG Motor UK, said: “The UK manufacturing

The UK manufacturing base has a lack of direct air links with crucial long-haul markets like China

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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base has a lack of direct air links with crucial long-haul markets like China.

“A Birmingham to Shanghai route alone would enable hundreds of business flights a year to operate, boosting the growth of British manufacturing and encouraging inward investment.”

The Airports Commission’s interim recommendations are due by the end of 2013, with a full report coming after the 2015 General Election.

Visit www.balancedaviationdebate.com for more details. * For more on Birmingham Airport’s plans, turn to ‘As I see it’ on page 24

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THE BIG ISSUES

AUTUMN 13

>> A sop story for region’s firms In the last BQ, John Duckers predicted that devolved government funding demanded by Lord Heseltine would be derisory. He was right, as he reminds us I am tempted to say: “I told you so.” So I will.

I told you so. The Heseltine single pot fund has indeed gone to pot, something I revealed many months ago when the great and the good of ‘Greater’ Birmingham were still pinning all their hopes on it.

At best, a sop was all we would get from the Chancellor and the Treasury, and a sop is what we got. A mere £2bn a year starting in 2015/16 and, if the Tories get thrown out at the next election, it may never happen at all.

This is against the £50bn (£70bn if you add European funds) which Heseltine asked for.

If you ‘cheat’ and count pledged European and transport funds you arrive at £20bn available to LEPs up to 2020 – £2bn a year from 2015, plus £5bn for transport and £5.3bn European cash.

But, remember, there’s always been European money and transport spending, and the £2bn is also not new. It’s existing money which the Treasury is magnanimously distributing around the country’s Local Enterprise Partnerships, about £50m or so per LEP, so decision-making can be done locally.

Except that isn’t true either – LEPs will have to bid for it with central government continuing to control the purse strings. And it’s money which would have otherwise been spent by Government departments on other things like, for the sake of argument, long-term unemployment. So if LEPs decide instead to put this into infrastructure, then tough luck to the long-term unemployed!

For Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP (GBSLEP), that geographical absurdity, this whole affair is a huge setback and humiliation.

Lots of vision statements, but no real idea how to get any of it to fruition. Busy executives, with little time to devote to what is effectively a sideline for them.

Well-intentioned, trying to do their civic

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

duty – but hopelessly out on a limb.

Privately, an increasing number of Birmingham’s business community will admit we were better off with axed regional development agency Advantage West Midlands (AWM). There may have been question marks over its operating costs, delays and bureaucracy but AWM at least employed staff who knew what they were doing, and generally delivered on its promises.

Two of its great successes are about to come to fruition – the £600m redeveloped New Street Station and the i54 regeneration site where JLR is building its new engine plant.

Greater Birmingham needs to tear up its blue prints (the so-called ‘Strategy for Growth’) and instead make sure it’s backing success stories like JLR and getting behind other manufacturers and exporters.

If LEPs decide instead to put this into infrastructure, then tough luck to the long-term unemployed

* Read more from John Duckers at www.duckersanddiving.co.uk * Find out what GBSLEP leader Andy Street thinks about the £2bn single pot in Business Lunch, page 64

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From left: Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council, welcomes Rohit Nandan, chairman of Air India, along with Paul Kehoe, chief executive of Birmingham Airport

>> New link to a soaring market Business leaders have welcomed Air India’s new direct link to Birmingham Airport on the Boeing 787-8 ‘Dreamliner’ aircraft.

The four-times-a-week service from Delhi and Amritsar started in August.

Neil Rami, chief executive of Marketing Birmingham, said: “The West Midlands secures more inward investment from India than anywhere outside London, supporting 24,000 local jobs in the past decade. This route will enable us to maximise the potential of this growing market.

“By 2020, India’s middle class will take half a million tourist trips into Britain each year. The West Midlands – already more popular with Indian tourists than any UK region outside the Southeast – is now primed to welcome this influx of visitors.”

AUTUMN 13

CAse sTUdy

The heart of business growth In what remains a challenging market for professional firms, what are the factors for success? Dave Munton, regional managing partner at Grant Thornton in Birmingham, throws light on his own firm’s fortunes.

Spend a few moments talking with Dave Munton and there’s no mistaking that he’s in a very good mood. His positive humour is infectious as he reflects on a year in which the business moved to new flagship offices, increased headcount by almost a third and won some “very exciting” new clients. Talented people are the heart of every successful business and Munton explains that he’s made several commercially-savvy lateral hires during the year, plus attracted two senior specialists to the city.

“We pulled off a major coup when the firm’s head of corporate finance Geoff Davies arrived to lead our regional advisory business. There are signs that the market’s coming back, but it’s changed.

Companies are facing different challenges and the lines between traditional lead advisory, due diligence and restructuring are blurred. Advisers need to supply a complete package so that dynamic companies can unlock their potential for growth.

“Neil Barrell is a true manufacturing man and although we’ve always had a strong core of manufacturers for whom we’ve provided audit and tax services, we saw an opportunity to provide even more value by offering strategic and operational management advice. This, combined with our work with Growth Accelerator and the Manufacturing Advisory Service, are adding real value for clients and there will be more to come.”

The people theme continues when Munton highlights that 70 individuals from the Audit Commission joined in November after the firm won the contract to supply audit services to local authorities and the NHS across the region.

“That went incredibly smoothly,” says Munton.

“Before the team started we introduced them to the firm and connected them with buddies so that their landing would be as soft as possible. They

Dave Munton, Regional Managing Partner, Grant Thornton have all shown a real eagerness to get involved with the business and I see plenty of opportunities ahead.”

Growth is another recurring theme and Munton believes that the investment the office has made in tax is paying off.

“We’ve always been strong in private client and entrepreneurial tax and that’s growing, but we’ve boosted the wider tax team by investing in specialists in corporate tax, employee benefits, VAT, international and ex-pat tax.”

For many regional companies, the global scene is fundamental to growth and they therefore need a coordinated and experienced global service, whether on international tax regimes, supply chain management or operating in new markets.

Munton says: “I’ve recently travelled to China, Russia, the USA and Australia to assist clients to develop their global footprint and this is where our international network comes into its own.”

Two factors which Munton feels sets Grant

Advisers need to supply a complete package so that dynamic regional companies can unlock their potential for growth

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Thornton apart from its competition in the audit arena is the appetite at all levels to get under the skin of the business and the ability of the teams to generate strong trusted relationships with clients.

“We look to provide far more than an audit compliance service, engaging at all levels to genuinely add value to our clients’ thinking and truly striving to become the trusted advisor.”

So if the past year has been a good one, how does Munton see the year ahead? “I’m very excited by it. Birmingham is a great place to be and everyone here wants to be involved in developing new opportunities, from graduates to newly qualifieds to managers – and we all share in the success when it comes.

“Don’t misunderstand me. It’s not been easy.

There are plenty of challenges remaining and we’ve worked incredibly hard over the last few years to retain and attract talent to the business.

It’s really all about people when you’re in a business like ours.” www.grant-thornton.co.uk david.munton@uk.gt.com

BUSINESS QUARTER |AUTUMN 13

NEWS

AUTUMN 13

Bentley boost gets engines revving, overseas cash influx flowing faster, masters masterstroke from skills body, funding in a flash, chance to make your mark, and Turkish delight for airline >> Engines revved Bentley’s decision to create 1,000 jobs by building its first ever 4x4 vehicle in the UK has been welcomed by the West Midlands automotive sector. The new model will create 400 jobs as part of an £800m investment in the Crewe plant, with another 600 jobs in the supply chain. Rachel Eade, supply chain specialist at the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), said: “With up to 80 component manufacturers from the West Midlands already supplying the luxury marquee, there will no doubt be opportunities for these firms to be involved in the new model.” Luxury car maker Bentley, now owned

by Germany’s Volkswagen Group, said its new 185mph 4x4 would go on sale from 2016. It’s likely to be priced at the top end of the SUV market, with a price of around £150,000.

Volkswagen’s chairman Martin Winterkorn said the plans underlined the group’s commitment to manufacturing in the UK.

>> In the box seat Repose, the Black Country specialist seating manufacturer, has created several jobs after a 21% annual sales increase. The growing demand for specialist furniture in the healthcare and home markets has led to the appointment of two new sales consultants, plus several new jobs at its new factory in Cradley Heath.

Repose, which plans a total annual turnover of £5m to be achieved by 2016, puts its success down to increased sales to the NHS, care homes and charities.

Lisa Wardley, managing director, said: “We are proud to be growing our business here.”

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

From left, Tony Turner and Will Adams, of Integrity

>> Coming of age for fast-growing group Integrity Security Group has celebrated its fifth anniversary by creating up to 60 jobs, after achieving 100% year-on-year growth.

The Solihull-based company has won major contracts with several manufacturers, distributors and regeneration projects across the UK, has invested £100k on new vehicles, a new operations centre and a new website.

Managing director Tony Turner said Integrity had also increased its head office to 3,000 sq ft, supported by a GBSLEP BDP grant.

He said: “We’ve added over £1m to turnover this year and are in the closing stages for other significant contracts. We already looking at how we can double the size of turnover again by this time next year, with the potential to create another 70 jobs.”

>> Overseas cash influx Foreign investment in the West Midlands has increased by more than a third in the last year – and is three times as high as the UK average. The region recorded a 36% increase in foreign investment projects from 76 in 201112 to 104 in 2012-13. Meanwhile, the GBSLEP area saw an 88% year-on-year rise with 49 projects creating more than 2,000 new jobs.

Neil Rami, chief executive of Marketing Birmingham, said: “While foreign investment

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into Europe fell by more than 40%, Greater Birmingham has bucked the trend with job and project numbers rising significantly. Our strategy to be focused on promoting the area’s offer to investors in the sectors and international markets where we have existing and growing strengths, is clearly delivering.”

GBSLEP chair Andy Street said: “There is a global appetite for what Greater Birmingham has to offer. Investors understand our potential.”

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NEWS

AUTUMN 13

>> Fund hits a million A business growth programme helping hundreds of businesses across the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) area has passed the £1m mark in grants and match-funding.

The Business Development Programme (BDP) – managed by Birmingham City Council’s Business Development and Innovation Team – will help create or safeguard more than 172 jobs in 35 businesses.

The BDP provides match grant funding of up to £15k for established and eligible SMEs who have plans to expand and create jobs.

Funded through the European Regional Development Fund, BDP applications are open until June 2015.

Councillor Tahir Ali, the council’s cabinet member for Development Jobs and Skills, said: “Businesses tell us that access to finance is a key issue, and we are directly helping them address that.”

>> Help at hand A new scheme has been launched to help Midland entrepreneurs.

Enterprise for Success covers Cannock Chase, East Stafford, Lichfield and Tamworth and is funded by the four District Councils and the European Regional Development Fund. The service is run by Blue Orchid, one of the UK’s leading business start-up support specialists, through a team of dedicated business advisors. It’s designed for anyone considering self-employment or starting a small business and for new young businesses that are less than three years old. Heather Hayes, managing director at Blue Orchid, said: “We can work at your side to get you up and running and then give you the advice and support you need to make your new venture a success.” For more info visit www.blueorchid.co.uk.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

Sarah Sillars, Semta’s chief executive

>> Masters masterstroke A unique graduate programme devised

by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has been adapted to help drive higher level skills across the wider engineering and advanced manufacturing sector.

Skills body Semta is using JLR’s Advanced Skills Accreditation Scheme (ASAS) to give employees across the whole advanced manufacturing and engineering (AME) sector the chance to study to Masters level without needing the usual academic qualifications. Semta’s chief executive Sarah Sillars said: “The programme focuses on specific, key technologies identified as critical for driving growth in UK AME supply chain companies. It provides the best courses from the best sources, the first scheme of its type offering flexible access to individual Masters level modules through a network of leading universities.

ASAS was largely based on JLR’s Technical Accrediation Scheme. After the success of the programme in its own organisation, JLR approached Semta to help extend the scheme to automotive supply chain companies and other hi-tech industries. In partnership with Semta, and with financial assistance from the Government-supported Growth and Innovation Fund, ASAS is now being made available to firms of all sizes across the West Midlands, with a plan to extend it UK-wide in the future.

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>> People’s champion Birmingham-based DBS Law has received the prestigious Customer Service Excellence Standard in recognition of the firm’s continuous improvement in service and reliability.

The CSE award is only presented after a rigorous inspection of an organisation’s public-facing processes, and DBS Law is one of the first private sector organisations to receive it.

Chief executive Rob Bhol said: “This is a very proud day for all of us at DBS Law to have our customer service recognised in such a high profile way.”

Meanwhile, DBS Law has acquired Hearne & Co, which has specialised in conveyancing, wills and probate at its Poplar Road office in Bearwood for more than 30 years.

>> Covpress changes hands A Chinese-led partnership has bought West Midlands pressings supplier Covpress in a £30m deal that supports 440 existing jobs and will hopefully lead to more.

Chinese car parts giant Shandong Yongtai has joined up in a 70:30 deal with Shropshire tyre specialists TIA Treadsetters to buy Covpress, of Canley, Coventry, which had £67m sales last year to customers including JLR, GM, Nissan and Renault. Mike Gillett, managing director of Covpress, said: “This Chinese investment will enable the firm to meet its ambition of being a leading global supplier in partnership with its ambitious new owners”.

You Xiaoming, general manager of Shandong Yongtai, with current annual sales of £2.7bn, said: “The acquisition of Covpress is an important move for our plans to grow through increasing our profile and penetration into European and other world markets. We are very optimistic about the future of the business.”

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NEWS

AUTUMN 13

>> Funding in a flash Learning Labs Ltd, based on the Innovation Birmingham Campus in Aston, has secured £300k of funding for its FlashSticks product – using 3M’s post-it notes to aid foreign language learning.

The product sees post-it notes printed and colour-coded with a foreign word, translation, visual icon and phonetic to help with pronunciation. They are supported with an app so users can ‘wave’ their smartphone or tablet over the product to listen to the pronunciation.

Amazon, 500 W H Smith stores and other leading high street retailers have already pre-ordered 45,000 packs of FlashSticks.

The private equity finance was provided by Midven, Minerva and Finance Birmingham.

From left, Veejay Lingiah, of Learning Labs, Duncan Kerr, of Midven, and Richard Allen, of Learning Labs.

>> Make your mark

>> Green energy surge

>> Turkish delight

SMEs can learn how to stand out in print, on TV, radio and online at a unique event involving BQ editor Steve Dyson this autumn.

The presentation of top media and PR tips takes place at 6pm on Wednesday 2nd October at Bournville College’s Conference & Events Centre.

Dyson, a former industrial correspondent and editor of the Birmingham Mail, will explain how the media has changed in the last ten years and why this can help SMEs looking for publicity.

Jana Smidkova, marketing manager at Bournville College, said: “SMEs often tell us their PR activities may be suffering due to lack of experience. So we are delighted to have Steve sharing his vast expertise with business professionals.”

Tickets for the ‘How you can get on the changing media map’ event are £10 per person, including wine and canapés. More details at www.bournville.ac.uk/steve-dyson.

Book via Stephanie Jones on 0121 477 1384 or stephanie.jones@bournville.ac.uk

West Midlands renewable energy company Eco2Solar has won new contracts with Mansell Construction to install solar panels on 101 new homes across the region.

Kidderminster-based Eco2Solar will work on new homes at the Edgbaston Square development, Marlfields in Redditch and Eastern Gateway in West Bromwich.

Turkish Airlines, which has ten flights a week to Istanbul from Birmingham Airport, has scored a hat-trick of awards. The airline was named Best Airline in Europe for the third year running in the 2013 Skytrax World Airline Awards, and also won Best Airline in Southern Europe and Best Business Class Catering.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

>> Start-ups given chance to hit the ground running Four start-up technology firms have each received launch funding worth £10,000 at the Innovation Birmingham Campus, Aston. CrowdSticks is an online shopping product that rewards customers; Meducation is an education social network connecting the medical community; My Campus Ride provides carpool and ride-sharing to university students through a smartphone app; and Viaruly creates targeted mass audiences for branded videos. The companies will now start a six-month mentoring programme, including free travel tickets, telephone, internet, office and meeting space. For more details go to www.innovationbham.com

ONLINE: Read the latest news and views from the West Midlands business community every day by visiting our website: www.bq-magazine.co.uk

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www.dbslaw.co.uk

NEWS

AUTUMN 13

>> Fertile ground for funders A new ‘Business Catalyst’ programme has opened discounted office space for new investors in Birmingham.

Run by Business Birmingham, the 800 sq ft space in the Custard Factory in Digbeth will help attract investors as part of a wider support programme that also includes recruitment services; PR support; and legal, banking and accountancy advice.

Firms supporting the initiative by providing their products and services include: Auctus Management Group; Birmingham Research Park; Bridgestreet; Bruntwood; Custard Factory; Deloitte; DLA Piper; Grad Central; Hays; Innovation Birmingham Campus; KPMG; Lloyds TSB; PwC; Royal Bank of Scotland; RSM

Tenon; Squire Sanders; Winning Pitch; and Winning Moves.

Investors are also offered a six-month free commercial partner membership of Marketing Birmingham, which operates Business Birmingham.

Chris Loughran, senior partner at Deloitte in the Midlands – who sits on the board of Marketing Birmingham and chairs its inward investment committee – said: “By offering tangible incentives that will help investing businesses to locate and grow quickly, I am confident that Business Birmingham’s programme will make the city an even more attractive choice.”

For more details, visit www.business birmingham.com/businesscatalyst

From left, Elisabeth Lewis-Jones, Glen Smith, Lisa Gutcher, Katrina Bray and Jason MacKenzie

>> Award wins come thick and fast for Liquid There were double celebrations at Bromsgrove-based communications consultancy Liquid earlier this summer. Liquid won five Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) DARE Awards – more than any other business or organisation in the country. It was also ranked for the first time as a national ‘Top 150’ PR consultancy and one of the ‘Top 40 outside London’ by the authoritative PRWeek annual league table.

Liquid CEO Elisabeth Lewis-Jones said: “It is fantastic to be recognised at these prestigious awards and this definitive national league table, which has come about as a result of our 35% year-onyear growth.”

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David Nuttall from MAS, with Ra’alloy’s Graham Corfield

>> Ramping up growth A Shropshire manufacturer, whose first order was to supply its products for Middle Eastern VIPs, is setting its sights on changing the way people board aeroplanes all over the world.

Formed in 2009, Ra’alloy of Telford has seen major interest from airlines, airports and ground handling companies for its ‘Aviramp’ boarding ramps that provide easy access for all passengers, wheelchair users and people with reduced mobility. Orders have already been won with Qantas, Qatar Airways, Swissport and Dallas Fortworth Airport, with five new people already taken on to cope with the increase in work.

Backed by support from the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), the company has also developed three different boarding ramps – ‘lite’, ‘regional’ and ‘continental’ – to ensure all international requirements are met. Managing director Graham Corfield said: “People with reduced mobility can disembark with dignity and, on average, general passenger flow times are 30% quicker meaning less delays and possible cancellation of flights. We’ve done about £300,000 worth or orders, but I’d expect this to triple over the next twelve months when you look at what we have in the pipeline.” Ra’alloy employs 16 people and is on course to turnover £1.1m this year.

www.dbslaw.co.uk

“The UK’s manufacturing base is not near Heathrow.

William Wang, Managing Director of MG Motor UK.

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NEWS

AUTUMN 13

>> Giving something back Cannon Hill Park in 26 minutes.

And colleague Kathryn Lowis, from CPBigwood’s Henley-in-Arden office, raised nearly £900 for Help for Heroes after taking part in a cycle ride from Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, on a three-and-a-half day journey to London.

Prince Charles meets charity chief executive Mike Hammond.

Prince Charles has opened a £4.2m ‘home from home’ for families of military patients being cared for at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

The 18-bedroom Fisher House offers free accommodation enabling patients and their families to spend time together away from the hospital ward. It was funded by a partnership between Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) Charity, Help for Heroes and American charity Fisher House Foundation.

In the same week in June, more than 450 guests of West Midlands businesses helped to raise £56,000 towards Fisher House at a glitzy ball held at the Metropole Hotel, near Birmingham’s NEC. Mike Hammond, chief executive of QEHB Charity, said: “We are so grateful to everyone who attended the ball, made a donation and helped make the evening the success it was.”

A team from property agents CPBigwood raised £500 for Cancer Research in Birmingham’s Race for Life event. Louise Kean, Sadduf Ghaffar, Belinda Beasmore, Michelle Cox, Diana Van Aperen and Charlotte Ford from the Birmingham office took part, with Louise leading the way by running the 5km around Birmingham’s

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(LtoR)Tim Andrews, Dennis Amiss and Norman Gascoigne.

Cricket legend Dennis Amiss and Warwickshire’s club chairman Norman Gascoigne went for a spin to help raise £100k for the Help Harry Help Others charity.

Dennis and Norman jumped on an exercise bike and pedalled a mile each as part of the 7-in-Seven Big Bike challenge. Organised

by Tim Andrews of Hollywood Monster, the challenge not only aims to raise money but also to inspire 7,000 people to collectively ride 77,777 miles (equivalent to three times round the world) by recording the miles they’ve pedalled at www.7inseven.co.uk.

The West Midlands office of national audit, tax and advisory firm Crowe Clark Whitehill has chosen the Teenage Cancer Trust as their charity for 2013-4.

The choice by staff at the Oldbury office continues the firm’s link to the medical world – in 2012-13 it raised £7,586 for the Queen

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Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity.

Support for the Teenage Cancer Trust began at the beginning of July when audit manager Chris Mould completed the Three Peaks Challenge – a walk up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in the space of 24 hours.

Two Birmingham businessmen put pedal power to the ‘Test’ with cricket legends Mike Gatting and Alan Lamb. Mark Northover, senior investment director, and Keith Scott, business development director, from the Birmingham office of Investec Wealth & Investment, got on their bikes for charity, arriving in time to mark England’s glorious victory over Australia at Lords.

They were part of Investec Wealth & Investment’s Ashes 2013 Cycle Challenge.

More than 70 cyclists, including staff and their guests, took part in the ride which covered all five Ashes Test grounds. They hope to raise as much as £250,000, benefiting the Marie Curie Hospice, Solihull, Macmillan Cancer Support and The Lady Taverners.

Midland law firm Lodders is once again the main sponsor of Stratford-upon-Avon’s Big 10k race, taking place on Sunday, 8 September.

More than 1,500 runners are expected to sign up for the event starting at 9.30am at Stratford Recreation Ground, with a picturesque countryside route including a stretch of the River Avon.

The race’s charity partner is The Shakespeare Hospice. Email info@ thresholdevents.co.uk, call 01789 267337 or go to www.thresholdevents.co.uk/ running/stratfords-big-10k/race-info.php for more details.

www.dbslaw.co.uk

AUTUMN 13

COMPANY PROFILE

Sign up for the BUPA Great Birmingham Run in aid of patients at the QE Hospital Thousands of runners are gearing up to take part in the BUPA Great Birmingham Run later this month.

Among the hopefuls will be BQ’s own Alan Dickinson who is attempting the Midlands’ leading half marathon in aid of Fisher House - the home away from home for the families of military patients being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB).

Regional sales manager Alan was inspired to sign up for the run after enjoying a tour of Fisher House by QEHB Charity chief executive Mike Hammond in late 2012.

Fisher House was officially opened by his HRH Prince of Wales on June 21.

The £4.2 million home offers free accommodation for families and patients, enabling them to spend time together away from the hospital ward.

As well as being a haven for families whose loved ones have been injured in current conflicts, the home will also be open to families of those returning for on-going medical treatment at the hospital.

Alan, aged 53, explained: “I had a tour of Fisher House while it was still being built and I was so impressed with the concept.

“I thought the care and attention to detail in making sure the family were as comfortable as the patient was incredible.

“When I hear about the deaths and injuries in Afghanistan it always gets close to my heart.

“I have two sons in their 20s – one is an armed police officer – so when you hear the news, you always tend to think of your own children.

“It must be so difficult for the families whose children are injured. I just wanted to do my bit to help.”

Alan, who lives in North Yorkshire, runs half marathons regularly, including overseas, but the Birmingham race will be one of the biggest he has ever competed in.

To make a donation, please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Alan-Dickinson1 “I’d be very grateful for the support,” he added.

Alan is one of 109 runners who are taking part

If anyone is thinking of running it and doesn’t have a place yet, there is still time to sign up in the race for the QEHB Charity which is one of the associate sponsors of BQ and also an official charity of the event on October 20.

Places are still available for people wanting to raise valuable funds for patients at the QE, including the UK’s military patients and teenagers and young adults with cancer.

The 13.1 mile course starts and finishes in Birmingham City Centre and takes in landmarks such as Cadbury’s, Edgbaston Cricket Gound and Canon Hill Park.

It attracts 18,000 competitors from across the UK and around the world.

The QEHB Charity offers its runners training hints and tips, a charity running top, cheering stations around the route, and, most importantly, a post race reception at the Hyatt Hotel next to the finish line where they can meet up with friends and family and enjoy a post race massage.

There is no minimum sponsorship amount – every penny will really make a difference.

QEHB chief executive Mike Hammond, who is

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taking part in the race for the fourth year running, said: “Thank you to all the people who have signed up for the BUPA Great Birmingham Run in aid of patients at the QE Hospital.

“If anyone is thinking of running it and doesn’t have a place yet, there is still time to sign up.

“I know from experience it really brings out a sense of camaraderie to know you’re taking part with lots of other people raising funds for the patients at the hospital.”

To guarantee a place, visit www.qehb.org/shop and pay the £33 entry fee. The charity will send sponsorship forms and information on setting up a fundraising page.

BUSINESS QUARTER |AUTUMN 13

NEWS

AUTUMN 13

>> Movers and shakers Business leaders Mike Whitby and Sir Anthony Bamford were announced

by Downing Street as new Conservative ‘working peers’ at the beginning of August.

Lord Whitby was the elected leader of Birmingham City Council from 2004 to 2012 – a period when the multi-million New Street Station, Birmingham Library and Metro extension projects were launched – and is also managing director of Skeldings, a Smethwick-based engineering company.

Lord Bamford heads up Staffordshirebased manufacturer JCB – and has also given around £100,000 personally to the Conservatives in the last few years.

Real estate specialists Jones Lang LaSalle has promoted 15 staff in its Birmingham offices for displaying first class teamwork for clients.

Jason Goss, from project and development services, and Jeremy Valerio, from property asset management, have been made directors; Gareth Morgan, Hannah Ward, Adam McGuinness, Andy Riach and Stefan Oehl have been promoted to associate director level; Lisa Hastilow, Oliver Ward, Vicky Burnett, Lucy Bennett, Richard Crampton and Rachel Peterson have become senior surveyors; Bonnie Moran has become a surveyor; and Serena FitzGibbons has become a property manager.

Ian Cornock, lead director for the Midlands said: “Everyone promoted has shown a commitment to working effectively within the business, achieving success for our clients and assisting the growth of the Birmingham offices.”

Prison law expert Genevieve Worthington has joined the Worcester office of Midland law firm Thomas Horton LLP Solicitors,

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

to represent clients at police stations, in Magistrates and Crown Courts and at prisons throughout the region.

Sofia Tayton and Alex Robinson Lodders Solicitors has promoted two of its rising stars as partners. The appointment of Sofia Tayton and Alex Robinson takes the number of partners at the Warwickshire and Gloucestershire law firm to 23. Both have risen through the ranks of Lodders, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, from trainee level, through associate to partner status in just 12 years. Sofia heads up the care and capacity team, specialising in care funding, mental capacity, Court of Protection and powers of attorney. Alex’s specialist areas include agricultural and rural property transactions, highways issues, private rights of way and access to land, the property aspects of trusts and estate planning.

Two new appointments have been made to boost Innovation Birmingham’s start-up programmes.

Kate Martin becomes European projects assistant to manage the Pioneers into Practice exchange programme. Kate previously worked at Advantage West Midlands.

Michelle Rayner has joined as programme manager for the Entrepreneurs for the Future centre.

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Michelle previously worked for the Midlands office of construction firm Volkerfitzpatrick.

Leading national commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has promoted eight hard-working chartered surveyors. The Birmingham office of LSH sees John Bird (property management), Alex Carr (industrial) and Adam Ramshaw (capital markets) appointed as directors while Ben Steer (property management) becomes associate director. Promoted to senior surveyor are Sarah Williams (valuation), Sarah Everall (valuation), Dan Taylor (rating), and Manveer Dosanjh (property management).

Samuel Boot, Lyndsey Cannon-Leach, Lucy Roberts and Peter Dening Birmingham-based chartered surveyors Pennycuick Collins has announced three promotions across key areas of the business.

Samuel Boot, Lyndsey Cannon-Leach and Lucy Roberts have each made the move to management in their respective roles as associate partner, head of residential service charge and head of residential lettings.

Peter Dening, partner at Pennycuick Collins, said: “Sam, Lucy and Lyndsey have all proven that they are dedicated members of the team. It’s fantastic that we are able to make these promotions and reward their hard work.”

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AS I SEE IT

AUTUMN 13

John James says it’s time for the MPs and MEPs across the West Midlands to speak with one voice on the future of Birmingham Airport

flight path to a brighter future Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is one of the busiest passenger airports in the world. Only O’Hare International Airport in Chicago rivals it in passenger volume and in the number of take-offs and landings. It now has FIVE runways and 207 domestic and international gates.

Yet, only a few decades ago, it was just another airport in another US city trying to make its way in the highly competitive world of commercial aviation. Most people outside Georgia, let alone outside the United States, had no idea where Atlanta was.

So the leaders of that city made a bold move.

They resolved that, if Atlanta was to be the great city they believed it could be, they

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

would have to build a great airport. They did, and just look at the results.

Ironically, Birmingham’s leaders had a similar choice after the Second World War. They could expand Elmdon Airport in a modest way, or they could bravely go for – in what admittedly was an uncertain economic climate – an airport to outreach any of their competitors outside London.

They regrettably chose caution, and we have been paying the price ever since.

But sometimes in life, you get a second chance, and the leaders of Birmingham, the second largest city of the seventh largest economy in the world, and the wider West Midlands business community, have been thrown a lifeline.

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A government-backed Airports Commission is charged with a root-and-branch review of future aviation policy which has created the real possibility of a second hub in Birmingham or Manchester to operate alongside a hub airport in the South East.

It’s a life-changing moment for our region: and it’s a real challenge to all of us to be courageous and visionary enough to grasp it. Luckily, we have at Birmingham Airport a chief executive who ‘gets it’. Paul Kehoe knows this is a one-off opportunity for Birmingham to really punch its weight in the world of international trade. And so Birmingham Airport has now published its response to the Airports Commission’s challenge to deliver long-term aviation

AUTUMN 13

capacity, comprising a vision which will boost global connectivity and help create over 250,000 new jobs in the Midlands.

We will already have a runway extension in place by next year, which will triple existing capacity and enable direct flights to China and the West Coast of America.

But Birmingham Airport’s submission now envisages a second runway which will not only support growth of up to 70 million passengers but also remove 32,000 people from night-flight noise.

And the plans are about so much more than the airport. They are designed to align with regional development and transport investment strategies which will maximise the social and economic value of major developments – such as the M42 gateway, and HS2 – creating an infrastructure backbone which could plug the greater Midlands economy into global wealth opportunities for decades to come. But – and there is always a ‘but’ – will we have the courage as a city, and as a region, to commit to this brave new world? Unsurprisingly, since the council owns part of it, Sir Albert Bore has enthusiastically endorsed Birmingham Airport’s vision, as have the local Chambers of Commerce, and other business organisations. However, the decision on the vision will be made by the mandarins of Whitehall, and our lobbying track record over the last 20 years on these grand infrastructure projects is, quite frankly, lamentable. Our local MPs have visibly not mastered the art of putting up a united front in putting the case for Birmingham, and our

MEPs are so anonymous that getting them to lobby with a common voice that civil servants will listen to is like herding cats. So it is not enough to maintain our support for Paul Kehoe and his team who are fighting so hard to clinch this opportunity of a lifetime.

We must all insist that our public representatives across the West Midlands join together to unanimously fight for our region’s future in a strategically-planned and resolute assault on those who will actually decide Britain’s future aviation policy This is our moment. The moment when we can be like Atlanta all those years ago, and create an airport in Birmingham that will make it the great city it deserves to be. n

AS I SEE IT

We must all insist that our public representatives across the West Midlands join together to unanimously fight for our region’s future

John James, a well-known lawyer and businessman, co-founded Birmingham Forward and Birmingham Future, and is a past Chairman of the Institute of Directors in the West Midlands. He is now a professional independent director sitting on the boards of various public and private companies.

Email j.james307@btinternet.com

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BUSINESS QUARTER |AUTUMN 13

ENTREPRENEUR

AUTUMN 13

the supra hero’s rise

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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ENTREPRENEUR

To many of his customers, he’s known simply as ‘Mr Key Safe’. But this brand has seen David Ogden’s company, Supra UK, bring in £56m in sales since 1995. Frank Holwell reports Nearly two decades ago, when David Ogden first established his company Supra UK, the phrase ‘key safe’ was unknown here in this country. The UK market simply did not exist; and so David created it from scratch.

Key safes – a small, secure, wall-mounted container with an alpha-numerical keypad – are an invaluable tool for local authorities, health and care professionals and housing associations, enabling them to securely access properties to deliver vital care services.

Since 1995, it is estimated that Supra key safes have saved UK organisations £1.6bn per annum in time that carers previously spent having to ‘run for keys’. Now celebrating its 18th birthday, David’s company, based in modest premises in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, employs 25 staff and has a multi-million pound turnover.

Not that his school exam results reflected his true potential, ability and acumen; he left Waseley Hills High School in Rubery, Birmingham, with three O-levels, in woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing.

“I remember the careers teacher passing me an application form for British Leyland, because that’s where everyone went,” recalls the 48-year-old father of three. “I said ‘no thanks, I’m going to work for myself.’”

While he turned down a job at Longbridge,

businessteam@bham.ac.uk www.birmingham.ac.uk/partners

cars have always played a big part in David’s life – whether racing them as a hobby, chauffeuring (one of his earliest jobs) or selling to the automotive trade through a successful Snap-On Tools business.

Selling this franchise in 1994, David searched for his next business opportunity, and discovered the world of key safes. When first contacting parent US company Supra in Oregon to enquire about a UK franchise.

However, their response was a cautious one.

Supra still had £150,000 in outstanding debts from some of its continental European franchises, and so was reluctant to start another. What if, David suggested, he was to visit those other companies and collect the money owing? Supra agreed and, after travelling Europe and collecting the vast

I went from big, gruff, oily mechanics talking cars to 85-year-old Doris who needs some care at home

majority of the money, the button was pushed on Supra UK. Commonplace in the US for 50 years, UK key safes had only been used primarily by fleet companies to securely store keys on the outside of their vehicles; British Car Auctions and Land Rover were two of David’s early customers.

Given David’s passion for cars, it’s fitting that it was at an automotive trade show at Silverstone in 1997 when he experienced the ‘light bulb moment’ that was to shape his business for the next 15 years – and immerse him in the completely different world of domiciliary care.

“This gentleman came up to my stand who was a social services director of Leicestershire County Council looking for cars for his carers,” David recalls. “He looked at the back of the stand and said: ‘what’s that little box with the push button front?’

“I said: ‘Oh, that’s a little box that goes outside your house and stores your house keys’, and he just said: ‘Hmmm – would that be useful for my delivery of care? We have a nightmare managing house keys.’

“It was at that moment that the penny dropped both for him and for me. I’m very car orientated; I love cars, I race cars, they’re my passion – so to actually meet a man from a completely different world to mine, who >>

Putting world-class expertise to work in your business

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

ENTREPRENEUR

AUTUMN 13

had a use for a product I had not yet really taken anywhere. It was quite something.”

After trialling 20 key safes for a month, the Leicestershire client bought 50 more, then another 100 in month three. He has since continued to buy around 100 pieces a month for the last 15 years.

David recalls: “I thought ‘this has got legs’, but I had to go and learn a completely new market – research and understand it. Luckily, my mum was a care manager of an old people’s home, so I understood the mentality.

“I went from big, gruff, oily mechanics talking cars to 85-year-old Doris who finds she needs some care at home. I think I’m as compassionate as the next guy, in that I didn’t want to put that lady at any unnecessary risk. The product had to be deployed and installed properly with the support from crime reduction officers.

“When I first started the business, I asked myself if it was going to be as easy finding other authorities who would accept it? Luckily they did. I did my research, found out who the influencers were, who I needed to go to see. I would need the finance manager, the care manager or the social care director, but also a police officer to oversee the way they were deployed.”

This consultative approach is at the heart of Supra UK’s philosophy today. While David employs a traditional team of regional ‘sales’ managers, that’s something of a misnomer; they are as much consultants, discussing customers’ needs with the likes of social services or occupational therapists. And if a key safe is not what they need, they won’t force the issue; after all, David insists, any bad advice will only reflect back onto the company.

“A key safe will not necessarily be good for everybody and if you feel that the product doesn’t suit, or you can’t fit it properly then find an alternative solution – it’s not a panacea,” says David.

Domiciliary care for the elderly is a hot topic, with the UK’s ageing society putting increasing

businessteam@bham.ac.uk www.birmingham.ac.uk/partners

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

Putting world-class expertise to work in your business

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pressures on local authorities’ budgets and time. It’s estimated that between now and 2030, the number of people over 85 will increase by 101%, while the over-75s will go up by 51%.

“When I saw just how many people were getting care delivered, I could see the volume opportunity,” says David. “Key safes have greatly increased the hours of care delivered; you can get straight in and out, you’ve not got to run for keys, and so you have that whole hour with the client, not leaving 10 minutes early to drop a key off at an office or family member.”

The figures speak for themselves: after achieving a decent enough first annual turnover of £66,000, within four years Supra UK had registered a £1.7m turnover. Since its creation in 1995, Supra UK has sold £56m of product.

Its success, however, has come from the owner

ENTREPRENEUR

Who can say they’ve built and affected a market in such a way? generating what he calls his own ‘marketing dollars’ – funding the foundations and investing heavily in the company’s future.

“In the early days, the [US] manufacturer would not produce a rubber cover for me because they said the volumes weren’t there, so I spent my own £5,000 in Moseley with an injectionmoulding company, who to this day still supplies us – I then sold the covers back to the States.

“One of my lines is ‘don’t bite the hand that

29

feeds you,’” says David. “Whatever I earned, I pumped back into the business every year. To me, it’s not about the bottom line, it’s about the end result. I want a long term, sustainable and secure business.”

That philosophy of investing and sustaining growth is played out by Supra UK’s flagship product, the C500 key safe. The first and only police-approved key safe on the UK market, David invested $950,000 of his own money developing it, as he knew his customers wanted it.

“It’s called the C500 because we met 500 consumers and asked them what they wanted – it’s absolutely market-led,” he says. “You see the likes of Dragons’ Den and people have come up with an idea and they think it’s great, but they haven’t developed it specifically for a need.

“With the C500, we developed a product >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

ENTREPRENEUR COMPANY PROFILE

AUTUMN 13AUTUMN 13

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Working with you to build grow protect or preserve your wealth

that our customers absolutely wanted, and to take a product from a concept two-and-a-half years ago to hitting 80,000 pieces a year is astonishing. The pleasure of being able to develop it is our real success.”

Another key to Supra UK’s success is David’s insistence on the product being marketed, sold and fitted properly – an ethos which means that despite much advice and many offers, he will not take the C500 to retail. It is only sold direct to the end user through Supra UK. “People ask: ‘Why don’t you fill your boots and Andrew Whiting joined St. James’s take it to retail?’” says David.

“No, because I’d in December 1991 and oneI of lose controlPlace of how it’s deployed and was fitted. thefeedback original Partners atclient, the inception wouldn’t get from my and J. Rothschild Group, as client it was to then Iofneed feedbackAssurance from every single known. Having successfully builtlistened up and sold address any problems.

I have to a chain of electrical retail shops previously, it customers along the whole route.” was a discussion with his financial adviser at the While he’s a shrewd businessman who invests time that encouraged Andrew to pursue a career wisely and listens to his customers, David in the industry in to 1987.

He Supra remembers Ogden is happy share UK’s thinking success that “Iothers. had some business contacts to work with with Earlier this year, he launched a and could read style’ a set of accounts, so IGolden decidedKey to ‘Willy Wonka 18th birthday give it a try”. 26 yearseight and several hundred hours competition, where of his customers, of examsatlater, the ever-growing basegolden of chosen random, will receive client a special Andrew Whiting Wealth Consultancy LLP be tells key enclosed with an order.

Each will asked its nominate founder that he has probably made the or to a local community scheme right decision. project.

Visitors to Supra UK’s anniversary Andrew and his trusted team cover all aspects website, www.keysafebirthday.co.uk, will then of financial planning, in wealth be invited to vote forspecialising their favourite proposal, creation, protection management aspects the winner receivingand £18,000 to invest in of business exit strategies, retirement planning their project. and inheritance planning. clients “The other day tax I turned up atHis a 1300 customer I are looked after his advisers hadn’t seen for by many years toand do support some staff of legal graduates and qualified paraplanners, research and someone said: ‘Oh, we’ve got and typical clients include CEOsto and Managing royalty – Mr Key Safe’s come see us,’” Directors, solicitors, barristers, accountants David smiles. and entrepreneurs of whom are too busy “That says I’ve had– many an impact on people’s lives. runningnot their livesbig-headed and their businesses, andthat That’s being – I’m proud so choose to entrust Andrew to keep them people want to work with me.

Who canon say target tobuilt helpand themaffected achieve atheir financial goals. they’ve market in such a Through regular meetings and a way?

I get hugeface-to-face pleasure out of the fact. holistic wealth management, “I’m stillapproach trying totounderstand what the Andrew next and his create afor roadmap fromreasons. where I step is; clients I love change the right they are to where they would to be inI’ve want to now change the industry andlike I believe the future, using their got the solutions.” ntargets and aspirations in either their career or their family life as a guide.

Andrew Whiting Wealth Consultancy LLP is a Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, and has been providing expert wealth management advice to clients throughout the country for over a quarter of a century.

Fact file Supra UK’s principal sector is care – to the elderly, disabled and housebound via social services, domiciliary care agencies, Lifeline services and health and care professionals. But its key safe range has a wide variety of uses.

The key safes are also popular with holiday home letting agents and families who want to have a spare set of keys stored securely for children arriving home from school early. Or simply a jogger who wants to go out not carrying keys.

Supra UK’s client list over the last 18 years is impressive one: in addition to the 86% of UK local authorities they service, they have worked with the likes of Virgin Atlantic, BMW, Travis Perkins, Andrew Whiting Age UK and Securitas.

Supra UK’s range includes independent living products and secure cabinets – but it is key safes which are at the heart of the business and its success, most notably the C500. In 2009, no key safe in the UK met police approval.

In August 2010 the andused only, safe The advice is personally tailored to the clients’ whofirst, he has forpolice-approved many years; this key allows him to in the UK, C500, was launched

by Supra UK. objectives – asthe individuals, trustees or businesses maximise his time in between meetings to dictate It has an that ‘LPStheir 1175plans levelremain 1’ security rating it’s as secure as aReturning domestichome frontbetween door.

– ensuring on track and– which means or complete file notes. of heavy-gauge stainless steel a thick zinc-alloy shell, has a double construction, areMade still appropriate if circumstances everand change.

7.30pm and it 9.00pm, Andrewwall will spend an hour while aday stainless plate around the buttons duty locking Andrew’s consists of rising at 5.45am and headds additional or twosecurity. finishingThe the heavy day’s paperwork ready for uses a long-travel bolt, making pry-resistant. is mechanism waiting for the gym to open at 6.15am.

At his it extremely submission first thing the following day. Before Frank Stott, a breakfast crime reduction we are seeing more and robust desk by 7.45am, is taken officer, with thesays: team“Increasingly retiring to bed, Andrew will trymore to read a chapter doors installed this isand what we’reofseeking to achieve, it can become where hebeing will discuss the and day’salthough appointments one of the several business autobiographies increasingly more difficult tothe gain access for legitimate reasons even for the police. marketing initiatives, as well as technical lying on his–bedside table.

Some see this regime as “The C500 provides secure means to safely store a unhealthily key outsideobsessive: the premises.

This provides an and individual aspects ofaeach client meeting.

Andrew sees it as necessary assurance the occupier that, should they need help, gained quickly Andrew’s dayto consists of back to back meetings to access providecan the be level of service andwithout quality of advice compromising This can beHouse particularly comforting to elderly people or those living alone.” with clients eithersecurity. at St. James’s Place or he expects his clients to receive. at clients’ offices or business premises. With a day Andrew considers marketing as a big part of his on the road, Andrew uses the services of a driver role, and feels that acquiring new clients is a

Putting world-class expertise to work in your business

The Partner Practice represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products. businessteam@bham.ac.uk The `St. James’s Place Partnership’ and the titles `Partner’ and `Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.

www.birmingham.ac.uk/partners

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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AUTUMN SPRING 13

COMPANY PROFILE

Businesses thrive on Birmingham’s ‘Golden Mile’ At a time when major chains are crashing, businesses on Birmingham’s Broad Street continue to thrive.

Known as the city’s ‘golden mile’, Broad Street is a mixed-use leisure and business district with a footfall of 300,000 people every week. Recent expansions, redevelopments and consistent acquisitions of St. James’s Place formerly traded J.Rothschild business premises reflect an area as that rolls its Assurance sleeves up Group and says “work must go on” – despite the recession.

The driving force behind this dynamic area is the prerequisite any business – “a business Broad Street for Business Improvement Districteither (BID). grows or dies: it is asthe simple that.” Although Established in 2005, BID as represents and advises he commits time and money to marketing, is more than 300 businesses – including manyitoffices, notablepubs, how aclubs, largerestaurants percentageand of new clients hotels, leisure venues. are referred to him through existing “We Now in its second term, the BID worksclients. to create a try toattractive, develop lasting with clients, more betterrelationships marketed, brighter, safer whocleaner becomebusiness advocates of our professionalism, and environment, and to drive dedication and of thethe quality service new investment into area.of Long termand projects advice that we provide – referrals are links comfortably include the improvement of transport into our district biggestand source of newfor clients, so we must the proposals the regeneration beGas doing something saysexpectations Andrew. Thisfor is of Street.

The BIDright” has high evidenced by the fact that many companies and future business success in the area.

Mike Olley, individuals withsaid: him for allacquisition of his 26 Broad Streethave BID been manager, “The years in the financial services industry.and the of Brindleyplace

by Hines & Moorfield, The St. James’s Placebyapproach that clients planned investment Seven Capital in the have access to through Andrew is distinctive in that Auchinleck House redevelopment, are both they believeto that single investment house has testimonies theno renewed confidence in the area.” a monopoly investment expertise. Through Saqib Bhatti,on the BID’s newly-appointed shadow the use ofisboth an Investment Committee andLtd an director, an associate at Younis Bhatti & Co independent investmenta research consultancy, chartered accountants, business that has been Stamford Associates, of breed’ fund based on Broad Street‘best for more than 15 years. managers across theisglobal market Saqib said:from “Broad Street famous for itsare monitoredbut once appointed James’s nightlife, during the daytoismanage a hub forSt.a variety Place funds. Ifincluding the fund managers lose the of businesses, professional services confidence theWe’re Investment such as our of own. proud toCommittee, tell peoplethey that will flourishing be removedpractice and replaced by on another our is based Broadmanager Street, at no cost high-quality to the clientadvice as the to fund remains the providing businesses same, only the management it willour change.

This across the West Midlands. We of believe growth distinctive approach investorslocation.” to diversify is aided by our centralallows and accessible their investments by spreading their money across differentBHATTI funds in different YOUNIS & CO. LTD sectors throughout the world, Bhatti, run by fund managerspartner with different styles.

Younis the founding and director of These funds exclusively available through Younis Bhattiare & Co. Ltd, is a fellow of the Institute

The UK photographs were taken at St. James’s Place House, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands

We try to develop lasting relationships with clients, who become advocates of our professionalism, dedication Younis Bhatti and of the quality of service and advice that we provide We’re proud to tell people that St. James’s Place Partners such as Andrew, and our flourishing practice cannot be invested in through fund supermarkets. is on Broad Streetto clients Thisbased level of service is demonstrable through weekly e-briefings, monthly investment of Chartered in England and Wales. bulletins andAccountants links to an online TV service where Younis has held many high-profile positionsclients’ in the fund managers tasked with managing the Westare Midlands: he isand a former of on money interviewed askedchairman to comment both Institute of Asian Furthermore, Businesses and the their the views of the market.

Andrew Birmingham Asian Businesses Association, promotes a ‘no hiding place’ policy – everyand oneisof ahis former council Birmingham clients alwaysmember has his of mobile numberChamber to discuss of Commerce, to name a few. Outside of work, matters with him at anyjust time.

Younis executive director of Al-ShifaLLP Trust (UK) AndrewisWhiting Wealth Consultancy is also Ltd, whichparticipant raises fundsand forcontributor the treatment and an active to the prevention of blindness Pakistan. He has philanthropic arm of theinorganisation, the also been a director in Foundation City Pride which oversaw the St. James’s Place (www.sjpfoundation. development the Bull Ring and wasbya employees nonco.uk), whereofevery pound donated executive director theJames’s Manor Hospital in Walsall.is and Partners in theofSt. Place community Following inthe his father’s footsteps Saqib matched by company.

To date,isover £30m has Bhatti, also aand fellow of the Institute Chartered been raised distributed to goodofcauses both Accountants England and Wales, now in the UK andinaround the world.

Theand Foundation an at Younis Bhatti & Co. Ltd. hasassociate three main themes: Cherishing theSaqib Children, qualified at Cancer Deloitteand where his clients included top Combating Supporting Hospices, retail and private banks.

He was alsoPartnership a financial and employees and members of the instruments specialist, nationally on can also nominate localconsulting charities to benefit from cash management and theAndrew valuation complex support.

Over the years, hasof completed derivatives mechanisms. triathlons, and hedging conquered the Ten Tors and the

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Three Peaks challenges. Most recently he was part of a team that trekked to Everest base camp with one member having the privilege to be allowed to Saqib Bhatti summit Everest itself, raising £750,000 – part of a record-breaking year that saw over £5m raised by the Foundation. Andrew hopes to continue with Saqib, who studied theand London of his charitable workLaw thisat year try toSchool help break Economics, believes in helping to develop the this record again. community.

At theofLSE, he was President of the As for the future his consultancy, Andrew Pakistan Society and invited to represent anticipates taking onwas additional advisers and Pakistan on Commonwealth Day inat2007.

Hethe is now paraplanners to match the speed which the youngest servingHe member on be therunning executive business is growing. will also committee of Birmingham’s Institute the of Asian specific advice seminars throughout year Businesses.

He is also sectors an executive tailored to particular wherecommittee topical issues member and chair the membership committee at around finance or of changes in legislation are The Lunar Society of Birmingham, which of influences presented and discussed for the benefit legal positive changeaccountants, by stimulating debate of new ideas. professionals, entrepreneurs and In 2012, Saqib wasFor shortlisted in Birmingham’s business owners. further information, please ‘Young thedetails Year’ awards. contactProfessional the office onofthe below.

Broad Street BID, Quayside Tower, 252-260 Broad Street, B1 2HF broadstreetbirmingham.com St. James’s Place House, Central Boulevard, Younis BhattiPark, & Co.Shirley, LimitedSolihull, B90 8AR Blythe Valley Chartered Accountants And Registered Auditors Tel: 0121 215 0926 93 Broad Street, Birmingham, B15 1AU E: andrew.whiting@sjpp.co.uk www.younisbhatti.com W: www.andrewwhiting.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

COMPANY PROFILE

AUTUMN 13

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Working with you to build grow protect or preserve your wealth Andrew Whiting Wealth Consultancy LLP is a Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, and has been providing expert wealth management advice to clients throughout the country for over a quarter of a century.

Andrew Whiting joined St. James’s Place in December 1991 and was one of the original Partners at the inception of J. Rothschild Assurance Group, as it was then known. Having successfully built up and sold a chain of electrical retail shops previously, it was a discussion with his financial adviser at the time that encouraged Andrew to pursue a career in the industry in 1987. He remembers thinking that “I had some business contacts to work with and could read a set of accounts, so I decided to give it a try”. 26 years and several hundred hours of exams later, the ever-growing client base of Andrew Whiting Wealth Consultancy LLP tells its founder that he has probably made the right decision.

Andrew and his trusted team cover all aspects of financial planning, specialising in wealth creation, protection and management aspects of business exit strategies, retirement planning and inheritance tax planning. His 1300 clients are looked after by his advisers and support staff of legal graduates and qualified paraplanners, and typical clients include CEOs and Managing Directors, solicitors, barristers, accountants and entrepreneurs – many of whom are too busy running their lives and their businesses, and so choose to entrust Andrew to keep them on target to help them achieve their financial goals.

Through regular face-to-face meetings and a holistic approach to wealth management, Andrew and his clients create a roadmap from where they are now to where they would like to be in the future, using their targets and aspirations in either their career or their family life as a guide.

Andrew Whiting

The advice is personally tailored to the clients’ objectives – as individuals, trustees or businesses – ensuring that their plans remain on track and are still appropriate if circumstances ever change.

Andrew’s day consists of rising at 5.45am and he is waiting for the gym to open at 6.15am. At his desk by 7.45am, breakfast is taken with the team where he will discuss the day’s appointments and marketing initiatives, as well as the technical and individual aspects of each client meeting.

Andrew’s day consists of back to back meetings with clients either at St. James’s Place House or at clients’ offices or business premises. With a day on the road, Andrew uses the services of a driver

who he has used for many years; this allows him to maximise his time in between meetings to dictate or complete file notes. Returning home between 7.30pm and 9.00pm, Andrew will spend an hour or two finishing the day’s paperwork ready for submission first thing the following day. Before retiring to bed, Andrew will try to read a chapter of one of the several business autobiographies lying on his bedside table. Some see this regime as unhealthily obsessive: Andrew sees it as necessary to provide the level of service and quality of advice he expects his clients to receive.

Andrew considers marketing as a big part of his role, and feels that acquiring new clients is a

The Partner Practice represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products.

The `St. James’s Place Partnership’ and the titles `Partner’ and `Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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AUTUMN 13

St. James’s Place formerly traded as J.Rothschild Assurance Group

prerequisite for any business – “a business either grows or dies: it is as simple as that.” Although he commits time and money to marketing, it is notable how a large percentage of new clients are referred to him through existing clients. “We try to develop lasting relationships with clients, who become advocates of our professionalism, dedication and of the quality of service and advice that we provide – referrals are comfortably our biggest source of new clients, so we must be doing something right” says Andrew. This is evidenced by the fact that many companies and individuals have been with him for all of his 26 years in the financial services industry.

The St. James’s Place approach that clients have access to through Andrew is distinctive in that they believe that no single investment house has a monopoly on investment expertise. Through the use of both an Investment Committee and an independent investment research consultancy, Stamford Associates, ‘best of breed’ fund managers from across the global market are monitored once appointed to manage St. James’s Place funds. If the fund managers lose the confidence of the Investment Committee, they will be removed and replaced by another manager at no cost to the client as the fund remains the same, only the management of it will change. This distinctive approach allows investors to diversify their investments by spreading their money across different funds in different sectors throughout the world, run by fund managers with different styles.

These funds are exclusively available through

COMPANY PROFILE

The UK photographs were taken at St. James’s Place House, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands

We try to develop lasting relationships with clients, who become advocates of our professionalism, dedication and of the quality of service and advice that we provide St. James’s Place Partners such as Andrew, and cannot be invested in through fund supermarkets.

This level of service is demonstrable to clients through weekly e-briefings, monthly investment bulletins and links to an online TV service where the fund managers tasked with managing clients’ money are interviewed and asked to comment on their views of the market. Furthermore, Andrew promotes a ‘no hiding place’ policy – every one of his clients always has his mobile number to discuss matters with him at any time.

Andrew Whiting Wealth Consultancy LLP is also an active participant and contributor to the philanthropic arm of the organisation, the St. James’s Place Foundation (www.sjpfoundation. co.uk), where every pound donated by employees and Partners in the St. James’s Place community is matched by the company. To date, over £30m has been raised and distributed to good causes both in the UK and around the world. The Foundation has three main themes: Cherishing the Children, Combating Cancer and Supporting Hospices, and employees and members of the Partnership can also nominate local charities to benefit from support. Over the years, Andrew has completed triathlons, and conquered the Ten Tors and the

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Three Peaks challenges. Most recently he was part of a team that trekked to Everest base camp with one member having the privilege to be allowed to summit Everest itself, raising £750,000 – part of a record-breaking year that saw over £5m raised by the Foundation. Andrew hopes to continue with his charitable work this year and try to help break this record again.

As for the future of his consultancy, Andrew anticipates taking on additional advisers and paraplanners to match the speed at which the business is growing. He will also be running specific advice seminars throughout the year tailored to particular sectors where topical issues around finance or changes in legislation are presented and discussed for the benefit of legal professionals, accountants, entrepreneurs and business owners. For further information, please contact the office on the details below.

St. James’s Place House, Central Boulevard, Blythe Valley Park, Shirley, Solihull, B90 8AR Tel: 0121 215 0926 E: andrew.whiting@sjpp.co.uk W: www.andrewwhiting.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

INTERVIEW Q.

AUTUMN 13

It’s been the worst recession in a lifetime – with cuts, unemployment and austerity for all. Who’s to blame for this mess – the government, bankers or big businesses?

A. It was the banks’ excessive risk-taking and failure which ultimately led to a huge state bailout (the cost of which we’re all still picking up), the credit crunch and associated recession, and collapse in tax revenues. Putting all our economic eggs in one deregulated financial services basket clearly didn’t work. We still need to learn important lessons from that.

But we’ve also seen the slowest pace of ‘recovery’ on record. I hope things are now finally picking up, but we should recognise that what Chancellor George Osborne did – a very sharp fiscal tightening in the context of strong economic headwinds – weighed heavily on growth, making it harder for the government to meet its own fiscal targets. Osborne’s whole narrative – that ultra-tight spending cuts were needed to avert a Greek-style bond market strike – was fiction. Rather, long-term interest rates remain low, and are really a reflection of ongoing economic weakness.

The UK’s coalition Government says they’re only dealing with what they inherited. But is their dual policy of public sector cutbacks and long-term infrastructure investment going to work?

A. There’s no sustainable growth strategy from my point of view. Forget genuine rebalancing towards making things rather than consumer spending. What the government has done is to go back to the old strategy of stimulating a house price boom in the hope of boosting confidence and spending. That’s what helped get us into this mess, and isn’t going to lay a basis for sustainable growth, sadly.

Q.

In particular, that rebalancing isn’t going to happen automatically – we need a more active industrial strategy to push things along and actively support exporters. For example, small firms in some sectors could potentially access overseas markets but can’t gear up to do so because of banking system weaknesses (hence the need for a new state-backed business bank and more support for exporters).

Regional development agencies like Advantage West Midlands (AWM) were axed by the coalition, with the vision that Local Enterprise Partnerships could do much better. What are the LEPs in the Black Country, Coventry and Birmingham getting right and wrong?

A. What we actually saw with the abolition of RDAs was both a major cut in funding for regional development outside of London and a substantial recentralisation of powers to London – despite the language of ‘localism’.

What’s on offer London (which kept its development agency) isn’t available elsewhere in England. We effectively have two regions – London, and the rest. In different ways, both Birmingham and the Black Country LEPs are trying hard both to revitalise the advanced manufacturing base and to diversify the local economy. But this is one local economy and having two LEPs locally makes no sense at all.

We’ve been left with a fragmented patchwork of LEPs, with insufficient powers and resources.

Some will work, some won’t. At the very least, there’s a role for an ‘intermediate’ tier to join up the work of LEPs in areas like intelligencegathering, cluster policy, innovation policy and accessing EU funding.

Baron Heseltine excited many LEPs – especially Greater Birmingham and Solihull – about the possibility of a

Q.

Q.

£70bn ‘single pot’ of devolved government funding. But only a fraction was offered by the Chancellor. Is this enough to spark growth? And if not, what should happen next?

A. The ‘single pot’ that Osborne announced for 2015-16 was peanuts – just £2bn. This won’t make them the economic powerhouses we’d hoped for. Oddly, it might be a future Labour government that could be keener on implementing Heseltine’s ideas than a future Conservative one. Labour in particular is trying to figure out what to do with LEPs, recognising that it couldn’t – if elected – scrap them as the current government did with RDAs, as that would cause yet more chaos and alienate businesses which have put considerable time and effort into making a go of LEPs. Vince Cable had warned that LEPs don’t have the capacity to handle big amounts of money.

Yet this argument over a lack of democratic accountability shouldn’t be used to forestall broader devolution, especially to English cities – Birmingham and the Black Country included.

Look north and some interesting developments are emerging in the form of new ‘combined authorities’ built of cooperating councils, which have the legal footing to receive large amounts of public cash and which have some public accountability. It’s this model which could offer the potential for channelling public money down to a local level. That’s something West Midland councils could usefully look at.

Despite the global recession, Jaguar Land Rover has helped to revive the Midlands automotive industry. How have they done it? And for how long can this continue?

A. Ultimately, it’s about making beautiful cars that people want to own and drive. What’s >>

Q.

David Bailey is one of the top business and industry academics in the West Midlands. Steve Dyson quizzes him on the recession, signs of recovery and what the region needs to do next.

forward thinking BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

INTERVIEW

AUTUMN 13

so positive about JLR’s recent bumper sales and profits is that the firm has done well in core markets like the Europe and US while expanding rapidly in emerging markets like China, now its biggest market, driven by its Range Rover and Land Rover brands. Jaguar, meanwhile, is doing much better than it was but still has key gaps in its range even after the launch of the fabulous F-type. It urgently needs a ‘baby Jag’ to compete head on with the BMW 3 series, for example. The hope is that this can become sustainable growth over the medium to long-term. It needs to be, as the firm faces significant, albeit manageable, challenges over the next few years. Firstly, the firm is small compared to key premium rivals such as BMW (which sells four or five times as many cars). Over the medium term JLR needs much bigger volumes to generate cash for new model development. On this the firm’s going in the right direction, and has ambitious expansion plans. Secondly, under Tata ownership JLR has so far been able to ride on the back of huge investment by Ford in new platforms. The XF, XJ and Evoque were all basically built on Ford investment. From the F-Type onwards, JLR and Tata are effectively on their own. The strategy has to be built on big investment in new technologies and models, funded by big profits and continued growth.

On this, prospects look good, barring another major economic and financial downturn, which tends to hit the premium sector hard.

JLR can continue to grow the business significantly over the next decade, if it gets the cars right.

What other business sectors are making a difference in the region? And which sectors are you most worried about?

A. From serious games and creative industries, through tourism and business services, to advanced manufacturing, aerospace, biotech and green technologies, we have a much more diversified local economy. The low carbon technologies being developed here are being applied in different sectors and we see spill-overs between different sectors. Yet despite some recently positive signals, figures on manufacturing (key for exports) and the trade deficit both suggest that the much-hoped for rebalancing (to making things and

Q.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

An influential business voice Professor David Bailey works at Coventry University Business School. He joins Aston Business School as Professor of Industrial Strategy in October. he has written extensively on economic restructuring and industrial and regional policy, especially in relation to manufacturing and the automotive industry. His recent work on local and regional responses to economic shocks and recession was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Birmingham City Council, Advantage West Midlands, the Audit Commission, automotive companies, and the European Commission.

David was twice chair of the Regional Studies Association, a major international learned society, and has acted as Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee on the West Midlands, giving evidence and making presentations to a number of select committees and All Party Parliamentary Groups.

Most recently, David has worked with SQW Consulting on a project for BIS on developing a framework to assist LEPs in responding to economic shocks. He’s also a frequent after-lunch and after-dinner speaker at business and policy events. You can tweet him via @dgbailey

exporting things) simply isn’t happening on any significant scale, and that this is impacting locally. In part it’s because manufacturing has been in the doldrums. The recent pick-up in the Manufacturing PMI suggests this sector may at last be pulling out of recession and could stop being a drag on growth. But leaving aside the recent – and remarkable – export successes of the automotive sector, what’s left of our wider manufacturing base simply doesn’t have the capacity to export out of trouble.

What is the likely impact of the new high speed rail links for the Midlands?

A. The economic case for HS2 between London and Birmingham has been over-stated, as recent reports rightly indicate. But there is a good case for the long-distance London to the North high-speed line and, as it goes past Birmingham, we clearly want to be connected to it. So I’m in favour – but not necessarily for the reasons that the business community here put up about boosting local business.

I think the real benefit will come via linking to the airport and boosting the airport’s connectivity in the UK, while a longer runway boosts international connectivity.

But HS2 is not enough if our creaking local infrastructure means it still takes an hour and half to get to Coventry from where I live, or a gruelling bus journey into Birmingham city centre. Our local infrastructure is holding things back. HS2 should be seen as part of a more

Q.

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general upgrading of our infrastructure – but also we need to make sure that local connectivity is improved.

Can the Airports Commission be persuaded to make the West Midlands integral to the UK’s plans for coping with aviation growth? Or is a second runway for Birmingham Airport a lost cause?

A. There’s a strong case to be made here and business leaders and politicians need to get behind it, given the links between the West Midlands and India and the Far East. Think of Tata with JLR and Shanghai Automotive with MG Motors, the extensive links between our local universities and those in China and the Far East. If we really want to export of way out of trouble we need to give local businesses a world-class infrastructure.

What other major investment plans in the West Midlands should big businesses be focusing on?

A. This shift in economic growth and power to the emerging economies is the definitive economic trend of this century. We need to capitalise on it; if British-based firms don’t sell their goods and services there then firms from rival trading nations will do, as will rapidlydeveloping domestic firms in the likes of China and India keen to adopt western technologies and snap up Western brands. So we should be doing everything possible to encourage our firms to export. n

Q.

Q.

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

AUTUMN 13

Industrial demand on the up, IM happy depite profits dip, Dormy awakens after £10m refurb, grand hopes for the region’s future, John’s handiwork helps estate fill up, and martial arts group kicks on Two Snowhill

>> Industrial property demand on the up West Midlands investors are focusing on the UK’s industrial and logistics properties as a safe haven for investment, according to commercial property firm Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH).

A slow-down in declining capital values and the level of income return are reasons for investors to give greater consideration to the sector, with an average level of income return of 7% for industrial versus 5.9% for retail and 5.5% for offices.

Alex Carr, director of industrial and logistics in LSH’s Birmingham office, said: “Industrial property has always been regarded as a good investment option due to the security of the long leases typically held on industrial premises. However, its appeal is beginning to experience growth with the level of income return now higher than offices and retail.”

>> IM happy despite dip

>> Rate relief doubts Businesses moving to buildings or developments within Birmingham’s Enterprise Zone could miss out on business rate reductions intended to attract them.

According to rating experts at CBRE, only one building in the central business district, Two Snowhill, will qualify for full relief.

Two Snowhill, the 310,000 sq ft office development delivered by joint developers Hines and Ballymore earlier this year, is one of 26 designated buildings or development sites in the city’s Enterprise Zone, covering 68 hectares.

However, according to Jonathan Buckle, head of the CBRE rating team in Birmingham, most of the other buildings and sites may miss out on the full £275,000 relief on offer.

He said: “The majority are development sites or premises requiring substantial refurbishment. Many don’t even have premises under construction, let alone capable of being occupied in the short or medium term. To qualify for full relief, tenants must take up occupation by 31 March, 2015. It’s too short a time frame, and it’s likely they won’t be on site in time for the full rates relief.”

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

One of the UK’s largest privately-owned development businesses has said it was pleased with its annual performance despite a fall in pre-tax profits to £22.6m, £8m down on the previous year.

The 2012 results from Lord Edmiston’s IM Properties were announced in August, just after its £44m takeover of Solihull’s Mell Square shopping centre.

The Warwickshire firm’s net assets increased by nearly £10m to £296.3m while the market value of properties under construction rose by £100,000 to £8.4m.

Managing director Tim Wooldridge said the profits dip reflected a re-allocation of resources required to grow the commercial and residential development.

He added: “These are very pleasing results considering the challenging economic climate and the greater emphasis that we have placed on building a development pipeline that will generate higher returns over future years. We have had to fund new sites as well as invest in nine new members of staff, but we firmly believe that this approach will take advantage of a window in the development cycle and will secure profitability levels long term.”

>> Harvey steps out The major refurbishment of The Mailbox in Birmingham will see Harvey Nichols more than doubling in size to a 45,000 sq ft unit. Plans by architects Stanton Williams will see a skylit shopping centre by 2015, with new facades and store frontages and improved signage. Top retailers L.K. Bennett, Jaeger and Gieves and Hawkes are already set to return in 2015, joining Harvey Nichols and Nicky Clarke. In preparation for the planned works, Mailbox retailers in the central mall area have closed. Harvey Nichols, Emporio Armani, Toni and Guy Essensuals and BBC Birmingham will stay open throughout the refurbishment, along with the scheme’s bars, restaurants, hotels, commercial offices and car park.

ONLINE: More commercial property stories are available on BQ’s website www.bq-magazine.co.uk

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AUTUMN 13

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

>> Success comes in threes Maximus Group of Worcester is celebrating a hat-trick of lettings at Wildwood Triangle, one of the city’s premier speculative office developments. New tenants on the 42,000 sq ft business park include Voith Turbo, a major privately-owned engineering company, Fire Label Merchandising and Prolinea Resourcing Ltd. Voith Turbo is a €1.5bn turnover business that employs over 6,300 people across Europe and Canada, China and Brazil. Fire Label Merchandising Ltd is a family owned and operated business that supplies a vast range of wholesale garments. And Prolinea Resourcing Ltd, created by the merger of Linea Resourcing and Pro-Tech Recruitment, is an established recruitment consultancy.

From left, general manager, David Field, and Phil Wynn, managing director of Zenith Limited.

>> Premier project kicks off Leading West Midlands construction company Anglo Holt has started work on a £4m Premier Inn hotel in Hackney, London.

The West Bromwich-based company, which has an annual turnover in excess of £50 million and employs around 100 people, was awarded the design and build contract by clients Davies Street Dalston Limited.

The 90-bedroom hotel, which is being built on a former brownfield site, will provide accommodation over six floors. The 39week project is due to be completed by March 2014.

Anglo Holt managing director Andy Elwell said: “Following a recent project to build a 63-bedroom hotel in Dudley, West Midlands, we are pleased to be working on another Premier Inn for the hotel giants in Hackney, within walking distance of Hackney Central tube station, providing good links to cental London.”

>> A sad farewell Chris Edwards, the former chairman of Birmingham-based property consultancy Phoenix Beard, has died at the age of 61 after a short illness. His death follows that of his wife Cathy, former chairman of Chivers Commercial, who died in May. Mr Edwards was managing director of

>> Dormy awakens after £10m refurb A select Midland hotel has reopened following the first phase of a £10m refurbishment.

Cotswold architect Tony d’Alton and construction company Zenith have been working on Dormy House Hotel, near Broadway in the Worcestershire part of the Cotswolds, since March.

The project will also see the creation of a brand new House Spa, due to open in January 2014.

Commercial Property Advisors Ltd and was formerly chairman of Phoenix Beard for ten years. A past-president of the Independent Surveyors and Valuers Association, Mr Edwards was also chairman of the Royal Institution of Commercial Surveyors’ Commercial Market Board, and advised the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Department of Communities and Local Government on various commercial property issues.

Away from property, Mr Edwards was current president of the Birmingham and Edgbaston Debating Society which dates back to 1846 and whose former presidents include Neville and Joseph Chamberlain. He was also an enthusiastic golfer, and was president of Cocks Moors Woods Golf Club, Birmingham since 2009, and a keen supporter of Rotary International.

His family paid tribute to a father that they described as a loving man who was not only accomplished in business and respected by his peers but also “a great dad”.

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>> Park fills up A Black Country industrial park is now fully let following a £3m deal which will see global testing firm Exova (UK) Ltd move to the site. Yorks Park occupies approximately 12 acres off Blowers Green Road in Dudley, with 157,656 sq ft of high quality industrial and warehouse accommodation within five buildings. Alex Carr, director and head of LSH’s industrial and logistics team in Birmingham, who acted on behalf of Exova with the A&J Mucklow Group, said: “Unit 1 at Yorks Park was the ideal choice for Exova following a comprehensive trawl of the market. Not only is the building in very close proximity to their existing facility in Netherton, but it also provides the specification and image required for the business going forward.”

Exova have signed a 10-year lease on the unit which extends to 23,104 sq ft.

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>> Agency enlists LSH National property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has been appointed by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to advise on bids received for the £284m Local Infrastructure Fund (LIF).

The LIF, which was announced as part of the 2012 Autumn Statement, has the potential to transform infrastructure across the UK through the unlocking of stalled local projects.

The LIF is specifically focused on accelerating the delivery of large housing sites, in addition to expanding the employment space available within Enterprise Zones across the country.

Shortlisted projects have already been submitted by Enterprise zones in Birmingham, and Steve Hemming, regional director of planning and consultancy at LSH’s Birmingham office, said: “We clearly understands the needs of the HCA in this project. The success of the LIF will revitalise UK infrastructure and open up some large development opportunities.”

>> A grand plan The head of a boutique architects practice has claimed that the West Midlands is well on its way to becoming the next big ‘Grand Designs’ hotspot.

Vic Johnson, founder of Johnson Design Partnership (JDP) in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, believes the region’s mix of rural locations, easy travel links to the big urban centres and wealth of unique buildings is proving an enticing offer for people looking to create their dream homes. His company is currently working on six projects that fit the ‘Grand Designs’ theme and range from a once-in-a-lifetime challenge to create living space in a redundant water tower to converting a Grade 2 Listed building into seven residential properties.This is the largest number in the practice’s eleven year-history and is worth a total £2.5m construction cost.

>> Stock sticking point Real estate advisor Jones Lang LaSalle says it’s been involved in over half of the 336,937 sq ft transacted in the first half of 2013 – but that a lack of Grade A office instructions and stock could hamper growth.

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John Truslove partner Ian Parker with Tony Fennell, chief executive of Orthomotion, at Colemeadow

>> John’s handiwork helps estate fill up A Redditch industrial estate which changed hands a year ago in a £2.5m-plus deal is now almost fully let following a makeover and marketing campaign by agents John Truslove.

There is just one unit left out of 30 at Colemeadow Road Industrial Estate, North Moons Moat.

When Eastburn Estates, a joint venture between specialist property investors Westbrook Partners and real estate asset managers M7 Real Estate, acquired the estate from leading independent property fund manager Rockspring in March 2012, some 30% of the units were vacant.

Last year John Truslove let four – to air conditioning, nutrition, electronics and internet commerce firms. Following this success, the latest to move in are automated gate specialists D. Allum Fabrications, which has taken a three year lease on No. 13 in addition to its premises in Stourport-on-Severn, while renewable energy specialists Greenway Energy and orthopaedics products company Orthomotion are sharing 5,766 sq ft No.3 – bought by Redditch-based Moons Moat Property.

John Truslove director Ian Parker said: “This is a popular and established industrial estate which is well located for the motorway network. It attracts go-ahead small firms, often employing only a handful of people, but looking to grow and create further jobs.”

Colemeadow Road Industrial Estate has a total area of 78,585 sq ft with unit sizes ranging between 554 sq ft to 11,606 sq ft.

Jon Carmalt, head of office agency at Jones Lang LaSalle, Birmingham said: “Whilst we are totally delighted with our achievement in the first half, we are now almost experiencing the pain of our own success as we now have just a handful of Grade A quality office suites available to let.”

Kelvin Craddock, associate director in the team added: “The figures suggest the office market is turning a corner and certainly enquiry levels are on the increase. However if we don’t get

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some new office developments mobilized in Birmingham soon, occupiers are going to be running very short on choice in the city.

“Our saving grace is that we have a very proactive LEP helping to facilitate the early commencement of major schemes and Birmingham is attracting greater attention through HS2 and the £600m redevelopment of New Street station. This will hopefully provide the stimulus necessary to attract more occupiers into the city.”

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>> Fifth floor and rising

John Bates and Jon Bellfield

>> Stourbridge start Construction work has started on a £6m, 80-bedroom hotel and restaurant in Stourbridge town centre. The scheme, which will include the Premier Inn hotel, a Brewers Fayre restaurant, a drive-through venue and 122 car parking spaces, is a joint venture between Worcestershirebased developers Barberry Developments, Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants and Cox Hire Ltd. The four-acre site, just off Birmingham Street, was used for many years by Cox Hire Ltd, which has relocated to Netherton. DSM Demolition carried out the demolition work and the hotel is due for completion by spring 2014. John Bates, head of acquisitions UK and Ireland for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, said the hotel “complements other hotels we are soon to open at Dudley, Birmingham’s New Street Station, Birmingham Longbridge, and Worcestershire County Cricket Club”.

A growing Birmingham information management company has just taken the entire fifth floor at 54 Hagley Road, Birmingham. Ridgian, which took just over 6,200 sq ft and was represented by KWB in the relocation, has more than doubled in size in the past four years. Currently employing 50 staff, it hopes to employ up to 30 over the next three to five years. 54 Hagley Road has benefited from a multi-million refurbishment, including the replacement of all windows and a new upmarket cafe bar and deli shop, Cafe Kix. Jason Betteridge, managing director at Ridgian said: “We felt the leafy suburb of Edgbaston was exactly the right image to reflect our market leading position and Birmingham’s central location is ideal for commuting to London and enabling clients to easily access us from across the UK. By taking the entire fifth floor, we had a blank canvas to incorporate all the needs of our business.”

>> New site is a natural fit A Midlands-based natural therapy charity has expanded into new premises after a surging demand. Omega Therapies Natural Therapy Centre & Training School has taken 1,376 sq ft premises with a fiveyear lease on a first floor unit at Newton House, Hewell Road, Redditch, helped by property agents John Truslove. Partner Joe Baker said: “We deal with a lot of clients who live a hectic lifestyle – they need chill-out time for themselves. This is about enabling them to take control of their own well-being, reduce stress and anxiety, and help them to better cope with the challenges that daily life can bring.” The centre, which primarily offers massages, also finds that keen sportsmen and women, plus gym enthusiasts, look to it to ease aches and pains and muscle tightness.

>> Martial arts group kicks on Up to 20 jobs have been created by a martial arts organisation’s move into an old Midland Post Office. Black Widow Academy has taken a five year lease on the full 4,500 sq ft ground floor of the town’s refurbished Old Post Office, 325 High Street, West Bromwich, in a deal put together by Bond Wolfe. It’s a major expansion for the firm which has an existing outlet in Ward End, Birmingham, and it means a new lease of life for one of West Bromwich’s iconic properties which dates back to 1918. It sits in a busy location in the heart of the business sector close to West Bromwich Building Society, Lloyds TSB Bank, Britannia Building Society, Natwest Bank and many solicitors and professionals.

>> A Tactile move for tech firm A thriving technology company has taken new offices at No 6 The Courtyard, Warwick Road, Solihull, following its recent refurbishment.

Tactile Technology, established in 2004, moved into the property after doubling its turnover in the past year. It’s now located alongside other growing businesses including Handelsbanken and Comply Serve.

The Courtyard’s location on the Warwick Road offers easy access to the M42 and is opposite Mell Square Shopping Centre, with Touchwood Court shopping centre also just a short walk away.

Jon Carmalt, from Jones Lang LaSalle, who act as joint letting agent on The Courtyard with Salway Bradbury, said: “The beauty of The Courtyard is that it allows both fledgling companies and established names to sit side by side. It offers larger organisations the chance to stand alone with self contained office buildings of up to 10,000 sq ft to smaller floorplates for companies looking to take anything from 500 sq ft.”

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wheels of fortune A West Midlands entrepreneur has matched historic metal finishing with great customer service to repair scuffed alloy wheels. The resulting franchise is now heading towards a £10m turnover. Steve Dyson reports “Four blokes in dirty overalls looking you up and down,” says Ginny Murphy, with some distaste. She’s remembering what women used to be faced with when all they wanted was to have the scratched alloys sorted on their treasured cars.

“It was a back street industry, almost a dark art,” adds the 45-year-old, describing how cars would disappear into a workshop under some railway arches, drivers never quite knowing what was being done or whether any of the work was approved or guaranteed.

It was this scenario that prompted Ginny to create The Wheel Specialists back in 2006, a start-up brand that now has a network of 19 franchises across the UK. It all began when Ginny’s husband, Neill Murphy, took over Lap-tab Ltd, his father’s company based in Erdington, Birmingham.

Founded in 1955, Lap-tab originally made tables for people to work or dine safely on their laps while they sat in armchairs. Over the years, this company specialised in powder coating for metal components, supplying the paint finishing for a wide range of industries.

“Although I was a nurse by trade, I started getting more and more involved in the business as the children grew up,” explains Ginny. “And I saw that Neill was getting a lot of enquiries from friends to refurbish their alloy wheels.

“This was only a sideline, but I started pushing the idea, and I quickly realised that there might be a big market for a recognised, trusted brand to repair alloy wheels – almost like how Kwik Fit give a standard service for other car repairs.

“People who love their cars just don’t want to send them anywhere to have their wheels repaired, and they are certainly nervous about

grubby backstreet workshops offering to do the job cash-in-hand. So I matched the need for customer service with the fact that Neill had devised a perfect paint finishing process for doing this work, and thought that this model could be replicated with training.”

Ginny thought that franchising might be the best way, as she didn’t want the responsibility for scores of staff all over the country. So she started making lots of enquiries, and in particular was guided by Colin Chadwick, a franchise networks specialist at Nat West Bank.

“I spent a good 18 months putting everything together, and we launched a ‘trial’ franchise at Lab-tab, to make sure the concept worked. >>

I quickly realised there might be a big market for a recognised, trusted brand to repair alloy wheels

Andrew whiting weAlth ConsultAnCy llP Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management tel: 0121 215 0926 Email: andrew.whiting@sjpp.co.uk Web: www.andrewwhiting.co.uk

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ENTREPRENUER Then, in 2007, we launched the first external franchise in Manchester.”

Ginny had already set up a company called LFC Developments Ltd – the acronym standing for Lapworth Farm Cottages, originally a property development idea. But she instead used it to grow The Wheel Specialists brand – and has not looked back since.

“I simply took the wheel side of Neill’s business and made it a franchisable model, then built on this, employing a member of staff, growing the team and adapting and changing the model as needed. So the technical concept was from Lab-tab, and I gave it the sales, marketing and franchise push. Neill’s in full agreement, of course! He’s a director of LFC and I’m a director of Lab-tab – we’re still married after 21 years and this dual strategy works really well.”

Ginny sells her franchises to carefully selected prospects for around £40,000 – helping to set them up, delivering all the training on how to run their business and the technical process, then providing business support, national advertising, optimisation of Google clicks, sales advice and online marketing templates.

Businesses need initial funding of around £150,000 to set up, including her franchise fee, and they then have to pay LFC Developments a 12% ‘management service fee’ on all sales. But this has put no-one off; six years after the first Manchester franchise, there are now 19 The Wheel Specialist franchises across the UK, with another four expected by the end of 2013 and five more “in the pipeline” for the end of 2014.

“Each franchise is a limited company and I basically grant them a contract to trade as The Wheel Specialist for five years,” says Ginny.

“So far, there’s been a 100% renewal rate – that’s a 0% failure – and importantly, 25% of referrals for new start-ups come from existing franchisees, so it’s obviously felt to be a successful system.”

Each franchise employs two or three staff, and their turnover ranges from £200k to £350k – meaning the country-wide network of The Wheel Specialists is now turning over some £5m, and employing 50 to 60 staff, figures that Ginny estimates could double by the end of 2014.

This activity means the ‘parent’ LFC

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Developments, which has a staff of seven, is currently turning over nearly £500k, and making annual profits of £200k. Again, Ginny hopes to double LFC’s own figures by the end of 2014.

“We’ve taken what was a very backstreet service to one you’d be very happy to go to. It’s based on excellent customer service from the initial quote through to repeat business.

That customer service includes a clear charging structure for properly explained repairs, and your car is guaranteed to be safe.

“That’s important to car owners – especially people with nice sports cars and classic cars who don’t want to drive around with scratched wheels.

“They need to know their car will be safe – and the backstreet garage and spray can job

From back streets to a booming market Ginny Murphy was born as Virginia McDonald-Clark in Leeds in 1968, quickly moving with her family to Solihull as a baby.

She was schooled locally at Tudor Grange, leaving sixth form aged 18 to train in nursing at Bristol, specialising in accident and emergency.

Ginny caught the travel bug and started to get it out of her system by working as a contract nurse on cruise ships in the Caribbean – but everything changed when she came back to see her parents in 1991.

“I’d only come for a visit but then I met Neill, who lived in the next road,” remembers Ginny.

“We’d grown up yards apart but had never met before. In ten days we got engaged, and were married in 10 months! It was no shotgun wedding though... we had our first child two years later.”

Ginny and Neill’s son, Jack, is now aged 19 and studying at Nottingham University; their daughter, Cara, is aged 15 and about to enter sixth form.

The family live in converted farm buildings in Lapworth, near Solihull, where they converted a barn for Ginny’s parents when her mother was developing Alzeimer’s. She’s now passed away, but Ginny’s dad, aged 82, still lives there, and she’s also got her 97-year-old granny – her mum’s mum – living in an annexe.

“I’m the nurse, after all,” says Ginny, who obviously enjoys caring for those close to her. “It’s nursing that makes me a businesswoman,” she continues. “I’ve always had to know what’s happening. I was not one to sit around not thinking about my husband’s business, I got involved.

“When he was given the business by his father it made sense for me to help – with administration and accounts to start with. From a nursing point of view there’s a huge amount of transferable skills. Prioritising, being very organised, getting the fundamentals right – processes, procedures, methodology – it’s all very key to nursing and equally to business.

“My business is very much based on ‘how would I like to be treated?’ And this is where the nursing comes in. If you follow the model you can have a successful business. Running the business ethically is very important to me. Being able to treat franchisees, suppliers and customers in the way I’d like to be treated.

“People are grateful for getting a good service, but we’re only giving customers what they should have anyway. And from a woman’s side, The Wheel Specialist is about being able to go to get your car sorted and not be faced with leers or pin-up calenders, to know that your car is safe, to understand what’s an easy process and to be treated pleasantly.”

This quality of service is the real key to Ginny’s success, reflected by her award as ‘Woman Franchisor of the Year 2013’ by the Encouraging Women into Franchising group, and achieving the coveted QFP standard – the Qualified Franchise Professional – by the British Franchise Association.

But despite the spiralling sales and recent glory, Ginny takes care to remember the traditional Birmingham firm that started the story: Lap-tab Ltd, with its history of metal coating, ironing boards and folding armchair tables from the 1950s.

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We’re still married and this dual strategy works really well

just didn’t inspire confidence.

“Our guarantee means something. We have a process, we provide a service and we use machinery that has resulted from years and years of development in the paint industry, and this is traceable and accountable at every level.

“The kind of paint finishes we use are now utilised by competitors.

“For example, the black chrome wheel finishes were developed by us with Ford, and this is now used everywhere.

“Our developed technology has provided the fundamental finishes that are now out there as standard. But we’re the specialists. We’re not dent and upholstery repairers, we’re wheel specialists – The Wheel Specialist.”

Ginny’s network of franchises offers everything from basic wheel repairs to entire colour changes, and from finishes in new designs to bespoke diamond cutting. It’s not cheap, but then it’s not a bank-breaker either... most jobs range from £50 to £120 a wheel, dependent on the make, the repairs needed or the redesign desired.

“High-end new vehicles are good examples,” says Ginny. “Dealers can charge up to £6,000 if the customer wants bespoke black wheels, or they can come to us and get an entire colour change on the basic wheels for £350.

“Another example is when you have to return your car to a lease company and you’ve scratched all the wheels. It would cost

thousands if the lease company demanded new wheels – or come to us and spend £200, job done.

“Dealers use us too – we have about a 60:40 public-trade split in the business, and we can deal with any car, any make and any wheel.”

As if to prove the versatility of The Wheel Specialist, Ginny lets slip some of top names they’ve served: pink wheels for Katie Price’s new Bentley, refinished alloys for Quentin Wilson’s Mercedes and, she thinks, a special job for Peter André, via an agent.

“We’ve deal with footballers too,” adds Ginny.

“Don’t ask me their names, football’s not my thing. But loads of them, especially in our main Manchester franchise.” n

Andrew whiting weAlth ConsultAnCy llP Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management tel: 0121 215 0926 Email: andrew.whiting@sjpp.co.uk Web: www.andrewwhiting.co.uk

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in association with

tipping the skills balance The issue: Is the region really equipped to retain talent and get young people into work via apprenticeships, training and education initiatives?

A major conference about skills shortages in the West Midlands should be held in 2014 – to embarrass the government into action.

That was the decision of a diverse group of 14 business leaders, academics and bankers in a wide-ranging debate on apprenticeships, training and education. Steve Dyson took notes on the comments.

What’s the core of the problem?

John James commented on his experience from the ten years he chaired South Birmingham College: “The dilemma we never resolved is colleges actually producing people in the right shape that industry wants.”

Colin Parker: “One of the things I’ve found is that there are an awful lot of skills that employers want in the manufacturing sector where there is no provision, either through the training equipment or sometimes the training resources to deliver those skills. For example foundry skills: there isn’t any provision in the Black Country – even though the Black Country is the centre of the foundry industry in the country.”

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Peter Winebloom: “How do we get employers to rise to the challenge of taking on more apprentices that the sector needs? We need more employers offering places, and they have to realise that young people are a very competitive commodity.

How do they attract young people? And how do we encourage young people themselves to consider apprenticeships as a serious option? I get extremely frustrated at the lack of appetite from young people to take up good apprenticeships.

We had a company the other day offering an extremely good salary – well over £1,000 a month – and only half the candidates we invited for interview turned up. Half couldn’t be bothered to seize the opportunity.”

Jayne Magee: “There are several ends to the spectrum... At a local level in the West Midlands, one day we’re talking to a company that is so overwhelmed with the number of people wanting to be an apprentice with their company, to the other extreme of another well-known global company who thought

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Taking part Prof David Bailey, Coventry University Business School Stephen Brittan, president, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group; managing director at BSA Machine Tools Ltd Kathleen Britain, head of citizenship, Barclays PLC Sebastian Down, director, BE Group Sally Hannah, assistant regional director, CBI West Midlands John James, independent director, and former chairman of South Birmingham College Jayne Magee, director of operations, Business in the Community Peter Mathews, chairman and managing director, Black Country Metals Ltd Ray O’Donoghue, managing director, Midlands and Wales, Barclays Colin Parker, project director, The Skills Factory Prof Edward Peck, University of Birmingham John Phillips, regional director, IoD Peter Winebloom, apprentices and skills director, EEF Jason Wouhra, chairman IoD; owner, East End Foods In the chair: Caroline Theobald, BQ Also present: Steve Dyson, BQ Venue: Hyatt Regency Birmingham 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.

they did an all-singing, all dancing recruitment campaign and didn’t even have one person apply. So there are vacancies there and apprenticeships to be had, but is the private sector being creative enough in its recruitment pathways?”

Stephen Brittan, referring to the image of the manufacturing sector, and its challenges, said: “The government gets it. Mum and dad don’t, and Joe Public still doesn’t. Engineering is still a dirty word – it’s still the man who mends your washing machine. We’ve had 30 years of dismantling engineering by successive governments; we’ve had two years trying to put it back together. The UK Commission for

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Employment and Skills believes that our current rate of apprentices will be only 25% of what we need in 2020, and the IMechE [Institute of Mechanical Engineers] says it’s only going to be 10%. We’ve got a company down the road, very successful, JLR, sucking anything that looks like an engineer out of the system, including their own supply chain. We’re going to have a serious problem in this area. We do need these skills, we do have the capability, this is the right place, but this is a long term job...

It’s a very serious situation if we’re going to be serious about manufacturing and exporting.”

Peter Mathews: “For international trade, we have serious concerns about skills shortages.

From what I can see, if we started to skill somebody up today, it’s going to take five years for them to catch up. We’ve got a massive backlog and a massive skills shortage which doesn’t help us when we’re trying to export; we’ve got orders we can’t fulfil because we haven’t got the right skills. We’re aware of companies coming into the West Midlands

who take their businesses elsewhere because they can’t find the right skills base to employ.”

Prof David Bailey: “What’s left of our manufacturing base is genuinely world class. There is a great opportunity to reshore activity back to the UK, but when you say to firms ‘what are the barriers to taking this further?’ they say: access to finance, support for exporters and skills. It’s about being able to bring activity back to the UK but then finding the skills base to support that. There’s a lot more we should be doing. Smaller firms will always find it very difficult to take on

When we looked at how many young people we were employing it was shocking

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DEBATE

apprentices and I think we should incentivise the big players to over-supply apprentices – whether it’s in manufacturing or automotive or engineering – to train more apprentices than they need and the ones they don’t take on, firms down the supply chain can pick up.

So we need to think about ways of incentivising the big players.”

What can be done about these challenges?

Kathleen Britain explained how Barclays had started its apprenticeship programme last year and, in just over 13 months, had employed around 1,100 apprentices across its UK business. She said: “When we looked at how many young people we were employing, it was rather shocking. Antony Jenkins [Barclays’ chief executive] took a very clear view that we need to train up young people to be bankers again.” 86% of the individuals that came into our apprenticeship programme were not in education, training or employment, so they were NEETS for at least six months, so we really focused on ‘not university educated’... >>

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and we’ve had great success with it. Our view on apprenticeships is ‘it’s good for business’... we’ve have very little attrition, our staff are engaged with training up and supporting young people... We have a target for another 1,000 apprentices by 2015. We realise that 2,000 apprentices is just a drop in the bucket of what the real need is out there...

“So what else can we do?... We recognise not everyone wants to go into banking! It’s with other businesses, other SMEs, other corporates to break down the barriers of trying to get apprentices in. One of the things we found – from our own client base – it’s really difficult to cut through the red tape to get young people into employment. We have a programme, ‘Bridges into Work’, from our own experience, some free guidance and help to get you through this – ‘this is what we’ve

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learned, learn from our mistakes’. SMEs have a real challenge, if they’re going to take on one apprentice, there’s a lot of work that goes into that.”

Steve Brittan talked about the careers young people looked towards, and bemoaned how many wanted to be “hairdressers or media stars”. His idea – which he admitted might not be popular – was linked to student fees.

He said: “If we know what we need, why

don’t we make all the manufacturing students free and charge the hairdressers full whack?

That’s probably a bit OTT, but within there, incentivising people to get into what we need where there’s a job at the end, would be a good start.”

Sally Hannah said that apprenticeships needed to be more attractive for parents to encourage their children, and said the CBI was working with the government on a potential new structure, possibly a clearer “learn and earn” scheme.

Jason Wouhra said: “There are a lot of practical difficulties with apprenticeships.

We’ve had about 30 people and we’ve retained only seven. Of those 30 people it does take a lot of effort and nurturing – if they turn around in six or seven months time to say: ‘Sorry this isn’t for me,’ you’re back to square one. The other issue is the funding schemes you’re getting from various government bodies or organisations that vary from week to week.

It’s not clear, there’s no consistency, and for a company our size – I consider us to be an SME – it becomes very difficult to keep up with the rules.”

Prof Edward Peck revealed that in two years time Birmingham University planned to open its own comprehensive school, specialising in science, technology, manufacturing, engineering and mathematics. He said: “We’re going to take a cross section of young people, aged 11, from across Birmingham and academically train them to think to be engineers, mathematicians...

Hopefully it will start to change expectations, change aspirations.

“If we can get that right, in collaboration with people in this room offering work placements, potentially apprenticeships, we can hopefully give a model to other schools on how you can take the curriculum and use it to support employment in very practical ways to make

Funding schemes from government bodies vary from week to week. It’s not clear and there’s no consistency

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engineering look attractive. We can work with you and the city as employers, particularly in engineering, to change the trajectory of our young people and get you more confident and optimistic about what we can do together.”

David Bailey welcomed Birmingham University’s plans – and said such a school would highlight how many children are currently failed by poor comprehensive schools, with little vocational training. He then referred to how parents, looking at either apprenticeships or a university space for their child, would often choose university, “unless apprenticeships open up opportunities in terms of a position in a successful company”.

He explained: “We [Coventry University] go into companies and offer degrees. We go into Jaguar Land Rover and provide degrees directly to staff that haven’t got a degree – and they may have been apprentices. So if you can say

there is a route to a university degree later on if you need it, and you’re not closing off any options, then potentially apprenticeships become a much more attractive option.

“And if you come and do a degree with us, you’re probably going to end up on a work placement anyway. Our issue is finding enough employers to take on students. A lot of people say they’re very engaged in that, they’re very interested in doing it – actually nailing them down to take the students on and then work with us to do it is a harder task.

“A lot of firms will find it very difficult and challenging to set up apprenticeships and they need a generalised support package.

If that could come, via Barclays for example, providing not only support but also peer advice I think that’s very valuable. But with of all these things we need a long-term commitment from government, whether it’s on the relevance >>

DEBATE

A lot of firms will find it very difficult to set up apprenticeships

If you’re a business that employs up to 1000 employees, you could get a £1500 grant to help cover the cost of starting a new apprentice aged 16 to 24 years old.

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Visit apprenticeships.org.uk or call 08000 150 600

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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AUTUMN 13

of manufacturing or about environmental targets, there has to be a very clear commitment of where we’re going to go to, that there’s going to be investment in this and it’s going to make sense for businesses to invest in it. Without that, ultimately it won’t work.”

Peter Mathews: “We reckon in the Black Country, the average age of a metal basher is 63. It’s a dying trade because youngsters haven’t taken the interest in looking at that as a career. I’m not going to go for qualified engineers who’ve got degrees, I’m going to go for youngsters who can turn a lathe using a computer, basic NVQ skills, that’s where the workforce weaknesses are in the manufacturing sector in the West Midlands.

“We’re not getting the message to the schools about where the opportunities are in engineering. It’s up to us – especially with the IoD and CBI here – we need to use these organisations to get people like us into the schools to say ‘this is where we need you’.

Unless the kids can think about a career in basic manufacturing – NVQ level – we’re not going to get anywhere.”

John Phillips said the IoD often “hits a brick wall” at schools with the “over-zealous local authority clipboard” frightening off businessmen. But Sebastian Down stressed how crucial it was for high quality careers advice at school level, with businesses involved as much as possible. According to Peter Winebloom, however, “the quality of careers advice that young people are getting is zero.”

Sally Hannah explained how the CBI was looking at ways for businesses to link with

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

We reckon in the Black Country the average age of a metal basher is 63. It’s a dying trade

education as early as primary school level, and that their members had been involved in the Businesses in the Classroom initiative, with employability skills as the basis. “That kind of engagement is hugely important.”

Jayne Magee agreed: “We had a group of employers who said they felt business engagement in schools tended to be ad hoc, pupil-focussed and not collaborative.

A group came up with a programme called Business Class, where they become part of a cluster.” She explained that the programme was unique because it had a structure where businesses helped schools with leadership and governance, with enterprise and employability, with the curriculum, and with wider community issues.

Ray O’Donoghue said: “Is it a fact that we need more structured work experience?

Or do we need to reinstigate what I had at school, where we had a complete careers department?” Kathleen Britain said: “One of the things we’ve launched is our Schools

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Programme, we have 1,900 UK schools signed up, and we connect businesses with young people to do work placements all through an online life skills system. We have the schools that want to do it, that want our help, [but] we haven’t seen the other businesses get on board with us.”

Ray O’Donoghue said: “Can you drive it the other way. If I’m a head, I’d be thinking: I want to get the kids that come out of my school either into education, jobs, or whatever, so would I not just want to go to all the local businesses and say link in with us, come and present or do something online. Can you push and pull this? Because I can’t think there’s a head that wouldn’t want to.”

John James asked how many of today’s older workers, the ones discussed as having the skills and still working in industry, had degrees, and was told “very few”, with several guests agreeing that these workers had instead attended technical colleges. “Exactly,” said John. “Doesn’t part of the problem lie in the fact that we’ve lost the technical colleges, and we haven’t replaced them? Remember that ridiculous idea from Tony Blair that 50% should go to university? It was absolutely nuts.

“The problem with the university sector against FE [further education] is that the government has always made the university sector more important. Universities’ funding has been different, they’ve been able to generate their own money, etc. FE has been absolutely regulated to the hilt by government funding and they’ve really closed down on things.

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DEBATE

AUTUMN 13

I think the FE system is kind of broken at the moment. It needs to take a lesson from the private sector in terms of delivering much more commerciallybased, vocational training technical skills that work, it’s got to be driven by the FE sector, and given the credibility and importance it deserves.”

Sebastian Down said: “There’s a lot of talk about engineering. If we’re projecting forward to the future, the 2031 plan, it doesn’t just have engineering in there, it has ICT, the whole mixture. What is the strategic approach to say actually, we need to be projecting forward to the skills we going to need in 20 years time, be that engineering or other areas and start now.”

Prof Edward Peck agreed: “That’s where I disagree with some of the conversation about skill base... we’re going to be a high-skilled economy... Have we got apprenticeships which turn an eye on tomorrow but give them the skills to be an ICT expert in 20 years time, creating a pathway from apprenticeships to FE and higher education that builds their skill base so they keep on developing and keep on contributing with something that doesn’t insult their intelligence and skills base 20 years later?”

Peter Mathews said: “But we are losing opportunities for export because we don’t have the skilled workforce, and that’s the problem, and that means other people can overtake us.

Inward investment doesn’t come to us because we haven’t got the skilled workforce.”

Jason Wouhra said it was often around instilling a “work ethic”, because too many youths felt they could get rich quick and perhaps didn’t realise that success was down to hard work. David Bailey said: “It’s about getting kids in schools into businesses as early as possible so they see the real world, they see what the opportunities are, they can see that manufacturing can be an exciting career...”

Jason added: “Yes, and for those leaders to bring those kids closer to them personally, and say: ‘Look, this is how I did it, this is what I have to go through.’ I’ve seen within my own

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business, where I’ve done that with employees, they moved up the ladder very quickly because they start to get that work ethic...”

Jason also said that relationships with education had to improve when companies were looking for training providers. He said that he’d had dozens of meetings with colleges about new courses, and that many offered what sounded like “the best things since sliced bread, but you actually ask them to deliver and it doesn’t happen for months, and you think ‘my life has moved on, my business has moved on, my needs might have moved on’.”

Peter Winebloom said: “We sometimes lose sight that the whole concept of apprentices is about bringing somebody on. They are a pain in the arse sometimes, they do go off the rails, they’re young people, you can’t put a wise head on their shoulders all the time. That was the whole purpose of an apprenticeship – to get them into the world of work, get them to understand the importance of time-keeping and attitude and commitment, and that’s what we’ve lost. We expect them to be wise and ready at 16 and they’re not, we’ve not prepared them well enough.” Sally Hannah agreed, and said: “This whole approach needs to start much, much younger.”

Colin Parker said: “I think the FE system is kind of broken at the moment. They say: ‘You can do a course but you’ll have to wait until July.’ As an employer you want a particular skill, you don’t want a qualification. The FE sector need to take a lesson from the private sector in terms of delivering much more commercially-based, vocational training, and it will be a big shock if the government funding becomes more employer-led, funding the colleges directly.”

David Bailey said: “Funding should instead go through local authorities and the LEPs and we can come up with a proper local skills strategy and indentify what skills we need and where the funding needs to go to equip people to those jobs.

“One of the missed opportunities is that when LEPs were set up the one thing they unanimously said they wanted control over was skills. And they didn’t get it. There’s still a chance to energise LEPs by taking away that funding that goes direct to colleges and put it into LEPSs and say: ‘OK, you commission >>

AUTUMN 13

COMPANY PROFILE

New technology training centre A multi-million pound expansion of apprenticeships and skills training will soon benefit engineering firms across the West Midlands.

The new EEF Technology Training Centre opens this autumn at Nexus Point, Aston, Birmingham, with modern equipment in more than 50,000 sq ft of space to reflect real manufacturing environments.

Staff and students will transfer from the EEF’s current centre in Tyseley, Birmingham this September, with new staff recruited to help train the extra students expected.

There are plans to increase the current 300 apprentices to at least 400 in the first year, while last year’s 550 adult students on upskilling courses could at least double to more than 1,000 in 2014. The current workforce of 30 will grow by an initial two staff to help deliver the expanded training, with plans to recruit more as student volumes continue to increase.

Peter Winebloom, the EEF’s apprentices and skills director, said: “The sector’s key issues are skills shortages and the need for a better supply of apprentices. The new centre shows how committed we are to help meet those demands.

“Our old building in Tyseley served us well for more than a decade, but we couldn’t continue there because its size and adaptability constrained our offering. It was not fit for purpose for the future. Nexus Point has the size and flexibility to suit fast-changing industrial requirements, allowing us to be responsive to new technology and environments, producing a well-trained workforce.”

The size of the EEF’s new centre means each student will be equipped with personalised learning spaces and their own work stations.

Training will be provided in everything from computer aided design to traditional machining concepts, with other skills including CNC technology, welding and fabrication, electrical and electronic maintenance.

Peter said: “The training centre is employer-owned and employer-focused – the only one in the area dedicated to engineering and manufacturing. Our investment in new space and modern equipment

EEF apprentices signpost the new world class centre for a world class workforce in Birmingham

The training centre is employer-owned and employer-focused – the only one in the area dedicated to engineering and manufacturing. means we can increase the quality of training in replicated factory environments, carefully tailored to employers’ needs.

“We’re taking our experienced staff and a lot of good practice with us, but the new centre is a clean sheet of paper in terms of space, machinery and flexibility. We’re meeting the sector’s needs by increasing the number of training programmes, and expanding hours to include more evenings, weekends and block release courses.

“We can now be fully responsive to employers’ needs. We’ve got the space to train people in exactly the way they want, on their own machines if necessary. We want the new centre to be seen as the premier facility in the West Midlands, and for employers to say: ‘Why would

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I go anywhere else?’”

Peter added: “What I’d say to employers is: ‘Come and tell us what you need.’ We will welcome that dialogue and will quickly respond to the sector’s needs.”

The new EEF Technology Training Centre is at Nexus Point, Aston, Birmingham B6 7AF. Visit www.apprentices.org.uk, call 0121 707 1414 or email skills@eef.org.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

DEBATE

AUTUMN 13

Barclays citizenship commitments

the courses you want for business needs.’

We could still do something around that.”

What can those around the table commit to do differently to help?

Peter Mathews said: “Maybe BQ Live could get together and have a really robust conference on skills shortages, and embarrass people to come and put their six penn’orth in to get on with it. And this publicity may help kick start some reaction. Make people realise how responsible they’ve got to be. I’m suggesting embarrassing politicians, get really robust about it.”

This idea was liked, although there was some concern that it’s difficult to organise and to get the right people together to make an impact.

Caroline Theobald said: “As a point of action, can we ask that if BE Group was prepared to organise a conference here in the Midlands to address this, could they call on your leverage, which is substantial? Can I have a show of hands: how many people would put their networks to help get the right people [to the conference]?” This was met with unanimous support.

John James said: “It would need some sponsorship and would need to be a fairly dramatic challenge, such as ‘the skills shortage is sucking the blood out of the economy in the West Midlands’. Dramatic, focused and strong.” Peter Mathews said: “Out of all the banks on this patch, it’s Barclays that gives some leadership on this sort of stuff, and long may it continue... If you’re going to do this, you need a small core of business people who can see the effects that skills shortages have on the regional economy to put some action points together to build a proper conference.

Don’t rush it, get it right, get the right people

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

to come and the right publicity to embarrass people to get something done.”

Sebastian Down said: “I’ll take responsibility for going away and I’ll look at the figures, see if we can make a model that would work to deliver it, and will then call upon a few people to discuss what it might look like, because clearly it’s a massive topic and you need to give it a focus to stop it being a talking shop.”

There was some discussion about potentially jumping on the back of another event or project, like the Skills Show this autumn, but several guests felt it ought to be planned in more detail and should be a standalone event.

John James said: “I don’t think it should be lost under the umbrella of anything else.

It’s so important it requires its own separate, dedicated focus, with a clear structure on what we’re trying to achieve, and what the questions are. And in reality you’re looking at next spring to organise that properly. You then give yourself time to get sponsorship together to give it real meat.”

Caroline Theobald, bringing the evening to a close, said: “I think we really have got something that could be actioned coming out of tonight.” Ray O’Donoghue thanked guests for their attendance and added: “I’ve got a feeling we’re not finished yet!

This is something we’re passionate about, it’s not a passing fancy, I want to lead the way on this in the Midlands and I’m very happy for us to be involved.” n The debate was held in a private dining room at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham, with the support of Barclays. It was chaired

by Caroline Theobald, managing director, Bridge Club Ltd.

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Barclays’ community investment strategy is an important part of our overall citizenship commitments. Around the world, communities are facing unprecedented social and financial challenges – particularly acute for disadvantaged young people.

Barclays’ community programmes have been running for many years; and we have evolved them to focus on the needs of the next generation. Our goal is a simple one – to help five million disadvantaged young people around the world develop the employability, financial, and enterprise skills they need to fulfil their potential. Last year, we invested £64.5 million in community programmes and reached 1.2 million young people. Society expects progressive, leading companies not only to deploy their business activities in a way that delivers a net positive benefit to society but to also demonstrate how doing so is an integral part of their corporate ethos and business model.

This requires a different approach to the historical notions of philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and risk management.

We are incredibly proud of the programmes we support especially our apprenticeship and work experience initiatives. But we can’t do this alone which is why we are working with clients, government and education providers to tackle the issue of youth unemployment. Barclays recently joined forces with Pailton Engineering of Coventry to offer a work experience placement to Ben. During his week at Pailton, Ben was not only given the insight into the world of engineering, but he was working within individual departments at Pailton to experience first-hand every stage of the design and manufacturing process.

This is a great opportunity for both young people and UK business to work together and develop skills of the next generation.

Kathleen Britain, Head of Citizenship.

For more information about Barclays’ Citizenship Programmes, please email kathleen.britain@barclays.com

AUTUMN 13

COMPANY PROFILE

Building your workforce, today and tomorrow For any business, building a dynamic workforce is key. Finding the right people and giving them the skills they need can make the difference between success and failure Too often, recruitment and training programmes that are supposed to help employers can become part of the problem; navigating complex funding arrangements, deciding on the right training and finding providers willing to take the time to gain a full understanding of your business can sometimes seem an impossible task.

At Ingeus we make things simple.

Our philosophy has always been to put the needs of employers first. We know that every business is different and that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach simply does not meet the requirements of most employers. That’s why we take the time to understand the needs of each business we work with. It is this understanding that enables us to provide a unique blend of tailored support and training. Funding for training can seem complicated too, but we are experts at making the whole process simple and jargon-free, ensuring that any investment in your workforce adds maximum value.

We not only tailor our training and support to each business, we also make sure it is matched to the needs of each individual employee. Our award-winning, flexible training methods allow employees to learn in the style and at the time that suits them best.

Ingeus has over 16 years’ experience delivering Apprenticeships and training in the UK, and is one of the leading providers of government-funded services that connect employers with people looking for work. We have enabled thousands of individuals to improve their capabilities and thousands of businesses to increase productivity and become more competitive.

We offer employers an integrated way to recruit, retain and develop their workforce: an easy way to build the right workforce for the future. For the last five years we have been listed in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For, so we know what it takes to create and maintain a dynamic, motivated and expert workforce.

John Morley, Director of Employer Services, Ingeus

Ingeus offers employers an integrated way to recruit and develop their workforce.

“Our highly-qualified and experienced Training Consultants work with employers to develop a comprehensive understanding of their staffing and skills needs”, says John Morley, Director of Employer Services at Ingeus. “Through our recruitment service we can access a large pool of motivated candidates to fill staff vacancies quickly and at no cost to the employer. We can then use our expert knowledge to deliver work-based programmes that fulfil the unique training needs of both new and existing staff. Our programmes are proven to develop the skills and competencies that individuals and businesses need to boost productivity, performance and profitability. We can even develop bespoke training solutions if

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something suitable does not already exist.”

Once a plan has been agreed, our dedicated Employer Services team takes care of implementation. We pre-screen and submit candidates for new roles, design and deliver the agreed staff training, and manage the end-to-end process required to access government funding.

Finally, we provide employers with ongoing insight into the progress and performance improvements their staff are making throughout the training period. We work hard to deliver measurable business improvements for all of our clients, which is why thousands of employers large and small, across all sectors, use our services time and time again.

Of employers who offer Apprenticeships, 92% believe that they lead to a more motivated and satisfied workforce. But it’s not only employers who value Apprentices; customers do too. In fact, 81% of consumers say they favour using a company which takes on Apprentices over one which doesn’t.

Any business that hasn’t recognised the potential of Apprentices could be at a serious commercial disadvantage to competitors who have.

Terry Hogg of Robinsons Estate Agents quickly recognised the value of Apprentices when he recruited with Ingeus. “We will benefit enormously by taking on someone who can grow within our organisation and learn the skills which are important to the continued success of our business.

We were so impressed with the support we received from Ingeus that we’ve already taken on another two Apprentices.”

To find out how Ingeus can help you build your workforce, contact us on 0845 3308184, email training@ingeus.co.uk or visit www.ingeus.co.uk/employers

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

Turning ambition into results

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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AUTUMN 13

INTERVIEW

An ambitious young business services group is rapidly building a big domestic and international reputation from its national network of offices. Brian Nicholls speaks to Alastair MacColl to uncover what is driving the BE Group’s emerging success A cleverly designed prospectus currently being picked up across the country carries a five star promise of experience, established infrastructure and a commitment to developing innovative products.

Copies of the publication are going to local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), local authorities and a range of strategic public and private sector partnerships. It sets out a portfolio of services designed to help businesses succeed and grow.

The services are being offered by a group which has quickly carved out a strong track record in fostering business success. It carries with it bags of expertise - in commercial development procurement, supply chain development, investment programmes, business advice and business to business publishing and events. Its methodology is to generate very specific results for particular customers operating in their chosen markets.

It’s an approach that has helped the group expand its reach, enabling it to now work with businesses and organisations of all sizes and that cut across a range of sectors.

Launched in February 2007, the BE Group’s client list now includes the likes of Marks & Spencer, Gatwick Airport, BT, BAE Systems, Santander, Lockheed Martin, Skanska and Network Rail, with more equally big corporate names expected to come on board in the coming months.

Since its inception it has invested heavily in talent, infrastructure and systems - a strategy which chief executive Alastair MacColl says has given the group the ability to make tangible, genuine differences to the businesses they are involved in.

In the public sector, meanwhile, The

Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise are among its clients, along with local authorities in places like Westminster, Croydon, Derby and Durham.

Further afield, the company is also working with Sydney Rail Infrastructure in Australia – one of several examples of the group’s increasingly global presence.

The business is now well established across

Our team is creative, energetic and committed.

And we all care passionately about being better at what we do than anybody else the UK - with offices in Glasgow, County Durham, London and Yorkshire.

Since being commissioned to work on behalf of UKTI in England (the UK government department strengthening the foothold of UK businesses in foreign markets) some years ago, BE Group has been running inward and outward international trade missions, operating in about 31 countries during the last 18 months. The group also works globally with Scottish Development International.

BQ meets MacColl as the BE group is

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

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preparing for imminent trade missions in Brazil, China, South Korea, Ghana and Turkey.

Some missions are sector focused, some centred on specific marketing opportunities, while others are more general.

Increasingly though, the BE Group is taking its own services into international markets, recently working on projects in the USA, Australia and France.

MacColl summarises: “We operate what is essentially a comprehensive portfolio of business services designed to help businesses of all shapes and sizes to succeed and grow. We do this partly through business to business information and events. The business information is distributed via magazines (BQ magazine for example is part of the group), and also via websites, emails and through all of the other communication channels people now use to get the information they want when they want it. We like to think our information and content is unique and adds real value to those that use it. Increasingly we are also producing a great deal of highly specialised sector specific information in the form of commissioned reports.

“Our events activity complements our approach to information with the ability to get your message across online, in print and face to face. We run everything from large conferences and targeted exhibitions to intimate consultation events and everything in between. We specialise in helping businesses get in touch with other businesses to uncover opportunities and build commercial relationships.”

His assured approach to understanding how businesses want to communicate is understandable, given the way the group has chosen to specialise and the fact that before this role at the BE Group, he worked in newspapers and media related businesses across the UK for almost two decades, leading publishing businesses for Trinity Mirror plc, the Daily Mail and General Trust Group. >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

INTERVIEW

AUTUMN 13

The BE Group also helps develop and manage domestic and global supply chains. “We focus largely on major infrastructure projects and optimising the impact of particular sectoral, market or event specific opportunities,” he says. “We make sure that supply chains are working as effectively as possible, that they are efficient and sustainable.

“Again it’s about bringing businesses together in a way that provides commercial benefit for all those involved.”

It is on this sort of assignment the group has worked with organisations like Heathrow Airport and Westminster Council, and with big construction firms like Skanska (which Swedish students have recently voted a better place to work than Google, Ikea or Volvo). “We’re working with businesses all over the UK and elsewhere now to ensure they’re properly equipped to seize advantage of supply chain opportunities on particular projects or in particular areas,” says MacColl.

One of the companies in the group, Action Sustainability, operates a supply school for the Construction Industry Training Board and a group of influential construction contractors.

MacColl explains: “We’ve created an online resource to help train and develop a number of key individuals within construction firms to help them to operate sustainably. Top tier contractors can ensure through this their supply chains are as sustainable as possible.

“Procuring large projects is complex and demanding. To supply, say, Skanska, contractors will need to have demonstrated that they can establish how much water they’ll use on a project, how much power, whether or not those working on the project understand how they must behave and operate towards it, and use certain materials.

“When companies pitch for the next major job, like a big football stadium in Rio, or the London Olympics, they need to be able to say with authority that they have an effective and sustainable supply chain that is as carbon efficient as possible and as commercially efficient as possible.

“We also bring together big contractors and small businesses with great products and services that can add value to both new and established supply chains.

“It’s a feature common with other businesses

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

A growing regional presence As the BE Group continues to expand, its links with the Midlands are strengthening and the region has been outlined as a strategic area of growth for the firm.

MacColl says: “The group is making a sustained investment in the Midlands through our publishing portfolio and we’re also building up a formidable series of partnerships in the public, private and not for profit sectors. We already have an influential and expanding group of customers that we provide business services to.”

Through its subsidiary NDI – the supply chain development group for defence and related sectors – it lists a number of regional businesses among its members, including Ruukki UK, Mira Ltd, Phoenix Dynamics and Delcam.

Meanwhile the BE Group will have a hand in several business events taking place in the Midlands in the coming months.

These include the Think Local for Business series, which combines networking and ‘meet the buyer’ opportunities and inspirational seminars.

For more details on the event which is coming to Tamworth, Burton and Lichfield, visit: www.thinklocal4business-show.co.uk.

“Whether it’s business information, events or commercial development that you need, we intend to make sure that we’re providing alternatives for businesses in the Midlands that we are always one step ahead of the market,” MacColl says. in the group, that they specialise in certain key sectors.

“Our supply chain teams work largely in the UK. But over the last six months we’ve started working in Australia on a large rail project, advising on procurement. Consultancy teams have also been working in the USA and France. Increasingly, our portfolio is starting to internationalise.”

Much of the group’s work outside the UK comes via companies it has worked with at

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home, and which want further support for their international activity. At the same time, the group is building contacts and networks through its own people as they travel, to developing markets in particular.”

The group also has established structures in place to runs programmes, initiatives and projects that bring together public sector sponsors wishing to stimulate private sector growth. The aim of most of this activity is quite simply to help businesses to succeed,

AUTUMN 13

If there’s one thing that makes us stand out it’s our relentless effort to deliver exceptional results. That’s what we do best grow and create more jobs.

In the North East of England, for example, the group operates the Let’s Grow programme, with Trinity Mirror and UNW, Newcastle based chartered accountants.

This involves £30m of regional Growth Fund grants being made available in the form of a competitive process to firms with capital or research and development projects that look likely to spur growth and encourage investment. Another programme in the same region, Investment for Growth, is a £12.5m ERDF funded programme, helping smaller businesses to expand with European support.

And in Yorkshire, the BE Group is helping to roll out superfast broadband on behalf of NY Net, working with a couple of thousand businesses to maximise their potential through the way in which they make the most of the new superfast broadband technology.

Innvisage is another group company that helps clients (mainly private sector) to make best use of data.

“Our portfolio is a complementary blend of products and services that are designed to help businesses to succeed and grow. That’s the golden thread that runs through our business information, events and commercial development activity,” MacColl says.

“We strive to make everything we do uncomplicated and it’s all designed to produce the very best results. There are lots of things that make our business special including our people, products and the level of service we offer. But if I had to pick out one thing that makes us really stand out from the crowd it’s our relentless effort to deliver exceptional results.”

He agrees the transformation of the BE Group

has been “remarkable”. Exactly four years after start-up in 2007 it developed from a regional to a national operation almost overnight, buying London headquartered Business-to-Business. He suggests: “We’re still quite young, still developing, still maturing and still experimenting. And we’re still trying new and different things to make us better at what we do, to deliver even better results for our customers.”

Competition in all areas that the group has an interest in is “ferocious”. “In business information, publishing and events I doubt competition has ever been more acute,” he ventures. “It has sharpened even further in what is still a challenging market place.

Businesses are fighting to develop new products and new services that will sustain their market position in an economy less predictable and more volatile, than probably at any time in the last 25 years.

“New technology also means that you need to always be thinking a few moves ahead of a fast paced market.

“We’ve some very accomplished competitors who keep us on our toes, and we constantly and relentlessly re-assess and develop our own products and services. We welcome the competition. We like to think our investment in time, energy and money ensures our products and services, and our people, anticipate where the market’s going, rather than just catching up.

“Our customers are sophisticated. They know what they want. Again, we welcome that.

We think we’re very good at understanding our customers, and we differentiate ourselves as a business by providing exceptional service.

We want to provide such good value that we represent the go-to business for those things that we specialise in.”

The group also has another competitive advantage. “Unlike many competitors, we don’t have shareholders demanding short-term results. Our business is co owned by trusts that have our employees as their beneficiaries. That means that we can choose to prioritise over the longer term and invest accordingly. We’re trying to develop a business that will be great in five, 10 and 15 years’ time. That’s very good news for our employees and our customers”.

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INTERVIEW

So what is BE’s market share? “It’s very difficult to judge in the service sector, much harder than in manufacturing for instance, since it’s difficult to measure the absolute output. I think it fair to say that as a relatively young business our market share is significant and growing.

We expect to gain further market share incrementally and steadily.

And we want to do it through sustained growth that sticks.

“The best thing about my job is the people I work with and the satisfaction we all get from generating great results for all of our customers.

“Our team is creative, energetic and committed. And we all care passionately about being better at what we do than anybody else.” n

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

COMPANY PROFILE

AUTUMN 13

How to win a customer service award from Government

By Rob Bhol CEO of DBS Law

DBS Law has just been awarded the Customer Service Excellence standard.

The CSE standard is a Cabinet Office initiative, part of the Governments drive to improve customer service across a range of industrial sectors. We are one of the first private sector organisations to receive the award and most definitely the only legal services Company.

The award is presented after a rigorous assessment of an organisations service delivery, its staff and management procedures, and most importantly from the feedback from its customers.

The assessors probed into everything we do in much the same way as Ofsted inspect a school.

It was quite nerve wracking at the time. Finally getting the news we had made the grade was a relief and a reward for five years of implementing institutional and cultural change in the business In our business “customer” is a word that’s rarely used except in front of muggles. Our traditional language is important to our profession. “Clients, matters, files, respondents, practice, heretofore,” these words define us and guarantee our status.

Sadly our use of language is also a barrier to the public who are used to customer service speak.

Our collective resistance to the linguistic scourge of the modern world has made us vulnerable too.

We’ve been easily assailed by the competition from claim farmers and retail corporations and it’s helped the government bring in divisive changes to the justice system with little resistance from the public.

It was the realisation of our otherness that made us embark on a journey into customer service management. It all began with us asking all our clients about our service. We actively encouraged them to compare us with other more commercial service providers like supermarkets, online retailers and banks. We came out close to the banks and this was back in 2008 so that was bad news.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

Rob Bhol CEO of DBS Law

It was the realisation of our otherness that made us embark on a journey into customer service management We asked them what they wanted from us to make their experience a better one and they were quite emphatic in their responses. They wanted plain speaking and straightforward explanations of the processes. They demanded to know how much it

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would cost and of course how long it would take.

They said they wanted to know their case handlers name and they wanted to know they could contact them easily when they had a question or needed reassurance. They said we should go to them and

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not the other way round, and if they called us they didn’t want to listen to a tape or be given options and buttons to press, and they certainly didn’t want to wait for us to reply to them at our convenience.

It was clear we needed to make some radical changes and that’s exactly what we did. We introduced a call response team we called Elite to emphasise their importance to the new regime.

Elite members were selected from our young legal executives for their drive and enthusiasm and for their language skills. Their training for the jobs included entrenching respect and empathy for every caller. Recognising the ethnic and cultural diversity of the community we serve and we introduced 365 day access to the first response team.

The customers’ second contact with us was face to face. We created a home visit team who were on the road every day. They were also trained to a high standard; they were patient and down to earth individuals not there to sell only to listen and sympathise and then explain the process without gloss or hyperbole.

Satisfied customers who signed the necessary documentation in their homes would subsequently be assigned a case handler who would call and introduce themselves within 48 hours. The customer was told how they could contact their personal legal representative and was assured they would be called back within 24 hours if they weren’t available immediately. Customers were asked to choose a preferred method

COMPANY PROFILE

DBS Law staff in school teaching road safety

charitable activities for many years but it was sporadic and mostly involved running or slimming to raise money for worthy causes.

So we decided to create a stronger link between our business and the help we gave the community.

Now road safety is a major theme for us because of our experience of dealing with the aftermath of car accidents so we chose to support Brake and the Midlands Air Ambulance. In partnership with Birmingham City Council we produced a

Now road safety is a major theme for us because of our experience of dealing with the aftermath of car accidents so we chose to support Brake and the Midlands Air Ambulance of communication for updates on the case.

Important developments are of course taken care of in writing but the customer could also opt receive texts, e-mails and phone calls as well.

Procedural changes are simple to make and management edicts are easy to write the problem is always getting buy in from your people. We decided we needed to put our money where our mouths were and make a value shift in the firm.

We looked at the way we were doing community outreach as the basis for making us a people focussed business. We had been involved in

schools road safety show delivered by our staff to thousands of kids in the city. We even asked our friends at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to produce a road safety concert for us which 3,000 children have so far seen.

We don’t just fund these projects, all our staff, managers and directors are given time off and encouraged to take part in these activities. This is the key to developing the empathy for others we were looking for. Probably the most efficient project for achieving this goal is our involvement with The Prince’s Trust. We are a Patron and we

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fund their Enterprise Course in the West Midlands.

It gives unemployed young people training and loans for starting businesses.

It may have seemed to other businesses a strange move for a provincial solicitors firm to make.

The investment is significant both in terms of capital and in time and it’s clearly not our core business. However, the outcomes for the young people and for us as a business have justified our decision entirely.

Our funding supports a scheme to promote self-employment and enterprise amongst disadvantaged 18-30 year old from the region.

The monetary investment is combined with practical support for the training of the young people and mentoring after it by our commercial and financial experts over a four year period.

The decision to get involved was founded on concern for the growing crisis in youth unemployment around the Midlands, and the shock of the riots in 2011. But what drew us further in were the benefits it brings to our staff.

The tutors and mentors are invigorated by the enthusiasm and interest showed to them by the young people. They never fail to be moved by the stories of struggle and lack of opportunity told to them by the young people either.

Our business has benefited enormously from what I call a “good will glow”. Our staff are >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

COMPANY PROFILE

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CBSO (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra) performing DBS Law’s road safety concert

proud of themselves and proud to be able to say they work for a firm that makes a real difference in their community. I can certainly recommend this approach to other businesses as a positive method for boosting productivity.

We used individual methods to get staff on board with the customer service culture too. Changing

progress in improving our service anyway.

Training and motivation have obviously been important for keeping everyone focused on customer service improvement as our primary objective. That and regular performance reviews by managers and team leaders. We give prominence to our internal and customer

Our business has benefited enormously from what I call a “good will glow”. Our staff are proud of themselves and proud to be able to say they work for a firm that makes a real difference in their community the bonus scheme was fundamental. Previously it was determined by exceeding individual target earnings combined with overall company performance. We changed it so customer feedback now accounts33% of the payment level. Unlike other performance related pay schemes that are simply designed to reduce the wage bill we needed this to be perceived as fair. So to reassure the fee earners that the assessment was objective we asked every customer to take part in our survey and not just a focus group. It was not as onerous a task as it sounds since we had already decided to do it to properly evaluate our

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

communications to stories of high performance by our legal representatives and they are always backed up by the customers glowing praise and the grateful thanks from management.

As managers the most difficult decision for us to make was agreeing to have the results of our customer service surveys independently audited and to publish them every year. Waiting for the results is like sweating on the birth of your first child exciting and terrifying in equal measure.

This is how we achieved the Customer Service Excellence standard and it’s great for us but awards don’t pay bills and you are probably

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wondering what we get out of it that was tangible?

Well 84% of our customers say they would recommend us to a friend and their satisfaction levels are over 90%. Significantly this has translated into more instructions over the last five years.

Our cases are being dealt with more efficiently and consequently more profitably. Our income has risen by 170% since we began our customer service journey, we have a low turnover of staff and we have just started an acquisition programme with which we aim to double in size over the next two years and I put much of this down to us embracing the customer service culture and becoming a people focused business. I would urge other BQ readers to do the same.

Tel 0800 1577055 or 0844 2770800 www.dbslaw.co.uk

UNBEATABLE ...well that’s what our members tell us (we’re too modest to say it) when it comes to connecting businesses to opportunity.

WE DO THIS BY: n Putting you in touch with other businesses n Saving you money n Helping with marketing opportunities n Offering (mostly free) business support and advice n And making sure the Government hears your views

YOU’LL BE AMAZED HOW MUCH WE CAN HELP YOU!

Birmingham

Chamber of Commerce Group

Accelerate your business growth by joining Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group.

Call 0121 607 1874 for more information or visit www.birmingham-chamber.com

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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AUTUMN 13

BUSINESS LUNCH

a two way street Andy Street fills two major roles in business. He is managing director of John Lewis, which opens a new department store in Birmingham in 2014. He also heads the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP. Steve Dyson met him for lunch

Can you picture Andy Street standing at the front of a packed, open-topped bus, microphone in hand? No? Well read on, because an unguarded moment is the precious one when searching for the real person behind an interview.

And to start with, the demands of corporate life means lunch with Andy Street feels like it’s going to be quite rushed (he’s got less than an hour to spare) and a little stilted (Sophie Traherne, a researcher from the Welsh Conservative group, is shadowing him for the day). Fortunately, the sun’s shining through the roof at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham, the salads are fresh, the fish nicely fried and Sophie is pleasant – and content to remain in the background. All are perfect ingredients for relaxation and, towards the end of our short meeting, Andy mentions in passing that he celebrated his 50th birthday in style earlier this summer. I pounce and persuade him to describe it: he invited 150 friends and family to an exclusive party at the Grade II-listed Highbury Hall in Moseley, Birmingham – the home of civic leader and statesman Joseph Chamberlain from 1880 until his death in 1914. Once they’d all viewed Chamberlain’s desk and the champagne was flowing, a special treat arrived that Andy will only say cost

• enhancing • connecting • developing

him “several hundred pounds”: an opentopped bus to take everyone on a sight-seeing tour of Birmingham.

The bus takes in the Cadburys and Birds custard factories, goes through the Jewellery Quarter, stops in front of the historic Council House and Town Hall in Victoria Square, and then runs along Broad Street, the city’s Golden Mile. It travels to Villa Park and Edgbaston cricket ground, passes the Tolkien trail in Hall

The LEP is far, far bigger than this decision about a single pot Green and the world-famous Cardinal Newman Oratory, before re-entering the city from for a memorable panorama of the historic St Martin’s Parish Church – overshadowed by the iconic Selfridges building.

“What better way to show off the city that I love,” says Andy, “and to show friends from London and the South East, some with

jaundiced views of Birmingham, just what a great place it is.”

And it’s now that I can hear, see and almost feel this man’s genuine passion for the city where he grew up: “What I love about Birmingham is the quality of life. The quality of housing, the social scene, the cultural diversity, the top artists, the world class music and dance, the easy access to leisure – it’s just >> brilliant. There’s a tremendous story to be told about what it’s like to live here.”

Andy’s enthusiasm for the West Midlands began as a child. Born in Banbury, he arrived in Northfield, Birmingham, aged just 10 months, attending Green Meadow primary school in Selly Oak. His family then moved to Solihull and Andy went to King Edwards Grammar School in Edgbaston before leaving to study at Oxford University. He started as a graduate trainee at John Lewis and, after management postings in various department stores, head office and manufacturing units, became managing director of John Lewis Milton Keynes in 1993. He moved to the huge John Lewis Bluewater store in Greenhithe, Kent, in 1998, became the company’s supply chain director in 2000, and was appointed to the main partnership board as director of personnel in 2002. >>

Visit us online broadstreetbirmingham.com Follow us on Twitter @broadstreetbrum Facebook www.facebook.com/Broadstreetbid

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

BUSINESS LUNCH In February 2007, he became managing director of the entire John Lewis division – responsible for all the company’s multi-billion pound activities.

Andy also became the first chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP (GBSLEP) in May 2011. I try to probe his disappointment at the government’s recent decision to make its entire devolved regional spending pot a miserable £2bn – after some had hoped for as much as £70bn. Did this spell failure for the LEP’s vision of growth?

“The LEP is far, far bigger than this individual decision about a single pot,” he says. “I never thought it would be £70bn – and cringed when the BBC started saying it might be that much. Am I a little disappointed? Of course.

But in a crucial spending review, he [George Osborne] defended this money and it’s still a new way of doing things. And that £2bn doesn’t stand alone.

“There’s also European money for each LEP that’s more than that. It’s about how we sum up the total investment.

“What we’ll now be doing is making sure our application for this money is the best and that we get our fair share.

“Our role was to demonstrate to government that it [a devolved single pot] was possible, to give people confidence. After all, the Communities and Local Government settlement was 10% down. Against that context, the fact they ring-fenced this pot at all was the most important thing. We [the LEP] had no money two years ago, not a penny.

We’ve got quite a sum now. There’s existing government funds from the Regional Growth Fund, money from the City Deal, European money – so we weren’t just sitting there waiting for one fund.”

But surely Andy felt under pressure on 26 June, when the ‘tiny’ £2bn announcement was made – the same day as GBSLEP’s AGM? It’s another swerve: “I went to the AGM confident that what we’d done in the last year was fundamentally a good job. There are some bright sparks in the local economy, the relative performance has got better in the last three years, we believe we’re at last holding our own.

“You have to have utter self-confidence that the strategy and direction is right. I saw this [£2bn decision] as a milestone along the way.

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It’s important it doesn’t blow you off course. It’s all about belief. You’ve got to keep your eye on the main prize, the long-term goal.”

But with a roomful of business leaders deflated at the tiny ‘single pot’, how did Andy pull off what was reportedly an inspired presentation at the AGM? “I’ve always believed that if the leader is clear, positive and has a strong sense of direction others will do the same. We have to exude confidence... It’s [the LEP] not perfect, but on the plus side it’s getting three things right. One, alliances. Have we brought about

collaboration? Yes, we have... On individual projects, LEPs have brought together local authorities, the public and private sectors.

“Two, we are getting a much, much better hearing for Greater Birmingham from national government. Historically, the region didn’t, but it’s now seen to be doing a much better job.

The LEP really won the confidence of central government that things could be trusted here and that we’re first in the queue. I know they were very struck at how we worked with Michael Heseltine on his localism plan.

A great place that’s getting even better However many times you see it, the huge, airy entrance, foyer, bar and restaurant area at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham is impressive. The glass ceiling is two floors high, and this space creates the feeling that you are somewhere special – with guests, managers and staff buzzing around. In the Aria restaurant, we were served with iced water – a must during the city’s heatwave. Andy was please with his freshly cooked Caesar salad with chicken, parmesan and croutons. Sophie had a refreshing and chunky tomato soup. As always, I juggled shorthand and fork, but the prawns in my cocktail were plump and juicy, the Mary Rose sauce tangy and the brown bread soldiers good for mopping up. The main courses drew high praise: Andy’s was pan-fried salmon, served on saffron, fennel and spinach; mine was pan-fried sea bass with a soft boiled egg and baby lettuce. Light but tasty – we agreed that we couldn’t have chosen better on such a hot day. Perhaps because until recently she was a student, Sophie chose smoked salmon, cream cheese and cress in a toasted Panini and seemed happy enough. Andy and Sophie dashed away within the hour, but I remained twice as long, enjoying a glass of Chardonnay and a well-brewed double expresso. The Hyatt has just begun a £6m refurb, and so the already enjoyable restaurant location is only going to improve.

Hyatt Regency Birmingham, 2 Bridge Street, Birmingham B1 2JZ, www.birmingham.regency.hyatt. com. Contact: birmingham.regency@hyatt.com / 0121 643 1234 / @HyattBham (on Twitter).

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“Three, we’re focusing on the strategy, using existing delivery partners to carry it out. There’s so much to do, so we’re setting the frameworks and they’re doing it. For instance, transport, access to finance – we’re making sure the activities of existing players are working together.” All well and good – but how does the LEP need to improve? “What we can do better is making businesses more aware of what’s going on, the opportunities for support. We don’t want to be interventionists, but it’s true that if you ask 100 businessmen they wouldn’t really know what’s available and what they can draw on. We’ve got some good things going – inward investment through Business Birmingham, the Chamber’s activities, regeneration through Waheed Nazir at the city council, the LEP’s Employment and Skills Board led by JLR’s Alan Volkaerts, our education partners... But we’ve not quite linked everybody together yet.

“That said, what we’ve done gives me hope that we can make appropriate opportunities clear to businesses, helping them to understand what’s there. But we need to do more.”

I ask for detail, and Andy refers to the demise of Business Link, the traditional signpost for firms looking for support, and the need to replicate that function: “One thing we’ll see next year is something Greater Birmingham will lead for the country, breaking new ground, creating something simply branded but easily accessible. I don’t actually know what it will look like yet. But we’ve got to create the structure for this to work. The thing that would stimulate the economy is if every business would invest. Yes, we’ve got JLR, but most companies only invest if they’re confident in the recovery. There are encouraging signs, and I would hope this would drive proper investment. But the core thing is: are we are creating the right environment and confidence for world-class business and SMEs? “We’ve got a great, great story to tell, and the genuine opportunity to tell it better can’t be overstated. The exciting thing is that some of

• enhancing • connecting • developing

BUSINESS LUNCH

the projects are coming together. The new library – genuinely breath-taking; HS2 will happen – it’s already employing 2,000 people nationally; Birmingham Airport – the runway extension is being built now; the new Air India flights; and inward investment is up. Powerful pieces to put in the jigsaw; indisputable facts that should be giving us confidence.”

And of course, John Lewis – Andy’s own business – is spending tens of millions on a new department store in Birmingham: “The new John Lewis store is of national significance.

Lots of people in our London headquarters are excited about Birmingham. It’s going to be a flagship shop in a city already in the top three or four for retail, and this will let the city claim second position.”

This is the largest retail development currently happening in the country, creating 650 jobs directly and 1,000 jobs in the wider Grand Central shopping centre.

Andy feels its location – it’s part of the £600m redevelopment of New Street Station – is perfect for shoppers wanting a day out in the city, arriving by train from places like Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, Derby and Worcester. He adds: “The other significance is the new gateway to Britain’s second city that we can all be proud of rather than ashamed of.

New Street Station is important because it builds confidence that we can do these transformational pieces. John Lewis and Birmingham can be really proud of these exciting times.”

But this excitement is where we came in, so I’ll leave you with my image of Andy – a slightly built man who walks and talks at speed, almost bursting with keen energy, someone you can now picture grabbing the front seats on the top floor of that open-topped bus, playing the role of tour guide on his birthday for the city of Birmingham – a place he genuinely loves. n

Visit us online broadstreetbirmingham.com Follow us on Twitter @broadstreetbrum Facebook www.facebook.com/Broadstreetbid

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

BIZZINN PROFILE

AUTUMN 13

So you’re a budding entrepreneur or start-up looking for office space in the heart of Birmingham, where do you go?

Head over to Birmingham Research Park in Edgbaston where BizzInn will provide 6 months free incubation space for start-ups and access to specialist business advice and networking.

BizzInn is offering a comprehensive business support package worth nearly £3000.

Interested? Read on to find out how you can take advantage of office space in a prime location and expert advice.

The University of Birmingham, a world leading institution that is experienced in both commercialising new technologies and in nurturing young companies, is using that experience to help entrepreneurs and start-ups transform innovation into enterprise through its new BizzInn incubator.

BizzInn is run by the University of Birmingham’s Enterprise Acceleration Team and Alta Innovations Ltd, (the University’s technology transfer company); whose vision is to create a thriving entrepreneurial community which supports the transformation of innovations into commercial offerings that create economic and societal impact.

“Its all about critical mass”, explains David Coleman, the University’s Head of Enterprise Acceleration. “We’re very well networked with investors, service providers, and management talent. However, in order to make the most out of these connections, we need to be interacting with them all the time. With BizzInn as a focal point and by extending our expertise and support to entrepreneurs and companies with ideas originating outside of the University, our pipeline of opportunities for individuals to connect has really grown.”

Judging by the pace at which it has got off the ground, it’s well on the way to making that vision a reality. Founder of LitLink, Leila Hojjati recently took up a tenancy and has been delighted with the “amazing office space, continuous support and business advice, as well as regular opportunities for networking”.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

BIZZINN BENEFITS • Free commercial office space for new eligible enterprises for up to 6 months • Wi-Fi and equipped work space (hot desks, internet, meeting rooms) with 24/7 access • Free parking and refreshments • Business meeting space adjacent to the University of Birmingham and within the Edgbaston Medical Quarter • Free business guidance at the Centre • Further access to a wide range of support and advice from professional advisors and trade/cluster associations, e.g. in Intellectual Property, Legal, Finance, • Access to finance, grants, loans, investors and other business support organisations • Joint exhibition and presentation area – A place to ‘showcase’ research, products and services, and both informal and formal presentations • Networking events and free lunchtime seminars • Total benefits package worth up to a value of £3000

Paul Field recently joined BizzInn as the Incubation Manager. Paul has substantial experience in guiding start-ups and is supporting several individual entrepreneurs, academics and companies eager to benefit from BizzInn’s growing network to help them explore and develop their enterprise initiatives.

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“BizzInn acts as a hub for engagement between entrepreneurs, business advisors and academia, and is a catalyst providing an ecosystem of support to those who are seeking to commercialise their ideas and concepts, and those small and micro businesses that are focused on growth and development”, said Paul.

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BIZZINN PROFILE

The Enterprise Acceleration team, left to right: Sofia Hansrod (Communications and Events Manager), Paul Field (Incubation Manager), Catherine Mansell (Commercial Skills Development Manager), David Coleman (Head of Enterprise Acceleration; Head of Spinout Portfolio), Stephen Ellis (Business Intelligence Manager)

FOCUS ON PAUL FIELD, BIZZINN INCUBATION MANAGER Paul has varied business experience, from manufacturing to the public service sector, holding strategic and operational managerial positions and responsibilities in sales and marketing, business development, project management, TQM implementation, entrepreneurship training and developing teams and staff. He has been an advisor and mentor to pre and post incubation companies supporting their business models and strategy, and advising on a diverse range of issues relating to company formation, IP protection, new product development, contract management, access to finance and market research activities. His experience includes management and delivery of EU high growth business start up programmes, Virtual Company schemes to support inventors to evaluate and commercialise their ideas and action-based entrepreneurship programmes for UK universities and the Economic Development Board in Singapore.

Entrepreneur, Murray Schofield, has found the support invaluable, “BizzInn has been a tremendous help in starting Time Fountains UK. It’s provided both the space to start the business, but even more valuably, the contacts. Starting a business is tough, but made possible with incubation space and helpful people!”

“The process for becoming a tenant of BizzInn is very simple”, explains Paul Field. “All prospective tenants need to do is complete a simple application outlining their business concept and indicating the type of support required. Once accepted, a tenancy agreement will be completed providing tenants with 24/7 access, meeting rooms, Wi-Fi and hotdesk or office facilities free for six months, after which a competitive package is available”.

Uniquely, BizzInn is also offering free hot-desk and Wi-Fi facilities to associates who agree to provide expert advice and support to the tenants.

Harrison Goddard Foote is one such company. They offer one-to-one and group advice on registering, controlling, protecting and exploiting IPR through patenting, trade-marks and design registrations.

These are often key to developing business models, creating value and market exploitation.

The support from everyone working within this initiative has been fantastic and has helped to add value to our business. The facilities provided have enabled us to focus on growing our business efficiently and recruit further employees

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EVENTS A number of events at the BizzInn are being planned for the forthcoming year including seminars on market analysis, commercialisation of non-patentable ideas, and product design.

The next lunchtime event networking seminar will be on Wednesday 25th September – with BizzInn sponsors HGF delivering a session on Intellectual Property, a perfect opportunity to find out more about what BizzInn has to offer.

Lunch is provided and you can register at www.ip-bizzinn.eventbrite.co.uk

To find out more about how you can access office space and support at the BizzInn, or join as an associate, visit: www.birmingham.ac.uk/bizzinn Or contact Paul Field on: 0121 414 6132 or p.field@bham.ac.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

BIZZINN PROFILE

AUTUMN 13

Start-up IP, can you afford not to?

The prized asset of any innovative start-up business is its intellectual property.

Ensuring that your business properly protects its IP is essential to maximise commercial opportunities. Dr. Chris Moore, Partner and patent attorney at Harrison Goddard Foote LLP, explains more Intellectual property comes in many forms and almost all innovative activity can be classified according to at least one of them. Examples include inventions, names and logos, product designs, advertising literature and photographs/artwork, know-how and confidential information such as process steps, recipes and so on. Each type of IP is protectable by at least one route (patent, trade mark, registered unregistered design, copyright, know how).

The challenge for most start-up businesses is to establish what IP it has and how best to allocate limited funds to achieve a maximum return. Of course, this is not just a problem for start-ups, even mature businesses do not have unlimited funds, meaning robust IP strategy in that context is just as important.

For a technology start-up business the asset which most importantly requires protection are the invention or inventions that it has devised. These are properly protected by patents. An important, but often overlooked, feature of the patent system is that a patent provides a route to stop others from carrying out your invention rather than giving the owner the right to carry out the invention himself.

Therefore, before commencing any kind of activity it is important to understand what the state of the art is to ensure that your business has, so-called, freedom-to-operate. As well as conferring a competitive advantage, patents can also provide tax advantages in the form reduced corporation tax on qualifying profits.

For all businesses, their identity (or the identity of the goods they sell) is a major attractive force which ensures that customers return to the business or buys the same goods. The name or brand is best protected by a registered trade mark. These act as ‘badges of origin’ and serve to tell customers that goods are genuine, have the requisite quality or properties and so on. As the goodwill in a business increases, the trade marks

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

FOCUS ON HARRISON GODDARD FOOTE LLP

Dr Chris Moore, Partner Harrison Goddard Foote LLP,

become ever more valuable.

Whatever the business, and whatever the IP, it is important to keep details of when any particular piece of IP is created, how it was created, who created it and whether or not it has been disclosed to anyone outside of the business (whether or not under a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement). Of course, if the IP creation came about as part of a contract with a third party or as part of a collaboration, it is important to try to determine what was the contribution of your business.

Clearly IP is important, and protecting it effectively is important. Therefore it is essential that you take advice from an advisor who understands your needs and who can provide a cost-effective strategy to maximise IP return on a budget.

For start-up businesses we believe the Bizz Inn is an excellent facility. It provides premises and access to resources which may be beyond such

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Harrison Goddard Foote LLP (HGF) is a leading firm of patent and trade mark attorneys with ten offices throughout the UK, notably in Birmingham, Oxford, Sheffield and Manchester. HGF is recommended by all the major legal directories, including Managing Intellectual Property (MIP), The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners. Our attorneys are individually listed in the top tier of the ratings and have been short listed for Intellectual Property Magazine IP Lawyer of the Year and Young IP Lawyer of the Year as well as consistently featuring in Intellectual Asset Management’s 250 World’s Leading Global IP Strategists.

businesses if they sought them on the open market.

Moreover, the Bizz Inn provides access to service providers, in the field of IP that service provider is us at Harrison Goddard Foote (HGF).

HGF is pleased to be able to help the present and future residents of the Bizz Inn in providing free one-to-one IP clinics, IP seminars and other ad hoc advice. Our aim is to provide a hand-up to the community of businesses using the Bizz Inn to enable them to protect themselves in the allimportant early and growth phases.

For further information please contact 11 Waterloo Street, Birmingham B2 5TB Tel: +44(0) 121 644 4960 Fax +44(0) 121 644 4961 Email: cmoore@hgf.com

AUTUMN 13

Hindmarsh on WinE

Adrian Hindmarsh, of Artislegal and chairman of the Birmingham Business Breakfast Club, is set a most appealing mission by BQ

Licence to swill It was early evening in the middle of July during the heat wave when I received the request to call BQ’s editor Steve Dyson.

At the time I was preparing to travel to Scotland to watch The Open at Muirfield.Very shortly after taking the call I was sitting in the air cooled foyer at The Hyatt, meeting with Steve’s right hand man, Alan Dickinson.

At this moment, I felt a bit like James Bond. ’Your mission 003.5, is to kindly drink some wine for us. Some Indian wine , the Soul Tree brand’. A fair request I thought.

Alan then introduced me to BQ’s excellent photographer Kevin, some pictures were taken and I was issued with a bottle of white and a bottle of red wine and promptly headed off to Scotland. The wine tasting was carried out on my return, with a different evening for each grape. Both wines are from the Nasik Valley in India , a sauvignon blanc

and a cabernet sauvignon. I started with the white, sharing the task with partner Clare while sitting on the terrace of her city centre penthouse apartment with the Hyatt in view.

I tend to prefer white to red, however, I had not drunk any Indian wine before - the same can’t be said of their lager alongside a curry or two.

There was a strong, yet attractive fruity aroma , which greeted the nostrils, slightly tropical fruit perhaps? The wine did have a slightly wooden taste, possibly from the wooden cask Clare struggled to harmonise with the wine but I, of course, persevered. The more it slipped down, the more I liked it and very soon the bottle was empty. Then came the red cabernet sauvignon and

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again, this was a task shared with Clare, albeit several days later. We left the wine to breath but, as it was so hot on the terrace, we did briefly refrigerate the wine.

Clare is from London, so naturally she prefers red to white.

We both found the Soul Tree to have a light appealing aroma - it was most pleasant, very drinkable and was a great addition to a beef salad.

This bottle was consumed faster than the white.

Mission complete and a most enjoyable task to boot.

Wines were supplied by Soul Tree Wine. The Soul Tree Cabernet Sauvignon and the Soul Tree Sauvignon Blanc retail at between £7.99 and £8.69. www.soultreewine.co.uk Tel 0121 6795626

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

MOTORING

AUTUMN 13

In other circumstances Liz Foster, managing director of insurance broker Ingram Hawkins & Nock (IHN), would have been a loyal BMW 6 series driver. BQ gave her the chance to see what she’s missing BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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AUTUMN 13

MOTORING

a taste of what might have been

Given the opportunity to test drive a BMW 640 for a long weekend, I was not going to say no.

Before I bought my current car I had toyed with the idea of a 6 series and dismissed it as impractical for my lifestyle – busy housewife

and mum, carer to a relative with disabilities and full time head of a thriving company.

This was my chance then to drive that car and on a very warm and sunny morning a gleaming dark blue/black BMW F13 640d M Spirit Coupé with cream leather interior

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arrived outside my office door.

It looked fabulous and after being shown the ‘flight deck’ all I wanted to do was start driving.

My drive home from the office, which takes about 50 minutes and covers dual >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

MOTORING

AUTUMN 13

Would I swap my current large workhorse for this fabulous looking, smooth riding car?

carriageways, motorways and country lanes, on this evening was an absolute pleasure.

The seats were oh so comfortable, visibility brilliant, while handling was very secure and temperature control, perfect.

Over the weekend I had ample opportunity to test the manoeuvrability and steering in my usual shopping locations – covering everything from tight village car parks to wide open spaces - and nothing challenged this lovely car, or its driver! I like to “drive” my car and it was such a joy to feel the car accelerate away, smoothly and quietly, taking me past parked vehicles or overtaking motorway traffic and always feeling safe and confident.

Taking corners and bends, the car handled beautifully and at no time did I feel anything other than totally confident.

It didn’t take me long to get used to the auto stop/start functionality and to appreciate the fuel efficiencies and climate advantages it must provide.

When will all cars include such important technology? And about that ‘flight deck’;

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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it was very clear, very logical and, more importantly, when driving, easily operated.

The communications pack, with the all too important Sat Nav and telephone, was comprehensive and user friendly.

I really liked the parking alarm and even more so the ‘reversing screen’ which despite me being used to wing mirrors which dip when reversing, I quickly got used to and found to be an improvement on those dipping wing mirrors.

So would I swap my current large workhorse for this fabulous looking, smooth riding and enjoyable BMW? Actually, no, because of the practicalities of my lifestyle and the vehicle specification that demands. Would I like a BMW 640d M Sport Coupé – oh yes! n The car Liz drove was a 640d M Sport Coupe with a RRP including VAT price of £71,050. It was supplied by Sytner Birmingham BMW, 20 Parade, Summerhill, Birmingham, B1 3QJ. Tel 0121 2346000

BMW 6 Series

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47 monthly on the payments road cash price*

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£5,000.00

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BMW econoMicS.

Official fuel economy figures for the BMW 6 Series Coupé Range: Extra Urban 40.9-58.9mpg (6.9-4.8 l/100km). Urban 22.842.2 mpg (12.4-6.7 l/100km). Combined 31.7-51.4mpg (8.9-5.5 l/100km). CO2 emissions 206-144g/km.

Finance example is based on a BMW Select Agreement for the BMW 640d M Sport Coupé with a contract mileage of 32,000 and an excess mileage 13.50p per mile. Offer available on selected models ordered between 01 July 2013 and 30 September 2013 and registered by 31 December 2013, subject to availability. *On the road cash price is based on manufacturers recommended retail price and include 3 year BMW dealer warranty, BMW Emergency Service, 12 months road fund license, vehicle first registration fee, delivery, number plates and VAT. ^Option to purchase fee and optional final payment payable at the end of the agreement if you decide to purchase the vehicle. Excess mileage charges and vehicle condition charges may be payable if you return the vehicle. Retail customers only. Prices are correct at time of publication (August 2013) and are subject to change without notice. All finance is subject to status and available to over 18’s only (excluding the Channel Islands and Isle of Man). Guarantees and indemnities may be required. Advertised finance is provided by BMW Financial Services, Europa House, Bartley Way, Hook, Hampshire RG27 9UF. We are not an independent financial advisor. We can introduce you to a limited number of lenders to assist with your purchase, who may pay us for introducing you to them.

In the commercial property world, recessions can be good for acquisitive, far-sighted developers and investors.

Paul Bassi, of the Real Estate Investors group, is certainly coming out of the downturn at an advantage.

Sandy Simpson reports

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AUTUMN 13

One of Paul Bassi’s biggest gripes is that the West Midlands does not publicise itself well enough. Quite ironic, really, because Bassi has himself not always been the most visible of Birmingham businessmen during his career.

But it seems his policy is to do, rather than say, and his CV includes spells as president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, High Sheriff of the West Midlands, a director of Birmingham Hippodrome, former regional chairman of Coutts Bank and Deputy Lieutenant for the West Midlands.

And in 2010 he was made a Commander of the British Empire for his services to business and the community in the West Midlands.

Despite these high offices, you won’t find Bassi propping up a bar on a Friday afternoon in Birmingham city centre, bemoaning the state of the economy, having abandoned his

Taking REI alone, he has steered through more acquisitions than most in the past 18 months.

These include the Apex office development in Edgbaston which REI bought for £1.69m. The previous owners had paid £4.525m in 2005.

Similarly, the firm paid £475k for a freehold property in West Bromwich High Street – the vendor having paid £1.6m in May 2006.

Other purchases include Southgate retail park in Derby, Peat House in Leicester, Gateway House in Birmingham city centre for £13m and 85-89 Colmore Row in December last year for £4m. Totalling over £50m in a downturn, and all from cash resources. The portfolio now includes properties throughout the Midlands – Bassi believes in local. It is a theme he returns to constantly. He divides the UK into two countries – London and ‘The Rest’.

“In my view the West Midlands economy is far

INSIGHT

its rapidly growing auction department, even during the downturn, and is on track to hit £60m this year – a 20% increase in a recession.

The firm is now established as one of the UK’s top ten property management companies with over £3bn worth of property under management across 30 counties, and recently acquired Lloyds Property management in the East Midlands. Rory Daly recently announced that CPBigwood was on the acquisition trail and news on that front is expected in the autumn. In West Bromwich, where property agents Bond Wolfe are based, there has been the completion of the new Sandwell College complex, the long-awaited Tesco scheme is now coming on stream – with huge demand for jobs – and Bond Wolfe staff have noticed a significant increase in letting demand, particularly for industrial and office space.

carrying on regardless desk for the property professionals’ perennial naval-gazing session while they wonder where all the deals have gone. Instead, he makes sure the deals are being done – and done by those who work their contacts, constantly probing to find out what is coming to market, preferably before the rest of the market knows.

And while much of the investment market professionals bemoan the lack of action, Bassi has been busy.

The ‘quiet man’ of the Birmingham property scene has built on the solid foundations of his Real Estate Investors (REI) group over the past five years, emerging with a very healthy balance sheet. There is now an intention to continue paying increasingly generous dividends after the first dividend was paid this year.

The company is also considering converting to a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), which will allow it to trade free of corporation tax, conditional upon paying out the majority of profits as dividends.

from the basket case some would make out,” he says. “The region has a positive story to tell and should be telling it. We should all be sharing that responsibility. My prediction is that the ‘country’ called London, because that is what it has become, will fall out of favour with investors.”

He believes the rest of the UK will become a compelling business case, but that this does not come out in national statistics that are inevitably weighted by the figures from the South East.

“In the West Midlands we should look after our own, use local services, buy local products and communicate and create opportunities.”

Bassi is non-executive chairman of commercial property businesses CPBigwood and Bond Wolfe, and he cites the successes of these private equities as proof that well-run West Midlands businesses are doing well.

CPBigwood, run by Rory Daly, his business partner of 30 years, and Nigel Curry, has sold over £50m worth of property annually through

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In October last year, Bond Wolfe moved very quickly to snap up the former 44,000 sq ft West Bromwich Building Society HQ in West Bromwich town centre, following the society’s decision to relocate out of the borough.

Bond Wolfe already has a number of notable local properties within its portfolio in West Bromwich, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

These include its own current headquarters at West Plaza, let to Premier Travel Inn, along with Landchard House, Victoria House, Bridge House, let to the County Courts, Waterloo Court and several others totalling over 500,000 sq ft. Bassi says: “There are more cranes and construction activity now in West Bromwich than I have seen in 30 years.”

Such is his confidence that Bond Wolfe plans to build 60 two bedroom apartments in the centre of West Bromwich.

“For the West Midlands, I genuinely believe the worst is over. If you survived to this point, you will in all probably come out of the downturn in a stronger position,” he says. “And it’s >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

INSIGHT

AUTUMN 13

likely you will have learned some valuable lessons. What’s the secret to investing in property, for example? “Stay local,” he urges.

“Learn the lessons of Dubai and Bulgaria where many got their fingers burnt. By buying locally, you can work the asset and add value.

We like retail at present because you are buying off very low values. Office rents will make by far the biggest gains from here on in – both areas that have been shunned by most investors in the recent past.” He says REI has seen a big uplift in interest from occupiers looking for 2,500-5,000 sq ft on five to ten year leases – not 25 years, “and we aim to give the market what it wants.” Bassi adds: “We are working hard on finishing off asset management initiatives on buildings that we own and we will sell them into an improving market during the next few years.”

Like the old master Black Country developers, Don and Roy Richardson, Bassi bought more assets in the depths of the recession – 75-77 and 85-89 Colmore Row, Kings Heath High Street, Cathedral House, Gateway House, Apex House complex – off 20% yield from the receivers.

“We have a reputation for getting deals done,” he says. “We’ve always been cash buyers. Vendors and their agents are aware of our attitude, our reputation and that fact that we have cash in the bank.” But could the heady days of buying at the bottom in a recession be numbered? “We think the second half of the year will bring opportunities to sell some of those assets that we have worked hard on at prices that reflect the value added to them.”

Positive words but how does he back them up? “The regional economy continues to benefit from the success enjoyed by the automotive sector, in particular Jaguar Land Rover. While our portfolio is spread across the Midlands, we hold significant assets in the prime city core which we expect will benefit from Enterprise Zone status. The £600m New Street Station redevelopment, a £129m Metro extension linking Snow Hill station to New Street station, the £65m airport runway extension, the £250m Birmingham City University campus and £188m new library, will all contribute to improving economic activity.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

“We are also told that last year Birmingham saw a 40% increase in foreign investment amid a UK decline of 2%. A few years ago, I stated that the financial crisis and the property

market turmoil would reveal winners and losers and I believed that REI would emerge as a winner. Nothing has changed to alter my view.” n

Fact file Paul Bassi started his business career in 1983, initially in financial services, branching out into estate agency in 1987 and property investment in 1989.

He is chief executive of Real Estate Investors plc, the AIM-listed property investment company with interests in quality commercial and residential properties throughout the Midlands and UK. He is also the non-executive chairman of commercial property businesses Bond Wolfe and CPBigwood, and was the former regional chairman of Coutts Bank in the West Midlands. His private equity interests also include award-winning Indian restaurant Asha’s in Newhall Street in Birmingham, a chain of Subway stores and the Black Country estate agency chain Paul Dubberley which now has six branches.

He is also a non-executive director with EFG Independent Financial Advisers, the wealth management division of the Swiss-based EFG Private Bank Ltd which has offices in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and London. A past president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, he is also a former director of Birmingham Hippodrome. In 2003 he was named Entrepreneur of the Year in the Asian Jewel Awards, and was awarded the Lloyds TSB Lifetime Achievement in 2005.

Paul was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for the County of West Midlands in 2008, and his contribution to business in the Midlands region was recognised with his appointment by Buckingham Palace as High Sheriff for the County of West Midlands for 2009.

He has received Honorary Doctorates from both Birmingham City and Aston University, and was awarded a CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List in recognition for his services to business and to the community in the West Midlands.

Outside of work, his interests include tennis, raquetball, football, cars and travel. He wed his long term partner Priya in 2008 and they have three children, Terri, Bobby and Nikita.

The eldest son of Sikh Punjabi immigrants, he was born in Birmingham and brought up in London.

He now lives in Pedmore, near Stourbridge and has homes in Marbella, Spain, and Punjab, India.

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AUTUMN 13

COMPANY PROFILE

Top hotel’s £6m redesign One of Birmingham’s top hotels is spending £6m on a stylish redesign to make it the best place to be seen in the city.

The luxury 4-star Hyatt Regency Birmingham will remain open while £6million refurbishment work carefully takes place behind the scenes. The project comes just months after the hotel was bought by an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Tim Flodin, General Manager said: “It really sends a very positive message about the inward investment potential in Birmingham that Hyatt, a global brand, chose to invest in its’ own future in this city, purchasing the building and also managing the hotel – the best possible scenario.

Our goal is to ensure Hyatt continues to be the hotel of choice for everyone - from the local guest, family and friends enjoying afternoon tea in our sky lit atrium or taking advantage of our full service Amala spa & gym, conference attendees at the ICC, or top business people who stay with us on a regular basis and consider Hyatt their “home away from home.”

Each of the hotel’s 319 bedrooms, the restaurant, meeting and lobby area are being refurbished with a modern design that embraces the “Heart of England”. A key focus was to use locallymanufactured carpets, furniture and artwork, etc and to also engage with local tradesmen.

“From the restaurant to the rooms, from the bar to the health spa – everything’s about creating a buzz, a vibe that reflects the character of our

We’re affordable and accessible. We want young executives to realise that we’re a hotel, bar and restaurant for them. And we also want guests staying with us to know they can eat and drink here, within their budget, rather than searching for restaurants in town

Tim Flodin, General Manager

Dominik Strobel, Director of Operations

Joanne Brain, Director of Sales and Marketing

HYATT REGENCY BIRMINGHAM’S THREE GREAT DEALS: • 50% off all bottled wines... every Monday in the Aria restaurant or Bar Pravda.

• Three-course dinner for just £24.50... Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, includes two large glasses of house wine, or two bottle beers or soft drinks, and tea or coffee.

• Crazy Mojito Friday... half-price for all variations of Mojito cocktails, 5pm-10pm, Bar Pravda. guests. As a result of guest feedback we making the experience more casual, but tailored, serving great food, exceptional service in the ideal location. Our lobby is already a great place, but we’re creating a new experience, bringing more life to it.

Dominik Strobel, Director of Operations, said: “The design is a direct reflection of our guests sharing their feedback on design and telling us exactly what was important to them while travelling or using hotel facilities. The results will be stunning.

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Hyatt Regency Birmingham, 2 Bridge Street, Birmingham B1 2JZ. Tel: 0121 643 1234 or go to www.birmingham.regency.hyatt.com * Follow @HyattBham on Twitter for the latest offers.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

EQUIPMENT

the world is watching 80

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT A global gathering of watchmakers held in the industry’s spiritual home this year outlined nostalgia and colour over complication as trends to look out for in the coming months, writes Josh Sims Baselworld is the inelegant name for a rather elegant show. It is where the watch industry gathers every year to show off its new wares.

And if the exhibition hall in Basel, Switzerland, is anything to go by, the industry is in rude health: it’s a new complex designed by ‘starchitects’ Herzog & de Meuron, housing some 1,460 exhibitors from 40 countries.

Were every watch to tick as audibly as they used to, the sound would be deafening.

And yet, as the latest show’s updated setting looked forward, its most distinctive watches looked back. This is the season of the re-issue.

Take, for example, the latest high-profile model from Tudor, a company itself undergoing what might be called a re-issue, having been in the shadow of big brother Rolex for recent decades but now striking out with more distinctive designs. Its Chrono Blue comes with a 42mm case and a bi-directional rotating bezel. That in itself is a clue to the philosophy behind this watch, since modern bezels (especially on diving watches) typically rotate only in one direction, to reduce error in measuring elapsed time. Indeed, the watch is almost a part-for-part remake of Tudor’s 1973 Monte Carlo chronograph. It even uses the same movement. Small wonder, in fact, that the company should call it the Heritage Chrono Blue, a successor to the Black Bay diving watch re-issue of last year that helped reboot the trend.

Heritage - aka making a song and dance about how old your company is, or digging around in the archives to recreate some golden oldies - has become something of a widespread marketing ploy over recent years, used most notably by style-conscious industries as diverse as automotive, fragrance and fashion. But arguably it was the watch industry that

assailed the idea first, when in 1996 Tag Heuer made a re-issue of its 1960s/70s Carrera and Monaco models. Their ‘retro’ appeal and oldtime charm made them immediate hits and chimed with the rise of vintage as a credible style category in its own right, but also made the pieces accessible to those without the money or time to find an original.

Baselworld suggests that those brands with the heritage to tap are now doing so. Among the bigger names with their own look into the past are the likes of Longines, which made a splash when it re-issued its Legend Diver in 2009, and has now added three military watches based on models from 1938; Vulcain has the honestlynamed Nautical Seventies, a limited-edition version of the diving model it introduced in, as suggested, the 1970s; and, with

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one of the stand-out pieces of Baselworld, Omega, has its Bullhead version of the Seamaster, first issued in 1969. Expect this one to get a lot of attention - and for the originals to suddenly rocket in value.

According to Ulrich Herzog, executive chairman of Oris - which has based its jazzinspired Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and its forthcoming John Coltrane models on watches from the 1960s and 1970s - there are good reasons for the heritage revival, and it’s not lazy watch designers. One may well be the reassuring nostalgia in such products - the tried and tested that salves the current tough economic climate (providing you can still afford to buy them). These are evocative pieces. But for many brands, also caught in the downturn of course, it is a way of underlining their pedigree. “It’s a way of pointing out that you have the history to explore, which gives credibility,” Herzog says. “If a company like ours has the heritage, we also have the archives that allow for re-issues. And if you don’t have the heritage, that’s not something you can do.” >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

EQUIPMENT

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

And even those with it are not always successful in interpreting it. Re-issues, counterintuitively perhaps, are not all that easy to make, often requiring more work than a completely new watch design, in no small part because modern components (which are required to ensure the watch meets today’s production standards) have to be shaped into an old aesthetic - the look and shape of Plexiglass has to be remodelled in crystal glass, for example.

“A re-issue is harder to pull off than it may at first seem, because its aesthetic may be what really appeals, but the consumer wants it to perform like a modern watch. And as soon as you start applying modern quality standards the watch starts to lose its old look and feel,” Herzog says. Of course, if the re-issue is a dominant theme of this year’s watches, it is not the only one. As the Tudor Chrono Blue

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

might suggest, GMTs are the big complication for 2013, given a sportier makeover. See the likes of Omega’s Seamaster GMT or Rolex’s reworking of its GMT Master II, with lacquered dial and black-and-blue ‘cerachrom’ bezel - that’s the company’s name for its latest, patented super-durable ceramic blend.

But it is more colour than complication that stands out among trends for 2013 - and colour in keeping with the retro theme of the many re-issues. Orange, for instance - not a shade seen on upmarket watches since the 1970s - returns as an accent on Oris’ Prodiver Pointer Moon, for instance, Tag Heuer’s Monaco Calibre 12 ACM (a limited edition but still working that historic seam) or the Tudor Chrono Blue again. If dials have lent towards conservative classicism in their use of colours over recent years - black, white, cream - then now grey in every tone is explored by the likes

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of Rado, with its Diamaster Ceramic - a real stylistic move on the company that invented the unscratchable watch - and GirardPerregauz, with its Constant Escapement.

Navy too is a big colour - see, for example, Hublot, with its Big Bang Unico, or Ebel, with its Ebel 100 - bringing the dominant and still sober shade of the male wardrobe to watches while softening the more typically monochromatic options.

Perhaps that is the thinking behind the increased use of rose gold too, especially in conjunction with steel for cases and bracelets. Zenith combines the two for its El Primero Chronomaster Grand Date, but if any guarantee that the upper end of the market sees this unusual combination as having class was needed, then look to Patek Philippe, which uses it for the first time, specifically on its new Nautilus 5980. n

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FASHION

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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FASHION

the old ways are the best

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

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

FASHION To most people Kurabo, Nisshinbo, Kuroki and Kaihara are exotic-sounding but largely meaningless words. To these same people, a pair of jeans is likely to be a non-descript, commodity product, something to do the gardening in, or to wear down the pub ordinary even in this, the 140th anniversary of the creation of the granddaddy of all jeans, Levi’s 501. But then there are other people those who might recognise the names of the four main mills producing denim in Japan, arguably home to the world’s best denim.

And these mills certainly are busy - as unlikely as the idea would have sounded just 15 years ago, denim is now an artisan fabric, with top-spec jeans hand-made by lone makers at their work-bench. And that is no romantic exaggeration. Among the new wave of elite denim are literal one-man-band makers the likes of those behind American labels Roy and White Horse Trading Co, and British label Tender, using homegrown denim from Cone Mills, the last of the US’s pioneering mills, or, more likely, one of the many varieties of Japanese denim - woven on old-fashioned shuttle looms, repeatedly hand-dyed using laborious loop-dyeing techniques, all to create the subtle irregularities of texture and certain properties of fading in the colour that denim-heads so love. The result? Jeans that will set you back anywhere between £300 and £500 a pair.

That Japan should be the source of the best take on a quintessentially American fabric may seem unlikely. But here comes a strange tale of American occupation after World War Two giving rise not to some desire to embrace a more homegrown style, but that of the occupying forces, which saw a youth cult for all things Americana and, a few decades later, a fledgling Japanese fashion industry seeking to recreate American raw blue jeans better than the Americans.

“And the trouble they go through to make jeans now as then is insane,” says Nick Coe, founder of the Rawrdenim.com webzine. “Of course, there is a romance to denim out of Japan. But it’s really in the manufacture that it’s unparalleled, at least until recently.

Japanese denim might not be re-inventing the wheel, but by bringing back in every detail what the makers thought was perfect in jeans

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

Material wealth: White Horse Trading Co

many decades ago, but which hadn’t been available for many years, they created a connoisseur market.”

It was a company called Big John, which had been a textiles and uniform manufacturer, that became the first domestic denim brand in 1965. Edwin has a similarly long history. And they have since been joined by a growing plethora of ever more esoteric makers, the likes of Sugar Cane and Real McCoys, Full Count, 45RPM and Samurai, Iron Heart, Flat Head, Studio D’Artisan, Momotaro, the list

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Photo credit: Cory Piehowicz (Bandit Photographer)

goes on, including many yet to sell outside of Japan (which, of course, adds to their cachet).

Each claims their own specialism, be that the precision with which they re-make Levi’s classic styles of the 1930s to 1950s, or the use of natural indigo dyes, or the emphasis on heavy and super-heavyweight denims - perhaps 21 or 25oz as opposed to a more typical 12 or 14oz, this itself being sturdy stuff against the positively flimsy 8 or 9oz mass-market denim.

“You discover Japanese denim and its whole world sucks you in,” suggests

FASHION

Daniel Cizmek, managing director of the Berlin-based DC4, one of the leading retailers of Japanese denim outside of Japan. “The quality is amazing and not just because of the effects possible by using old looms and tailoring machines - it’s because the makers tend to have this deep fascination with American culture and typically have huge, and hugely valuable, vintage denim collections.

They know their subject and that shows in the product. Believe me, it’s addictive.”

But while the Japanese mills and makers may dominate the artisan denim market, they are not alone. There are the aforementioned American makers - joined by the likes of 3x1, 3Sixteen, Stronghold, Imogene & Willie and others. And then, perhaps more unexpectedly still, there are the Swedes. ”What we do well here is dark, clean denim, because that suits the dark winter climate - it’s less expressive of itself and more about your relationship with a pair of jeans and how they age. It’s fashion, but a slower kind of fashion,” argues Maria Erixon, ex of Lee jeans and co-founder/owner of Nudie Jeans, one of the biggest of the new premium denim brands out of Sweden in the last ten years.

“I’m not all that surprised by the development of Swedish denim now - we’re a very denim-oriented people.”

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

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Back to basics: The Nudie Jeans repair shop in Soho

relaunch of Gul & Bla, complete with jeans production in Sweden.

“Sweden actually has a very early denim culture, relative to other European countries, which most people outside of Sweden don’t know about,” explains Mattias Hallencreutz, who works on design for Gul & Bla. “It comes from the fact that Sweden has always looked to the US for inspiration - in fashion, cars, music - perhaps because we have this long story of emigration to the US, so feel this strong link. And the Vikings discovered the US, after all.”

Indeed, according to Peter Lindt, design director of jeans brand Crocker, the national attachment to denim is a reflection of the Swedish democratic approach too.

“Swedes have never looked down on jeans they were something you could wear anywhere,” says Lindt. “Perhaps that is because jeans have never been considered workers’ clothing here either - jeans have always been a fashion item for us. And with artisan denim undergoing something of a reappraisal now, they look set to be entering a whole new phase of appreciation.” n

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ENTREPRENEUR

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late starter but gathering pace

Entrepreneurs are often young, bright, decisive, get-up-and-go individuals. This accurately describes transport fleet management expert Julie Summerell – except that she didn’t form her own company until she was in her early 50s. Steve Dyson reports Julie Summerell’s skills were first noticed when, working as a teenager receptionist at the Western BRS truck firm, she was offered a place on a four-year management training programme. “I turned it down because I said I didn’t need four years,” recalls Julie, “and I was managing in my early 20s after just two years.”

Born in Bristol, Julie says she was “not an over-achiever” at her Catholic school, leaving with just a few O-levels and getting a summer job as a clerical assistant at the old DHSS. She persuaded her parents that she didn’t need A-levels, let alone university, but quickly became bored of social security pen-pushing, which is when she became a receptionist for the Western BRS truck firm.

It was the beginning of what she says has been “a lifetime in automotive”. Her early promotion as a manager with BRS led to a string of jobs organising transport fleets of every kind, learning something from each role and slowly becoming an expert.

Julie lists her roles: “I’ve run a fleet of 1,200 cars, I’ve worked in procurement, I’ve managed a major car rental company, set up a lease company, worked for a car dealer, and for a major manufacturer. Basically, I deeply understand the fleet management sector, and

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could see opportunities.“When I was working with a VW dealer for the Lister Group, for example, I said: ‘Doesn’t it frustrate you to see all these drivers coming with cash allowances to spend on new cars, but no-one’s picking up the information that they’re all working for companies. Why don’t we approach the companies and add value? I ended up setting up a department for them, leading to direct sales of 1,000 cars a year.”

It was this and other smart management ideas that made Julie realise she’d been what she calls an ‘in-trepreneur’ for many years, and by the time she was in her early 50s decided: “I want to do it for myself”.

Although now divorced, marriage brought Julie to the West Midlands ten years ago. She lives in Warwickshire with her son, Lewis, aged 20, who’s about to complete his apprenticeship at Audi as a parts supervisor. In 2010 she formed TR Fleet Ltd, based in Berkswell, between Solihull and Coventry, offering transport fleet policy advice and supply chain management reviews – aimed at generating cost savings and greater safety for businesses.

Julie explains: “Your average transport fleet manager at any company feels they’re too busy and have too much management information

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to deal with – people, driving licences, journeys, expenses, policies, and so on – and not enough time to collate it all.

“What’s missing in many cases is the key approach to risk, and so I went out to find a system to handle this. I couldn’t find one, so I decided to build our own – DriveSecure. This is a new system that collates all the management information – drivers, DVLA checks, accident management, fuel costs, tyre pressures – and automatically alerts over any issues, essentially highlighting the ‘naughty boys’.

“The system pulls in information, produces a dashboard of ‘risk’ that then automates action.

For example, the system will provide that ‘call to action’ for drivers to have regular eyesight tests. The system picks up if they’ve not had eyesight tests within two years, and automatically sends them Specsavers vouchers to have a free one.

“Another example is tyre safety – who at any company is making sure that drivers are checking their tyres? Our system communicates directly with a company’s drivers asking them for regular information, and keeps reminding them if they fail to respond. If this fails, the system prompts manual intervention: ‘Do it or you’re not legal, there’s no insurance,’ and >>

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ENTREPRENEUR

ultimately, if this fails, the company takes their keys off them, and stops paying them, although it will rarely get to that stage.

“The system makes it easy for the driver as well as the fleet decision-maker, and it shapes the thinking away from being asset-led to being driver-led. For the company, it’s not them or their fleet manager having to do all this, it’s the system checking with the driver, talking directly to the DVLA, and producing prompts and reports.”

One example of how this works was a company who’d employed a European driver on the basis of documents he’d presented in a foreign language. Once the DriveSecure system was in place, it quickly revealed that this was only a Polish washing machine engineer’s card.

The really clever part of Julie’s approach to companies is that TR Fleet offers to pay for clients’ use of the new DriveSecure system with savings it makes in procuring their vehicles and

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reviewing their fleet management costs.

“A lot of fleet decision-makers accept they need a budget for risk management,” says Julie, “but times are tough economically. We make it easy by ensuring that the savings we make by supplying cars covers the cost of DriveSecure. ‘Savings fund safety’ is the motto.

“We say: ‘You’ve not got to care about the costs, we’ll cover it through savings we find in reviewing your vehicle procurement’. I understand the size of the sector. We are not pushing them... our approach is a partnership.”

It’s what Julie calls ‘procurement-led fleet management advice services’, and involves the review of everything from the price of cars and trucks to the cash allowances and other employee benefits given to drivers, the result being recommendations on cost savings and safety compliance.

“On car acquisitions,” Julie says, “we make recommendations, provide service levels and

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give advice that companies would struggle to find elsewhere. Previously, their only route to market was via the internet or dealerships. But by talking to us we give them the benefit of scale and our specialism on making savings.

“We look at how they currently find and fund vehicles. Which models are they buying and why? What policies do they use? Have they considered the whole ‘life cost’ of their vehicles. That’s not just the purchase price but the fuel and insurance costs.

“We then use this to renegotiate with the supply chain, and we’re delivering clients an average of 20% savings. We’re talking about tens of thousands of pounds or, for our bigger clients, six figure sums in savings – procurement and fuel savings, funding costs and tax breaks.

“To date, we’ve found no-one with no savings to make, and we then use this to fund the risk management – so it becomes a cost-free benefit to them, and a business for us.”

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ENTREPRENEUR

The hardest time for any business is the third year – and I didn’t want TR Fleet to be one of those that failed

Since launching, TR Fleet has grown organically through cash-flow, tripling turnover and profit within the first two years. There are now seven full-time staff serving 12 current clients – including Findel Plc, Rail Gourmet, NRS Nottingham and Sharps Bedrooms. Julie plans to take on two more workers by the end of 2013, and sees turnover rising to £700k next year. The real driver of this growth, according to Julie, came in 2012 when she was selected for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Programme, designed to develop high-growth SMEs. She says: “It was a gruelling selection process but, once on the programme, you are mentored for four months with learning modules equivalent to an MBA. Goldman Sachs support you through this growth programme, which I think was crucial in getting TR Fleet to the next stage. The hardest time for any business is the third year – and I didn’t want TR Fleet to be one of those that failed. I needed the vision and the time to do the strategic things in a structured way and understand where the business needed to grow.

“I didn’t even get to the end of the programme before we got a £300k investment from Midven, who took a 25% stake after valuing TR Fleet at £1.2m. They saw what I wanted to do – strengthening the management team and going for growth. As one person you’re ‘always in the weeds’, as they say. Goldman Sachs got me out of the weeds, and the Midven investment meant I could get people to carry on the day-to-day business while I carried out my longer-term business vision.”

Now a Goldman Sachs graduate, 56-year-old

Julie believes she’s gained the confidence and vision to “think strategically and to get there”.

The latest developments at TR Fleet have been acquiring the development cash from Midven, enabling her to recruit the right calibre of staff.

“I’ve now got a very, very strong team. One who’s worked on the board of a £40m company, another who’s been 13 years at KPMG, another sales expert from Lombard.

Goldman Sachs has given me the confidence to invest in the right people to support growth.

“When you’re working day-to-day, you’re just working hard, so you get a salesperson and it takes them a month to six weeks to cleanse and prepare the database and the prospect list.

Goldman Sachs made me think about getting the best, someone who is ‘sales ready’. So I got a consultant in for pre-sales cleansing, and then

the salesperson gets going from day one. It’s a simple ‘sales ready, growth ready’ approach.

“And having strength in finance is crucial. I always thought: ‘I haven’t got to worry about that – it’s someone else’s job that I pay them to do.’ But Goldman Sachs taught me to ask the right questions and challenge their thinking.

Initially, not having any formal business education or qualifications, I worried about how I was going to cope on the Goldman Sachs programme. But I adapted well and realised I knew more than I thought. The basic skills are common sense and confidence, and telling yourself: ‘You’ve got it right, Julie.’ And real success is about long-term, not short-term, thinking. Look five years ahead and then work back to make sure you get there.” Now geared up and ready for growth, Julie’s next idea to enhance staff benefits through ‘salary sacrifice’ – giving SMEs the opportunity to let employees buy cars through this scheme, net of tax and, through scale purchases, offering the very best deals of the day. And her wider vision is to grow the firm bigger through targeted acquisitions, to become “an award-winning” business, and shape the entire fleet transport industry’s thinking around risk management. n

Multi-tasking on an industrial scale As well as leading TR Fleet, Julie holds a number of strategic positions.

She is regional chairman of the Association of Car Fleet Operators, which meets to discuss topics such as safety and vehicle savings, helping fleet managers achieve their objectives.

She’s also an executive committee member of Solihull Chamber of Commerce, is helping the CBI to devise a new SME support programme and works on the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS).

PACTS provides independent advice from experienced business people to government departments. An example was Julie challenging transport minister Stephen Hammond about a new law for eyesight tests that could improve safety and drivers’ behaviour.

“I was able to tell him that we haven’t got the basics rights because there’s no legislation over eyesight tests. We need this to make sure people are fit to drive because if they can’t see, they’re having more accidents.”

Julie is also an ambassador for the military ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, helping the ‘Cakes for Casualties’ appeal by raising funds to support renowned charity worker Kath Ryan, who bakes cakes for wounded troops undergoing treatment.

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SUCCESS STORY

keeping the family silver shining

A tough conversation in a car factory in the mid-1960s changed Martin McDonagh’s life. It led him to pursue a career in precious metals – creating one of Britain’s top silverware companies. Steve Dyson reports Back in 1966, Martin McDonagh was a keen apprentice at the automotive firm Howard Clayton-Wright, of Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. The firm was a key supplier to Austin, making bushes and trims for the Mini and other vehicles, and Martin had a placement at the huge Longbridge car factory – then employing around 250,000 workers. He remembers: “We had all sorts of experience working in the tool room and various departments, including a ‘time and motion’ work study. As far as I knew I was doing fine – it was potentially a good career. But one day a production manager took me to one side and said: ‘Bit of advice, sonny. There are 300 apprentices here and, to be painfully honest, if you were to stay you’d never make it. What do you want to do?’

“I just said: ‘I don’t really know.’ This chap replied: ‘If it was me, I’d go and find a small

company to work for. You’ve got a good understanding of manufacturing, but you’re never going to be a toolmaker or anything like that for us. Find a small company and you could do well.’ I was only a teenager, and someone giving you advice like that changes your direction in life.

“So I went off and bought the Evening Mail and looked in the job adverts, and one of the smallest ones was for Pepper & Hope, a Birmingham silver maker looking for a ‘time and motion’ work study person, with a background in engineering, for more money than I could dream of. I’d just had some of that experience at Longbridge, so I applied for the job, was given an interview, met the owner, Dennis Hope, and he took me on as a 19-year-old.”

At Pepper & Hope, Martin was immediately confronted with real shopfloor characters who

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let him know that he wasn’t going to last long if he walked around with a stopwatch. Instead, he listened to what they had to say, closely watching and learning their trade. They took a liking to him, showing him what was needed to help improve working practices and to get the best out of staff.

“I’m talking about highly-skilled tradesmen,” says Martin. “They really knew how things were done, why things worked, what could work better, and from them I learned a real appreciation and love for silverware.”

For a few years, Pepper & Hope did well. It bought Four Star Tableware, a former subsidiary of the renowned Elkington & Co in Birmingham – where George Elkington developed the electroplating process that revolutionised silver-making from 1840. And then it was decided to open a new factory in Ireland and young Martin – having proved >>

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SUCCESS STORY himself – was chosen to set up and head the operation. This was a huge opportunity for Martin, still in his mid-20s: negotiating with the Irish government, employing previous farmers as workers, starting the factory up, getting to know the Irish market and what products would sell. The real challenge was finance, but here Martin struck lucky with his wife, the French-born Mireille, whom he’d met when she was came to the Midlands as an au pair. She was well-educated in accountancy, and so with Martin’s production management skills they made the perfect pair as they headed to Waterford, in south-east Ireland, to set up the new factory.

“What a great experience,” recalls Martin.

“We needed to find ways of finding staff and producing items that could be sold in that market. There were problems and issues that we had to overcome, and it was Mireille’s knowledge in terms of figures that was hugely helpful.” After three years of this steep learning curve, the McDonaghs returned to the UK – Martin to London on the marketing side of Pepper & Hope, Mireille to become a senior accountant for a French steel company. For Martin, this turned out to be another period of valuable education.

“I was working with Charlie Phillips, sales director of what had been the Four Star Tableware company, a main supplier of products to hotels and restaurants. I’ll never forget what I learned from Charlie, taking me round all the big hotels, meeting top chefs and managers. It was awe-inspiring. I’ll always remember going in through The Savoy’s main entrance, treated like guests, and meeting the main buyer, who said: ‘Our front door’s always open to Charlie.’ But before we left, he had a quick word in my ear: ‘It’s the back door for you next time, my son.’ A good lesson in the ways top hotels worked back then.’”

Before long, Pepper & Hope decided to sell to an American firm and Martin “didn’t gel” with the incoming vice-president. He’d enjoyed being his own boss in Ireland, and decided to start a family business – Heritage Silverware Ltd. It was 1976, and with initial capital of just £50 the firm’s first base was a small 8ft-by-8ft room opposite Key Hill Cemetery in Soho, Birmingham. Martin went around big hotels and restaurants, mainly in London, offering to

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We were a British company and proud of it but we struggled for a while

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repair silverware, bringing the work to his brother and another worker, then delivering it back to customers. Within a year, business was so brisk that Martin decided to rent a 2,500 sq ft factory in Green Lane, Small Heath. He’d picked up detailed knowledge of the hotel and restaurant trade and was in London every day, from 5am to late at night, seeing customers, delivering repairs and establishing firm relationships. “The hotel industry expects products instantly,” says Martin, “but they also want something a bit different. We needed to go into manufacturing, and we needed more people. What had started as metal spinning and polishing grew to doing everything from taking in the original sheets of metal, to designing, creating, shaping, finishing and plating the final product.”

Heritage Silverware soon needed even larger premises, moving up Green Lane to its present base, first buying 4,000 sq ft and then expanding to what today is a 1.5 acre site with a 24,000 sq ft factory. But it’s not all been plain sailing. The market changed dramatically in the 1980s, with the influx of stainless steel to hotels and restaurants that had previously relied on silverware. Heritage reacted quickly, and although stainless steel needed an entirely different process, they bought the new tooling and continued to compete. Larger stainless steel companies in Germany offered cheaper products from mass production, but Heritage became known for always making bespoke products – as it had with silverware. But then the industry was hit again, this time by cheaper production in the Far East. Martin says: “German and Italian companies were going to the Far East, taking over the factories and putting their own technical people in so customers couldn’t tell the difference. They made good quality but with very low production costs – and far higher selling prices.

We couldn’t compete with that. We were a British factory and proud of it, but we struggled for a while.”

This changing marketplace in the 1990s didn’t only hit silverware, it was also destroying the British china industry – where Martin found a new strategy. “I’d worked with china companies like Royal Worcester, and they were in trouble and closing their doors. But lots of hotels and restaurants used Royal Worcester

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and they still all needed china desperately.

“It occurred to me that as we already made bespoke silverware and stainless steel, why couldn’t we use our equipment to create different china models, then get a china company to produce from those moulds. I spoke to firms in Stoke-on-Trent and they said they’d try anything to keep going. So almost overnight we started creating china.

“When I started to tell customers that we were making china as well, it all changed. We were at the table at the beginning offering all products – and if we got china orders, we got silver orders as well. We were making silverware, stainless steel, chinaware, and then started supplying glassware. It was an incredible change, a huge fillip, and the main reason we’re still going strong.”

Today Heritage Silverware offers anything and everything a hotel or restaurant needs. From teaspoons to huge roast beef carving trolleys, in silverware or stainless steel, and all the plates, dishes, cups, saucers and glassware you can think of. This wider product range now has a new brand name – the Heritage Collection.

Customers include all the top London hotels: from The Ritz in Piccadilly to the Dorchester overlooking Hyde Park, and from the Lanesborough in Knightsbridge to Brown’s in Mayfair. Chains including Hotel du Vin, Malmaison and De Vere are also supplied, and internationally there are numerous big names – including the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, and the luxury Four Seasons and Kempinski chains. One of Martin’s favourite clients is Manchester United FC, where they recently fulfilled a last-minute order for 2,000 branded items of cutlery and china for diners attending the Champions League clash against Real Madrid in March. Now employing 23 staff and with a multi-million pound turnover, 65-year-old Martin’s still got an eye on the future: “I want to continue to build on what we’ve got and create a company with an identity and brand worldwide that shows the best of British and the best of what Birmingham can produce.” n

SUCCESS STORY

A true family affair in business The McDonaghs come from Connemara on the west coast of Ireland. Martin’s father, Coleman, came to Britain to find work in 1946, initially on farms. He brought his family over when he found work in Stratford-upon-Avon, erecting pylons for the electricity board. “There’s an old family saying that is part-myth, part truth,” says Martin. “It goes something like: ‘Mad Mac picks up a pylon on his own and puts it into the ground!’ I certainly remember my father as a strong man. He couldn’t write and had to put his fingerprint on documents, but he worked hard. We were poor but there was always put food on the table. We were Gaelic-speaking at home, and growing up was a period of hard but fun times.”

One of four children in a Catholic family, Martin was urged to study for the priesthood. “Mother wanted someone from the family to be a priest. My older brother started the same process, but left at 16, and so I found it difficult to say ‘this isn’t really me’. But I didn’t do well in exams, like Latin, and it was obvious to all that I was not cut out to be a priest.”

Instead, Martin excelled in football and cricket, and had trials as a 17-year-old for Birmingham City, before a cartilage injury ended that dream and he started an apprenticeship. Today, he’s chairman of Heritage Silverware, and his wife Mireille, aged 62, is managing director. Their son, Anthony, is sales and production director, and daughter, Nathalie, is creative director. Both children studied for design degrees at Portsmouth University before starting at Heritage. Mireille says: “That first job, the chance to show what you can do, is always important, and we wanted to do that for them here. They’ve never looked back!” Nathalie, aged 33, agrees and says how “watching my designs instantly turn into products was so exciting”. Martin puts this enthusiasm into two words: “They bit! And they’ve now become an important part of the company.”

Martin recalls how his children opposed the company’s ex-bank manager’s idea to move production overseas to save on costs. “They said: ‘You don’t know how that would hit the business. It’s all about original ideas and the speed of getting them to the market. If you were waiting for manufacturers to try things out it just wouldn’t work. This factory is critical to what we do.’” Anthony, aged 35, is impressed at how his parents have steered the company: “Mum and dad showed real prudence, and as a result we’ve seen a slow but steady growth even during the recession. We want to make sure we continue that approach in the future.”

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BIT OF A CHAT

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Birmingham was probably right to turn me down as a social worker.

I’d have been totally useless

with Bill Borde >> Reeves’ bad habit

>> M&S force S&M Nigel Spink, Aston Villa’s European Cupwinning goalkeeper, is getting into S&M, I can reveal. But you’ll be relieved to know that the acronym stands for the name of his new business, not sadomasochism!

After lifting the cup with Villa in 1982, Spink went on to serve as a goalie coach for Birmingham City, Sunderland, Wigan and, finally, Bristol City. Now aged 55, he retired from football at the end of last season and has recently set up a courier firm with business partner Paul Munro.

The obvious name was M&S (for Munro and Spink), but in fear of lawyers they swapped the letters around to mimic the rather more adult version.

Nigel said: “I’ve had some jokes about the S&M thing, but we couldn’t have gone for M&S because we’d have been sued!”

S&M works on deliveries and office moves for companies across the UK – with Nigel and Paul as drivers. Go to www.SandMcouriers.co.uk for more details.

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Marc Reeves, the new publishing director of Trinity Mirror Midlands, has a rather bad habit. You can spot him in the top right of this black and white photograph taken when he was a lowly sub-editor at the company’s Focus weekly newspapers back in 1990.

But despite now being a big name in the region’s business community, Reeves has no intention of discarding his various costumes. Spies tell me he’s dressing up as a ‘zombie clown’ at his own Halloween party in Edgbaston this autumn.

>> Rejected by Birmingham In 1985, Birmingham very nearly lost someone who would one day become a crucial figure for the city and the wider West Midlands region.

I’m talking about Andy Street, managing director of department stores giant John Lewis, but back then an earnest graduate in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University.

“I wanted to be a social worker for Birmingham City Council,” recalls Andy. “My mind was set on that profession, in my home city. But the council said ‘no’ – at the time they didn’t have the money in place for the training role I was aiming for. And so I had to think about an alternative career...”

Instead, Andy joined the John Lewis Partnership, spending the last 28 years in a variety of roles as he climbed the management tree, ending up as the main boss in 2007 on £500,000-plus salary.

“Birmingham was probably right to turn me down as a social worker,” laughed Andy, now aged 50. “I think I’d have been totally useless and just wouldn’t have had the tremendous patience that would have been needed.”

>> And finally...

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There should be red faces at Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre.

Its recent advertising campaign featured a brilliant toy town animation created by Wallace and Gromit designers Aardman, “embracing the buzz and excitement of city life”.

Unfortunately, clever marketeers decided to use the slogan ‘We Are So City’ on the advert now plastered across the region – and too many visitors are naughtily pronouncing this with a ‘sh’...

Insight, news and analysis to help grow your business

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EVENTS

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BQ’s business events diary gives you lots of time to forward plan. If you wish to add your event to the list send it to steve.dysonmedia@gmail. com, with ‘BQ events page’ in the email subject heading.

AUGUST

OCTOBER

29 ‘Fighting back against the Taxman’ with BCCG, 7.30-9.30am, 75 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3DH. £10 members, £15 non-members.

To book, call 0121 607 1772, email events@birmingham-chamber.com or go to www.birmingham-chamber.com

2 CP Bigwood’s Annual Charity Golf Day at Edgbaston Golf Club.

Call 0121 233 0500 for details.

SEPTEMBER 5 CP Bigwood Property Auction, 11am-6pm, Aston Villa Football Club, Holte Suite, Aston, Birmingham, West Midlands, B6 6HE. Call 0121 233 0500 for details.

6 Business Breakfast with Phil Bennion MEP, Lichfield & Tamworth Chamber, 7.45-9.30am, Drayton Manor Park Hotel , Tamworth, B78 3TW. £10 members, £15 non-members. Details: 08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com and www.birmingham-chamber.com 12 IoD breakfast seminar, ‘The art of communication and how to achieve true employee engagement’, 7.30-9am at Higgs & Sons, Brierley Hill. Free of charge.

Book at http://www.iod.com/Wmidlandsevents or email sue.hurrell@iod.com 12 IPF’s site visit and tour of Library of Birmingham, 4pm, followed by Midlands IPF members drinks reception, 5.30pm. For more details www.ipf.org.uk 18 BBBC, with Ed Hall, chief executive of Canis Media & Comux UK, 7-9am, Botanical Gardens, Birmingham B15 3TR. £20. Book at www.bbbc.biz or call 0121 236 0484 18 IPF’s ‘Out of town retail, opportunities and issues’ event, Colliers International, Birmingham, 4.30pm. For more details www.ipf.org.uk 19 Burton Chamber’s Breakfast: ‘Maximising your sales conversion potential’, 7.30-9am, Holiday Inn Express Burton upon Trent, Centrum 100, Burton, DE14 2WF. Members £10, non-members £15. Details: 01283 535640, c.plant@chase-chamber.com and www.birmingham-chamber.com 19 Speed networking with BCCG, 8:30-10.30am, Tyseley Locomotive Works, 670 Warwick Road, Tyseley, Birmingham, B11 2HL. Members £10, non-members £15.

Details: 0121 607 1772, events@birmingham-chamber.com and www.birmingham-chamber.com 19 CBI’s Regional Council Meeting, (Councillors only), Keele University, Keele. To register, contact julia.fox@cbi.org.uk or michelle.cleaver@cbi.org.uk 20 Lichfield & Rugby Chamber’s Breakfast, 7-9.30am, Lichfield Rugby Club, Cooke Fields, Tamworth Road, Lichfield, WS14 9JE. £10 members, £15 non-members.

Details: 08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com and www.birmingham-chamber.com 24 BCCG’s ‘Business Showcase Breakfast’, 7.15-10am, 75 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3DH. Members £15, non-members £22.50. Details: 0121 607 1772, events@birmingham-chamber.com and www.birmingham-chamber.com 25 Solihull Chamber’s quarterly breakfast, 7.30-9.30am, Village Hotel Solihull, The Green Business Park, Stratford Road, Shirley, B90 4GW. Members £5.83, nonmembers £8.33. Details: 0121 781 7384, solevents@solihull-chamber.com and www.birmingham-chamber.com 25 IoD breakfast seminar, ‘The future of the workplace: embracing collaborative technologies’, with Tim Banting, NextiraOne. 7.30-9am at IoD Hub, Brindleyplace, Birmingham. Book at http://www.iod.com/Wmidlandsevents or email sue.hurrell@iod.com 26 CBI’s Senior Executive Lunch. Speaker: John Thornhill, deputy editor, Financial Times. South and City College, Bordesley Green Campus, Birmingham. To register, contact julia.fox@cbi.org.uk or michelle.cleaver@cbi.org.uk

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2 ‘How SMEs can get on the changing media map’ event, with award-winning editor Steve Dyson. 6-8pm, Bournville College’s Conference & Events Centre. £10 a head including wine and canapés. Book via Stephanie Jones on 0121 477 1384 or stephanie.jones@bournville.ac.uk, or www.bournville.ac.uk/steve-dyson 2 ‘Theft, Fraud and Dishonest Employees’ seminar. 8.45-9.30am registration, breakfast and networking; 9.30am-12.30pm seminar. Eleven Brindleyplace, Brunswick Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2LP. Free, hosted by Expert Investigations. Email marketing@expert-investigations.co.uk or call 02476 630 498 2 Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity comedy evening. From 7pm at Highlight Club, Birmingham. Tickets cost £12 and include a meal. Proceeds will go towards the Military Patients fund. For tickets call Sian on 0121 371 4852.

3 ‘The Fraudsters that Got Away... NEARLY!’ 9-9.30am registration, breakfast and networking; 9.30-11am seminar. Conference Room, The Innovation Centre, Binley Business Park, Coventry, CV3 2TX. Free, hosted by Expert Investigations. Email marketing@expert-investigations.co.uk or call 02476 630 498 to attend.

10 IPF’s Midlands Region Annual Dinner 2013, from 6.30pm, ICC, Broad Street, Birmingham. Dress: Black tie. Guest speaker: Jeremy Vine, broadcaster. For more details and to book www.ipf.org.uk 17 BBBC, with Lord Digby Jones, 7-9am, Botanical Gardens, Birmingham B15 3TR. £20. Book at www.bbbc.biz or call 0121 236 0484 17 IoD breakfast seminar, ‘Keys to business success: finding the right people at top level, 7.30-9am, IoD Hub, 11 Brindleyplace. Book at www.iod.com/Wmidlandsevents or email sue.hurrell@iod.com 23 CBI’s Business Breakfast with Phil Smith, CEO, Cisco. Nextira One, Birmingham.

To register, contact julia.fox@cbi.org.uk or michelle.cleaver@cbi.org.uk 24 CP Bigwood Property Auction, 11am-6pm, Aston Villa Football Club, Holte Suite, Aston, Birmingham, West Midlands, B6 6HE. Call 0121 233 0500 for details.

31 ‘The Fraudsters that Got Away... NEARLY!’ 9-9.30am registration, breakfast and networking. 9.30-11am seminar.Eleven Brindleyplace, Brunswick Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2LP. Free, hosted by Expert Investigations.

Email marketing@expert-investigations.co.uk or call 02476 630 498 to attend.

noveMBER 7 IoD Annual Dinner. Guest speakers Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Prof Graeme Leach, IoD Chief Economist and Director of Policy. Dress code black tie. 7-10.30pm at National Motorcycle Museum, Solihull. For details, email sue.hurrell@iod.com 13 IoD breakfast seminar, ‘Boosting business performance’, 7.30-9am at Higgs & Sons, Brierley Hill. Free of charge. For details, email sue.hurrell@iod.com

The diary is updated daily online at www.bq-magazine.co.uk Please check with contacts beforehand that arrangements have not changed. Event organisers are also asked to notify us at the above email address of any changes or cancellations as soon as they are known.

KEY: BBBC, Birmingham Business Breakfast Club. BCCG, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group. CBI, Confederation of British Industry. IoD, Institute of Directors. IPF, Investment Property Forum.

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