Swansea Bay Business Life

SWANSEA BAY

April/May 2016

Issue 41

BUSINESS LIFE COMMITTED TO SUPPORTING THE REGION’S

DYNAMIC BUSINESS COMMUNITY www.swanseabaybusiness.com

REGION of innovation SIR TERRY: 5G broadband, tidal power and skilled talent are key to growth PEMBROKESHIRE

CARMARTHENSHIRE

SWANSEA

NEATH PORT TALBOT

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editor’s letter Welcome...

Swansea Bay Business Life 220 High Street, Urban Village, Swansea, SA1 1NW @SwanBayBusiness www.swanseabaybusiness.com Publisher South West Wales Media Editor Chris Campbell @Citizen_Chris • 01792 545 564 chris.campbell@swwmedia.co.uk Contributors Naomi Majid (@Naomi_Majid), Tommy Davies, Stan McIlvenny, Hannah Dahill, Juliet Luporini, Ian Price, Julie Williamson, Lisa Baker, Adam Curtis Design & Production Alistair Corbett SWWMedia Creative Studio Photography SWWMedia Photographic Team Publisher Lisa Cameron lisa.cameron@swwmedia.co.uk Advertising Manager Debbie Roberts 01792 545 626 debbie.roberts@swwmedia.co.uk Head of Business Zena Laws 01792 545 585 zena.laws@swwmedia.co.uk Subscription homedelivery@localworld.co.uk 03337778004

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...to your new Swansea Bay Business Life magazine, bringing you the latest on developments across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.

I am delighted to reveal our new design and the team here at South West Wales Media have worked tirelessly to bring a fresh approach and layout.

You will notice we have included a dedicated Our Region section, which highlights news from all four corners of our Swansea Bay Region.

This first edition of our revamped magazine is based around the theme of innovation – developments in progress and that may lie ahead and some fantastic stories across the industries that are helping to push the region, and its local economies, in the right direction.

We include insight from Ted Sangster, chair of the Pembrokeshire Business Panel, who discusses the £10m project at Saundersfoot Harbour. Also, Stan McIlivenny reflects on his first year as chairman of the Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone and its expansion.

There has been success for Swansea BID, with businesses in the city centre voting to keep the Business Improvement District for another five years. We include the thoughts of director Russell Lawson, who touches on recruitment drives in the region, in our new Workforce section.

Andrew Stephens, president of Llanelli chamber of commerce, provides an insider view of how Llanelli’s BID success towards the end of last year is helping there.

Swansea Bay City Region’s £500m City Deal bid, dubbed the Internet

Coast, is ambitious. It could create 39,000 jobs over the next 20 years.

Read about Sir Terry Matthews’ vision for the region in our exclusive interview. Swansea Bay could be at the forefront of a digital revolution if it acts now and Sir Terry isn’t the type of person to hang around. The City Deal bid was mentioned by George Osborne in his recent Budget and discussions are definitely on the table.

Our Round Table too covers the region’s ambition to create the UK’s first internet coast - the potential of a high-speed internet connection between New York and Swansea.

There have been calls for more support in Port Talbot due to fears about Tata Steel’s future there. We cover the latest on developments - at the time this magazine went to print - and the work some businesses are undertaking to help.

We also discuss the impact Aston Martin and TVR’s moves to South Wales might have on the region and our skilled workers.

There are more changes at SWW Media to announce. We have revamped our weekly business pages across our South Wales Evening Post, Llanelli Star and Carmarthenshire Journal newspaper titles. They are very much in keeping with this magazine. Our monthly Business Post supplement has undergone something of a spring clean too and you will notice far more vibrant pages.

We hope you approve of the work we have carried out to improve our business coverage and to reflect the whole Swansea Bay region.

Chris Campbell

Editor

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39 33 Contents...

In Focus 13 Sir Terry Matthews Persistence gets you to the top 27 Swansea Bay City Region Board Who’s on the board and what are its aims?

Start ups 33 Indian catering firm spices up region 20-year-old launches Rasoi Catering 37 Julie Williamson Optimism in the Swansea Bay region

Our region 39 Harbour’s £10m plus project Saundersfoot Harbour investment is example of success

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54 Enterprise zone to ease steel job losses Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone will help create growth

Finance 59 Turbo-charged insurance Firm takes mammoth share of specialist car market 63 Waste not, want not Group turns waste into re-usable commodities

Our columnists...

Tommy Davies

Hannah Dahill

Juliet Luporini

Ian Price

Entrepreneur with businesses in telecoms, marketing and heavy industry

Head of employment at Redkite Solicitors

Chairwoman of Swansea BID

Assistant director of CBI Wales

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75 117 113

Workforce 75

Future looks hi-tech City Deal marks change in industry focus

93

Region’s gender equality Staff at DVLA help alter job perceptions

Property & Construction 100 Outside view Can lessons be learnt from outside Swansea Bay? 104 What next for city high street?

Regeneration to breathe life into region

Technlogy & Communication 117 Cutting-edge cloud-based solutions Software pioneer helps to solve staff issues 123 Adam Curtis Firms to watch out for

Networking 145 Dates for your diary Events being held across the region 157 Business lunch Swansea Bay Business Club’s St David’s Day lunch

Our columnists...

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Julie Williamson

Lisa Baker

Adam Curtis

Chairwoman of the FSB Swansea Bay branch

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Sir Terry Matthews

The Big Interview

The Big Interview

Persistence gets you to the top Tenacious billionaire Sir Terry Matthews talks to Business Life about the Swansea Bay Region’s future growth through broadband network connectivity, the tidal lagoon and investment projects.

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Latest moves • At the heart of a £500m City Deal bid submitted by the Swansea Bay City Region (SBCR) earlier this year is the re-positioning of the whole Swansea Bay region as a giant digital test bed.

• This would make it a world-leader in digital innovation across energy, technology and healthcare sectors.

Matthews claims the ‘internet coast’ vision would not only address global challenges but would attract international investors.

• The City Deal bid could potentially be worth £1bn if funding from EU innovation focused funds and private sector match funding come through.

• SBCR has opened a digital marketing suite at Swansea University’s Bay Campus with state-of-the-art video conferencing equipment.

PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO GET USED TO RAISING THE PROFILE OF THE AREA ON A GLOBAL LEVEL LIKE THE TIDAL LAGOON, LIKE THE COMPUTATIONAL FOUNDRY. 14 swanseabaybusiness.com

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3/29/2016 11:34:30 AM

Sir Terry Matthews

The Swansea Bay region is setting itself up to be one of the best in the world, if leaders act now to make the most of technological opportunities and natural resources, the head of its regeneration has said.

Speaking to Business Life at The Celtic Manor Resort via video link, billionaire business magnate Sir Terry Matthews, chairman of the Swansea Bay City Region Board, says the tidal lagoon will happen and new international connectivity options, with speeds of terabits per second, will help put the region on the map as a leading technology hub.

Broadband capability, tidal power, water supply, tourist attractions and top universities - including examples like the Computational Foundry at Swansea University, which could be the home of world-class computer science research – as well as colleges in the region, will also secure its future prowess by preparing the local workforce for the new fast growing technology sector.

Revealing his never-say-die attitude to making Swansea Bay a top force as further technology revolutions take place over the next 10 to 20 years, he bangs the table in front of him as he talks of driving the region firmly into the 21st century.

With a snow storm taking place in one of his Canadian offices behind him, he said: “Swansea Bay can make it, that’s why I’m spending my time on it. I believe there’s a chance of going in an upwards spiral.

Go and take a look at the Bay Campus, it’s first class. Take a trip to Oxwich Bay, Langland Bay or Rhossili. There are some natural things that I could tick off that are really, really good.

“Whether it’s Swansea, the Tawe Valley, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Pembroke Dock, I know the area. You would find it very hard to find a better spot for tourists than Tenby. You’d find it very hard to find a more desirable place than Saundersfoot.

“The single most important word for success in business and life is persistence.

I am persistent. If you think I’m here just for an overnight success, you’re mistaken.

People will have to get used to raising the profile of the area on a global level like the tidal lagoon, like the Computational Foundry.

“If you don’t speak, you won’t get heard. If it isn’t written, it can’t be read.

Is the Swansea Bay region significant?

Is it worth reading about? If it isn’t, then you’re never going to make it.

“My network of hi tech execs is absolutely first class. That global network is very valuable and can be used for the benefit of the region.”

Sir Terry met with world-leading technology companies on the west coast of the US last month and part of the discussions were opportunities in the Swansea Bay region. This includes a major broadband network fibre link for international connectivity from the region to North America. In addition,

the Hibernia Express, a 50 terabits per second cable has now been completed from the Bristol Channel. Both of these networks cost hundreds of millions of pounds, boosting connectivity with North America.

“A cable is shorter from the Bristol Channel to North America than going around from London,” Sir Terry added.

“Look at the growth of Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Google. Last year Amazon Web Services grew dramatically.

It didn’t just grow 10 or 20 per cent. So, the upshot is the world of broadband - in particular mobile - the world of cloud, data centres, the world of applications and solutions for industry worldwide every industry vertical is going through a technology transition right now. Do we catch that change or do we let it slide by? I say, we catch that change. It’s a new industry and it’s only just starting.

Everybody might think it’s already over, absolutely not.

“Without the cables, you can’t run broadband. And the cables are not there yet. That’s coming pretty quickly. It is a totally new industry that we’re talking about here.

“The next ten years will be dramatic and I will not miss it. I will not miss that.”

He added: “We have 5G mobile networks coming soon. What I want is to make sure that the Swansea Bay region is very heavy on broadband. Broadband connectivity is actually more important

The Big Interview

Who is Sir Terry Matthews?

Welsh-Canadian and born at the Lydia Beynon Maternity Hospital, now part of Celtic Manor Resort, which he owns Grew up in Newbridge, Caerphilly Took an apprenticeship at BT Radio Research Labs near Cardiff Founded or funded about 140 companies in the high tech communications sector, including global telecommunications firm Mitel and data and voice networking company Newbridge Networks Founder and chairman of investment group Wesley Clover, headquartered in Newport, Wales and Ottawa, Canada Appointed an OBE in 1994 and knighted in 2001

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advertising feature

Swansea University

Swansea University

advertising feature

Swansea University is proud to be able to support businesses across the region. Winners and nominees include a number of our graduates – Alex O’Brien, Young Business Person of the Year and Dr Gareth Stockman and Dr Graham Forster of Marine Power Systems.

Mae Prifysgol Abertawe yn falch o fedru cefnogi busnesau ar draws y rhanbarth. Mae enillwyr ac enwebeion yn cynnwys nifer o’n graddedigion – Alex O’Brien, Unigolyn Busnes Ifanc y Flwyddyn a Dr Gareth Stockman a Dr Graham Forster o Marine Power Systems.

The Swansea Employability Academy Work Placement Team is delighted to collaborate with so many of the Swansea Bay Business Awards 2016 Winners and Nominees. Those who have provided excellent work placements and internships to Swansea students and graduates, via our WoW, SPIN and Santander-funded programmes, include Low Cost Vans, Dez Rez and Castell Howell.

Mae Tîm Lleoliad Gwaith yr Academi Cyflogadwyedd Abertawe yn falch iawn i gydweithio gyda nifer o Enillwyr ac Enwebeion Gwobrau Busnes Bae Abertawe 2016. Mae Low Cost Vans, Dez Rez a Castell Howell wedi darparu lleoliadau gwaith ac interniaethau ardderchog i fyfyrwyr a graddedigion Abertawe, trwy gyfrwng ein rhaglenni WoW a SPIN a rhaglenni a ariennir gan Santander.

Launching September 2016, the Swansea University Job Shop will connect our talented students with graduate recruiters, part time jobs and work experience opportunities.

To be part of it or to discuss how we can support your recruitment plans, please contact employability@swansea.ac.uk

Yn cael ei lansio ym mis Medi 2016, bydd Siop Swyddi Prifysgol Abertawe yn cysylltu’n myfyrwyr dawnus â recriwtwyr graddedigion, swyddi rhan-amser a chyfleoedd ar gyfer profiad gwaith. I fod yn rhan o’r cyfan neu i drafod sut allwn gefnogi’ch cynlluniau recriwtio, cysylltwch ag employability@swansea.ac.uk

For full details of Swansea University’s business opportunities, courses, events and research visit www.swansea.ac.uk. Swansea Employability Academy, part of Swansea University.

Am fanylion llawn am gyfleoedd busnes, cyrsiau, digwyddiadau ac ymchwil ym Phrifysgol Abertawe ewch i www.abertawe.ac.uk.

Academi Gyflogadwyedd Abertawe, rhan o Brifsygol Abertawe.

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3/28/2016 4:12:02 PM

Sir Terry Matthews

The Big Interview

WE HAVE 5G COMING. WHAT I WANT IS TO MAKE SURE THAT THE SWANSEA BAY REGION IS VERY HEAVY ON BROADBAND. THE BROADBAND IS ACTUALLY MORE IMPORTANT THAN AN M4 EXTENSION.

than an M4 extension. If you were in a high tech industry, whether it’s making movies, animation, or business solutions, and went down to Pembrokeshire and had a look at how beautiful the area is, you might want to set up a new tech company - but you can’t do it without a broadband network. The network is more important to you every day than the M4. Not only that, but if we put in an umbrella of broadband, spanning out from those core network cables to North America and London, then you’re talking.

All this bandwidth matters because it is the infrastructure fabric to enhance the everyday lives of the region’s population.

It will be an essential part of creating opportunities in healthcare, education, energy management, entertainment. In fact, it’s hard to think of an area of our lives and the economy unaffected by the supply of high speed connectivity.”

Sir Terry says that due to not being in an earthquake zone and with the water infrastructure in place to cool data centres, more could be built around the region that

could make it a vital technological hub.

These data centres are becoming new engines of economic momentum.

He adds: “One of the biggest places for data centres in the US is Colorado. They go to Colorado, because Colorado is part of the Rockies and that means lots of snow and precipitation. They use the reservoirs and water to cool the data centres. Data centres chew up a lot of power and they have to be cooled at as low a cost as possible.

“What have we got? A huge amount of water. We have the reservoirs and on top of that, we have the pipes to carry the water. That’s an enormous asset. If you had to construct those reservoirs and pipes today you would be shocked at the cost, but they’re sitting there.”

Touching on other key projects, he adds he would like to see the electrification of the Great Western Railway line between Cardiff and Swansea happen sooner, but it “is coming”. Electrification from London to Cardiff is due to be completed

by March 2019 but the western leg is not

expected to be finished until several years later, possibly 2024.

The £1 billion tidal energy lagoon in Swansea Bay will also happen, he says, although there has been uncertainty from the UK Government.

“The lagoon has come to the right strike price, without that it is just not feasible,” he said. “Now it’s in the queue of decision making. So, it’s on the list. Can it be pulled off? Personally, I think the answer’s yes.

We have one of the biggest assets, which is a 50 ft rise and fall of the tide. You have to capture it, the underlying energy cost is zero.You don’t have to drill holes for oil or mine for uranium.”

Sir Terry also highlights Swansea University’s Bay Campus in Neath Port Talbot and the new campus for the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Swansea’s SA1 as examples of progress being made in the region. Investment in the future to put the area on the map and retain future graduates and entrepreneurs for a new hi tech industry sector. swanseabaybusiness.com 17

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Ffynone House School “The Best Decision I Ever Made” Business leaders know more than most that it is a tough world out there, where success is the product of hard work, experience and knowledge. Whilst we understand that academic excellence is only part of the picture, here at Ffynone House School we pride ourselves on creating a happy and purposeful environment to support the region’s next generation of standout achievers.

Educating for life Selecting the right setting for the next step in your child’s education is a crucial decision, and by choosing Ffynone House you can embrace all the advantages that go hand-in-hand with studying at a leading senior independent school for boys and girls. In addition to producing outstanding academic results across all subjects, we focus on giving our pupils the experience and education they need for life outside of the classroom.

Ffynone House is a family school where individuals succeed. We believe in encouraging creativity and providing an engaging environment where an exciting selection of opportunities can be accessed. Our highly experienced team of staff are dedicated to fostering the best in each child and developing their unique talents. We establish and maintain close communication

with you to ensure you are well informed throughout your child’s educational journey.

Education without limits For those considering their child’s future after secondary education, Ffynone Sixth Form provision is second to none, and our ethos for delivering education without limits is what sets us apart. Due to our status as an independent school, we are not constrained by government directives. For example, we offer three A Levels as standard and Ffynone House students do not take the Welsh Baccalaureate. We believe this provides the best opportunities for UK-wide University entrance.

Today’s students are the leaders of tomorrow and at Ffynone House, we place great emphasis on developing relevant skills and experience, whether through our strong record of public speaking and debate, or activities such as

the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the British Exploring Society.

Our small class sizes and passion for providing individual support with a flexible curriculum creates the optimum environment for your child to achieve their full potential.

Want to find out more?

The best way to experience all Ffynone House has to offer is to book a personal visit or taster day.

You will have a school tour, meet our inspiring staff and speak with students to hear first-hand what they enjoy most about school life and why they think Ffynone House School was “the best decision I ever made”.

To find out more or to order a copy of our prospectus please contact us today on 01792 464967 or simply email info@ffynonehouseschool.co.uk.

Ffynone House School 36 St James’ Crescent Swansea SA1 6DR www.ffynonehouseschool.co.uk 01792 464967 Swansea’s Premier Independent Senior School for boys and girls aged 11 - 18

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3/28/2016 4:12:37 PM

The Soapbox

The Soapbox What are your thoughts on the concept of the Swansea Bay City Region (SBCR for short) and what would you like to see it achieve?

Russell Greenslade, chief executive of Swansea BID

Adam Curtis, managing director at Hoowla

Lee Davies, service design consultant at Leadin UK

Swansea Bay City Region is fantastic for Neath Port Talbot, Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.

Having something that aims to get businesses working together can only serve to grow the economy in South West Wales by 2030. With businesses such as Amazon and Admiral making huge waves in Wales already, it will be great to see other big players seeing the potential of the area and bring in more investment and opportunity.

I think the Swansea Bay City Region is a great scheme. I hope to see it help raise the ambitions of start-ups and companies in the region even further. Personally, I hope it helps more technology business start in the area that focus on selling to the private sector. It would also be good to see the scheme help attract more research and development teams from large private companies to have operations based in Swansea. This will help retain and train a high skilled work force.

I think this is a great initiative bringing together local interests into one cohesive objective. This region has so much to offer and I am convinced that we can attract more companies both large and small.

The Swansea Bay City Region initiative will encourage a collaborative approach which is always better. We have been working with a lot of great businesses in the region and I am sure that by continuing to work together we can boost the economy for businesses and citizens alike.

David Bolton, Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership enterprise manager at Swansea University

Darren Coote, manager at Brentacre Insurance, Swansea

Dr Gareth Stockman, managing director of Marine Power Systems

The Swansea Bay region has always enjoyed a massive sense of community, pride and innovation that has put the area at the forefront of progress; historically in heavy industry and maritime. The City Bay Region’s initiative has an extremely broad mandate to effectively alter the way that we live, work, educate and ultimately define ourselves. I for one hope that this brings a new air of prosperity and new adventure to the area with increased support for tourism and commerce as well as building on the already strong sense of community aimed at helping individuals and those communities they reside in, to be more enterprising and innovative.

There is a lot happening in Swansea at the moment, and the region is in desperate need of some joined-up thinking that can help make sure the regeneration is cohesive and integrates all the key areas, so that we make the most of what we have. The Swansea Bay City Region functions as an overarching organisation, and it’s crucial that someone is taking the wider view.

But I also feel that smaller private sector companies need to be part of the discussion around the future of the region as a whole, and I’m not sure how much this is happening at the moment.

We fully support the SBCR and its economic regeneration strategy, in particular its vision to grow the region into an internationally recognised knowledge and innovation economy. As Wales’s leading wave energy technology developer, we want to see the region raise its competitiveness and nurture the emerging growth sectors, such as marine renewable technologies. As a step towards this, we hope the SBCR will secure the City Deal and we will look forward to playing our part by helping to increase productivity and investment in skills, through the commercialisation of our WaveSub technology.

To be involved in next issue’s The Soapbox contact the editor, Chris Campbell: chris.campbell@swwmedia.co.uk 01792 545564 SoapBox.indd 1

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Round Table

Round Table sponsored by

Creating the UK’s first internet coast Swansea Bay Business Life in association with Siarad Network pulled together a cross section of business executives and academics to explore the concept and potential of a high-speed internet connection between New York and Swansea creating the UK’s first ‘internet coast’, a concept recently mooted by Sir Terry Matthews, chairman of the Swansea Bay City Region and Wales’ richest man.

Hayley Davies

Chief executive, JCP Solicitors

What does the idea of a socalled internet coast really mean and how might it benefit the region?

His vision for this high speed internet pipe coming into Wales is that distance is everything. You lose speed with distance so, rather than having this hub based in London, if it’s based in Wales it gives us power and influence.

Garath Williams: As a local communications provider, we see the idea of the internet coast as potentially bringing big benefits to local businesses and organisations. Whether that will happen as quickly as we would like at a micro level is up for discussion. But we need to work hand in hand with government, education, health and commerce to ensure that everyone benefits and it all ties in nicely.

Big projects do not always go to plan and various challenges will occur. But I want to understand what we want from this idea of an internet coast and then what we can do to deliver it and market it to the local community.

This could mean that data storing and processing could be done locally on a large scale creating a whole new economy. So at a macro level he sees this as a catalyst for a fundamental change to the structure of economy. Equally, at a micro level the businesses that Siarad deals with daily can benefit from this directly, possibly from this improved technology and also indirectly because larger businesses may relocate here.

The opportunity of having a ten terabit link from New York and Oxwich Bay would mean the city bay region becoming a hub providing ultra-fast connectivity to the rest of UK. Sir Terry Matthews has suggested that could create 39,000 jobs.

But we need to understand and buy into the concept and get companies using it and benefitting. What we do with this will be of benefit to our children.

Adam Edwards

Creative director, Tinopolis Interactive

Debra Williams: Sir Terry has a wonderful phrase where he describes ‘moving the needle’. It is about looking at a macro approach for both the Welsh and UK economies. We have been successful in the past with manufacturing and heavy industry but the world is changing. He sees the future for the Welsh economy being very much digital.

Paul Harwood: To put this in context, it is worth thinking back to the time when the modem existed. The speed was limited. That meant trying to hold a video conference was impossible. It would be impossible to imagine Skype back then.

The point is that you can’t really imagine what the next transformational business thing will be. There are lots of opportunities that having more connectivity will bring. I happen to know one of Netflix’s most senior engineers. He works in a farmhouse in West Wales. That could never have happened 20 years ago.

It is transformational. It creates opportunities in different pockets of society.

At a big level, if we get this pipe in, perhaps the Amazon building could host servers – they make more money from that than selling things.

A big data centre here would mean serious infrastructure, investment and everything to support it. I think that the internet coast idea is probably more transformational than the plans for the Tidal Lagoon project.

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Peter Lynn: Who would host this vast hub?

I understand the concept of the pipe but what sort of business would host this? As a lawyer, is there an advantage to this being UK based in terms of both security and legal aspects?

Harwood: UK governments have not been keen for data to be hosted outside the UK. For the likes of Amazon or BT or Google, anyone with a global footprint, it really opens doors.

Paul Phillips

Head of technology and innovation, NPT Homes

Debra Williams: We are only limited by our imagination. Taking a hypothetical question: if the Welsh Government had a very defined pot of money and two options. One is to extend the M4 down to Carmarthen and the other is to put this high speed pipe in, the right decision would be to invest in the pipe.

Lynn: So I understand the benefits in terms of attracting large corporations on the macro side. But as a small business owner, will I also benefit by it taking away the frustrations of our existing speed and existing systems?

Paul Phillips: I understand the pipe and I understand the need for companies to invest here for the infrastructure. But what about the local infrastructure? Will it really extend to the guy in the farmhouse?

How will this work to benefit people in our communities?

Dr Matthew Roach: It’s about the proximity to the speed. We need to ensure we are bolted directly into the pipe and things aren’t tracked straight to London and Swansea missed out.

Debra Williams

Serial entrepreneur and chair of Careers Wales

If we achieve this, the lives of our citizens will change. Every tiny device will be communicating data and speed will be critical. That has the potential to change people’s lives. But getting the local infrastructure bolted straight into the pipe will be critical for the internet coast idea to succeed.

Phillips: I would just like an assurance the local community will benefit. What is the plan for the infrastructure behind this? If you build the pipe will people come here?

Debra Williams: It’s not just about whether people come here. The existing communities will benefit. It is only limited by our imagination. On the one hand I could take my business globally but there is also so much potential around improved health and wellbeing. For example, could technology connect many mobile stroke units around the country? The possibilities for the local community in changing how we live are endless.

Paul Harwood

Co-founder, TechHub Swansea

Harwood: We need to distinguish between what this infrastructure can do for us and what technology can do for us anyway.

A 5G network would give us all better connectivity and we would all benefit. But it would not help the overall economy. In terms of the community, there are existing technology projects they can engage with.

I see the true vision around the bigger billion dollar opportunities which are really exciting.

Debra Williams: This creates opportunities for the communities but it depends what you take from it. If businesses are not planning on being tech based then it won’t make much difference to them as well.

Hayley Davies: At a simple level there are people in the rural economy who want to set up businesses but are limited because of levels of internet connectivity. Surely this would open up the opportunity for them to do this and bring more business into the communities.

Phillips: But how do local businesses and bigger businesses put this infrastructure in place? The idea of a pipe up the coast does nothing on its own.

Lynn: We have fantastic natural resources in this area and people want to live locally.

But we also have to reach nationally and internationally and this will allow that to happen. The more tech industries that are started here will make it easier for local businesses to access it.

Could it make the area a magnet for certain types of big businesses and therefore certain skill sets around technology and data for instance?

Russell Greenslade: I think it is down to marketing and communications as well.

It is about letting people know what they can get and where they can get it. As a business organisation, we are often asked: Where do I get this information from? Who do I need to speak to? I think the way we communicate the benefits of this and what it will mean will be key.

Harwood: It is about keeping graduates here in Swansea.

Lynn: We need to take away the reasons for them to leave. As business leaders people need to think about investing in these technology industries. If the right business support and investment is there from business leaders the companies and talent will follow.

Debra Williams: There’s also the issue of the supply chain. If we have a higher skilled and higher paid economy the supply chain benefits too. There will be a greater need for a newsagent and a gym etc. Without it, we cannot sustain the economy as it is today with very small SMEs. We have to fundamentally change the economy in Wales.

Roach: My hope is that the business community embraces this opportunity.

Let’s look at the growth and success of organisations such as Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Google. We can see technology brings opportunities. The University is about to double their computer science department. It’s an interesting challenge for us. There is also the digital economy centre, which is one of six research centres in the UK. There is a significant amount of technology and digital economy in the

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Creating the UK’s first internet coast

Round Table

Adil Pirmohamed

Business development officer, Neath Port Talbot Council

Swansea region and my hope is the wider business community will start to embrace that and give people opportunities.

What is the perspective of some of the larger employers present here today?

Adam Edwards: I hadn’t even come across the term of the internet coast until I was invited here. From my perspective it’s a straightforward business benefit for us which would be all about size.

Nigel Lewis

Digital inclusion coordinator, Coastal Housing Group

We deal with very large files so the quicker I can get these files uploaded to the cloud the better. With this I could get things done quicker and cheaper, so that’s the straightforward business benefit to us.

Most of this discussion has been about the overall benefits of the community but the catalyst effect of bringing this to Swansea really excites me. There will be new businesses arriving and that extra workforce means more people needing food and a whole array of other things. I can see the whole benefit and real word scenario of how my business can be improved.

Debra Williams: The statistic I have been given is that this would be 140 terabits per second, which is double the capacity of all current transatlantic links.

Edwards: If it takes me two hours to upload a huge file then you’re looking at minutes instead of hours in that case.

Harwood: We had a company start in the Techhub working on transcoding start up.

They found it was faster to taxi the files than to upload them. This would be a perfect solution for a company like that. That is the big opportunity for having this kind of infrastructure.

Keith Booker

Deputy CEO, Neath Port Talbot College

Steve Edgell: Our biggest pinch point at the moment is getting the right people for web development and app development.

We have around 50 people employed in web and app development and to get

WE DEAL WITH VERY LARGE FILES SO THE QUICKER I CAN GET THESE FILES UPLOADED TO THE CLOUD THE BETTER. quality people we are going to Newport and Yarmouth.

I think we are missing a trick. We need to make Swansea the key choice for people in IT and web development.

We need to upskill the people in our communities and give the students coming out of Swansea University and Gower College the skills they need so that when we employ them we know we will get quality work and cutting edge app development. If we are going to create a new industry let’s put our people into this industry.

Mark Jones: The skills demand is important. There is an IT pathway or a computing pathway. But it is the hard tech stuff that you are talking about. Schools are actually reducing the amount of computing they are doing as everyone now can do the IT stuff. There is a big communication issue. We need to make sure educators understand this vision, and make sure the curriculum allows students to come through with these skills.

Round Table sponsored by

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We can change the curriculum but the challenge is getting the young people coming through who want this curriculum, which is the challenge.

Professor Keith Booker: It is important to deliver computing skills to all schools across Wales. There is an appetite in the government for this new computing curriculum.

Mark Jones

Principal, Gower College

Roach: It is about getting students to choose these right options. We need to get the girls to choose it in later education. We can pinpoint the age, which is about 12-13, where girls switch off and many choose against technology. But the generations of people teaching these students don’t necessarily understand technology. That’s the reality.

Booker: Most people see the results rather than the processes but we need to train people for processes and selling that process. It’s like the difference between someone who can drive, and someone who can build a car. It’s about getting someone to learn those technical skills and grasp them, which is the real challenge. It needs to be done at a very early age.

Harwood: We have very important advantages right now but they will not last long. India is producing hundreds of times

Russell Greenslade

Chief executive, Swansea BID

IT IS IMPORTANT TO DELIVER COMPUTING SKILLS TO ALL SCHOOLS ACROSS WALES. THERE IS AN APPETITE IN THE GOVERNMENT FOR THIS NEW COMPUTING CURRICULUM. more computer science graduates per year.

We should really be focusing on making the students we produce in Swansea the very best at being able to take advantage of technology. I absolutely agree we need to push this in at a very early age and then we will see the benefits relating to this infrastructure.

Davies: As a parent, you can encourage and enthuse them to go down certain routes especially if you can see there are opportunities. But as a parent who isn’t very IT literate, you need to understand more about these opportunities and what they mean.

Peter Lynn Managing partner, Peter Lynn & Partners

Lynn: So long as we cover the commerciality of it. We don’t necessarily

need to build the car but everyone needs to know how to drive it really well. Business leaders want to know what it will do for them. There is a gap between the skills knowledge and the commerciality to get it into the community.

We need to upskill the local people, and this is where universities are important to get the message out that you don’t need to go elsewhere to work, you can work right here.

This is the challenge.

Debra Williams: I’m the mother of a teenage girl and I share the pain of career choices. IT skills and entrepreneurialism are two skills we do not teach our kids.

As a country of three million if we can’t be agile and nimble and change legislation and the education system and link this to commercial businesses then how did the rest of the world do it?

Bangalore and Korea are doing it and these are commerce hubs that are threatening to take work from us in Wales. My frustration is that we need to change things really quickly.

How can the region take this from being a mere idea to a reality that we all benefit from and which is clearly communicated along the way?

Garath Williams: I would pull it back down to what Russell said earlier: for us to be able to communicate it properly, we need to understand it ourselves. We have to explain it to business managers and leaders so they buy into it and promote it to our kids who then do a mobile app course at Gower College before a computer science degree. Eventually they might go to Amazon to manage someone’s server internationally based here in Swansea.

There are so many what ifs but what it comes down to as a business owner and manager is the question of what’s in it for me? If people can’t see that then a lot of them aren’t going to buy into it now.

Adil Pirmohamed: This is going to be a huge opportunity for this region to have a distinctive position globally. It could be a game changer for the region with different sectors benefitting.

We need to show how this region can change and what it can offer. If we do that, this could act as a catalyst in how this region will change and what it will offer. If we can create an environment which helps incubate, launch and grow businesses everyone would buy into that.

Garath Williams: I also see the potential infrastructure as an opportunity too. If we were able to tap into the hub we would essentially become a localised provider across the region bypassing the existing network infrastructure.

If we have a five terabit connection made available we could even build a Wi-Fi network for the area.

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Creating the UK’s first internet coast

There are so many great opportunities.

From my own point of view I want this to happen. It’s an amazing thing to coincide with some of the other plans we have going on. But the reality of the situation is that you must also consider what’s in it for the community and the students. Just having a big pipe for Amazon and Google to use is not good enough.

Harwood: The way in which the region takes advantage of the opportunity will define the next 15 years of the economy.

Lynn: The elephant in the room is who’s going to pay for this?

Steve Edgell

Director, Wheelies Direct Cycle Solutions

Pirmohamed: It would probably be a combination of funding opportunities from the Welsh Government combined with European Government funding.

Debra Williams: It is important to secure buy-in at several levels. If Sir Terry had only pushed this as an idea that would benefit Swansea, he wouldn’t have got very far. His strategy has been to work at the top level of European and UK government. It is that much of a game changer that is necessary.

His pitch is not just about the benefits to Swansea and the region but more about benefits to the UK economy. That means there is a possibility for funding from all these organisations in Europe, the UK and the Welsh Government. My perspective is that I don’t think it’s the responsibility of any one body to define what this will do for you. It is more a question of what you would like and what businesses want from it.

They have the opportunity to say how they propose to use it.

Davies: If it doesn’t come here where will it go? Would all these opportunities be diverted elsewhere?

Debra Williams: Yes. The other options are Ireland and/ or London. We will lose out.

Dr Matthew Roach

Research engagement manager, Swansea University

Garath Williams: There is a fast connection that already runs from New York into the West Coast of Ireland. It might be more cost effective to run this across Ireland than build a new pipe. But whatever happens, we have to run with it very quickly now.

Greenslade: Swansea city centre is the commercial hub of the region and we would welcome this. We need that connectivity to generate higher paid jobs which means people spend more money in shops.

I think that the communication and getting businesses to realise what is going on is important. I was in London last week and some of the bigger players in retail know what’s going on but want to know when it is happening.

Pirmohamed: This is a great opportunity which we should run with for the sake of economic growth in this region.

Garath Williams

Managing director, Siarad Network

Mark Dacey: This is one of the number of exciting projects for Swansea when you also consider the potential Tidal Lagoon and the big investment in the city centre development. We must take advantage of it.

We just have to make sure we deliver it.

Round Table

Booker: It is a wonderful opportunity. The challenge is to ensure we make the most of it. If we genuinely want a high skilled economy it has got to be the way forward.

Phillips: The only question I have got is: How do we make it happen? What do we do next?

Nigel Lewis: It’s all about the costings but there is a big opportunity for this community.

Steve Edgell: I agree we need to understand where we are going from here and the next steps.

Harwood: There is a fantastic report by KPMG called Magnet Cities. It talks about how you shift from repelling people from a city to attracting people. It gives all these examples of cities that have done exactly that.

Roach: We need to be thinking about education right from young children in education through to the highest end of skills so that we can build a digital economy here engaging with high-end researchers.

We also need to understand the business communities and what their challenges are.

Harwood: Wales is a nation of over achieving people. There are three million people here, but in terms of what we can output when we put our minds to something, we tend to do very well. It does help having a country like England next door to us because having the infrastructure allows us to take advantage of that. But this project would be absolutely fantastic from the point of view of something like Techhub as it would create a brand for a region that is extremely powerful.

Lynn: This will make England say how great it is that they have Wales next to them. This is an important project for the business community if we understand it and make the most of it.

Garath Williams: Thank you all for coming. It has been an interesting debate.

I see opportunities for my clients to be able to take advantage of this project but we need to buy into it quickly and start shouting about it now.

To be involved in the next issue’s Round Table contact the editor, Chris Campbell:

chris.campbell@ swwmedia.co.uk 01792 545564

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The Swansea Bay City Region’s aim for South West Wales is for it to have an economy known internationally for its emerging knowledge and innovation.

Amazon, Admiral, South Hook LNG and General Electric are among multinational companies to invest in the region and the board is looking to capitalise on this and attract more investment.

It wants the region to be a confident, ambitious and connected European City Region by 2030 and is focusing on delivering the Swansea Bay City Region Economic Regeneration Strategy to achieve this.

But who are the people on the board working to make it happen?

Business Life takes a look…

Sir Terry Matthews

Cllr Meryl Gravell

Steve Penny

Founder and Chairman of Wesley Clover International

Executive board member for Regeneration and Leisure at Carmarthenshire County Council

Chairman of South West Wales law firm JCP solicitors

Terry is also chairman of a number of private and publicly traded companies, including Mitel, Solace Systems and CounterPath, and sits as a director on the boards of several others.

Gravell represents the electoral division of Trimsaran. She was leader of Carmarthenshire County Council from 1999 to 2012.

Penny is currently chairman of Swansea’s Economic Regeneration Partnership. He is also a director of Swansea City AFC and a director of the Liberty Stadium Management Company.

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Andrew Evans Founder of On the Shore Restaurants Ltd Evans is founding chairman of the Saundersfoot Chamber for Tourism and chairs the South West Wales Tourism Partnership.

Professor Medwin Hughes

Andy Richards

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Richards has most recently been appointed as chairman of the Wales Labour Party and is also former vice president and president of the Wales TUC.

Hughes is a former deputy chair of the Welsh Language Board and has served on advisory committees of the Welsh Assembly Government.

Regional secretary, Unite Union Wales

What is the City Region?

A city region is a core city or network of urban communities, sharing resources such as a central business area, labour market and transport network.

The Swansea Bay City Region encompasses the local authority areas of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, City and County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.

It offers a different approach to economic regeneration, which can include: • Larger and more efficient labour markets and better prospects for job creation

Barry Liles

Juliet Luporini

Principal/CEO at Coleg Sir Gâr

Chair of Swansea Business Improvement District

Appointed by the Welsh Government as Skills Champion for Wales. He is a member of the Strategy Board of the South West Wales Regional Learning Partnership.

Luporini is co-owner of the Kardomah restaurant in Swansea. She worked for the Ministry of Defence and prior to that Marks and Spencer, as well as in teaching.

• Scope for better planning of housing, transport, support for business and other services beyond existing administrative boundaries • Better prospects for attracting investment, innovation and value added economic activity • It is run by this board, which is made up of representatives of the public and private sectors.

Mark Bowen

Nick Revell

Keith Baker

Managing director of Andrew Scott Ltd

Managing director at Ledwood Mechanical Engineering

Co-founder of Pure Wafer

Bowen is a chartered civil engineer with more than 30 years’ worth of experience.

He joined Andrew Scott as managing director in 2011.

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With more than 30 years of proven expertise in international business operations, Revell runs a business with a profitable turnover of more than £45m per year.

Baker has more than 30 years’ worth of experience in high tech manufacturing.

Pure Wafer is a Swansea-based global hightech semiconductor materials business.

3/29/2016 11:41:39 AM

Swansea Bay City Region Board

Paul Greenwood Owner of Teddington Engineered Solutions Greenwood is owner and managing director of specialist engineering firm Teddington Engineered Solutions Ltd, based in Dafen, Llanelli.

The Board

Professor Richard Davies

Rosemary Morgan

Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University

Morgan is a member of the governing body of Swansea University. She was previously chair of the Swansea City Centre Partnership Board and a director of a large NHS Trust.

An applied statistician, Davies has worked with industry and has undertaken contract research for government ministries. He has also worked at Cardiff and Bristol universities.

Director at Morgan LaRoche

Cllr Jamie Adams

Cllr Rob Stewart

Cllr Ali Thomas

Leader of Pembrokeshire County Council

Leader of City and County of Swansea

Leader, Neath Port Talbot Council

Adams is an organic dairy farmer at Keeston, near Haverfordwest. He was a prominent member of the Young Farmers’ Clubs organisation and chairman of the Wales YFC Rural Committee.

Stewart has been leader of the City and County of Swansea since 2014. He was previously a cabinet member for finance and resources. Also, formerly a manager at DVLA.

Became leader in 2009. Thomas was made an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to local government in Wales, in 2014.

What are the board’s aims?

For productivity levels in the Swansea Bay City Region to be at 90 per cent of the UK level by 2030.

Business growth, retention and specialisation

Cllr Emlyn Dole Leader, Carmarthenshire County Council Leader since May last year following the formation of a ruling coalition between Plaid Cymru and the Independent Group.

Previously worked at the BBC.

- Develop a more entrepreneurial culture across the region - Encourage a dynamic and sustainable business start-up market - Support large employers across the region in both the public and private sectors - Develop a first rate inward investment offer

Skilled and ambitious for long-term success - Improve attainment and ambition in our schools - Ensure that further and higher education provision is aligned to the needs of growth sectors - Target individuals who are in work promoting awareness of up-skilling, progression and training opportunities

Maximising job creation for all - Support people to get back into work through a range of targeted support programmes - Increase the level of new business starts including social enterprises - Improve opportunities for our children and young people

Knowledge, economy and innovation - Maximise the long-term potential of Swansea University´s new Bay Campus - Better integrate and co-ordinate research and design assets across the region - Establish strong international connections and partnerships

Distinctive places and competitive infrastructures - Address strategic transport issues to unlock long-term growth - Develop competitive Next Generation Broadband and 4G offers swanseabaybusiness.com 29

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Expert opinion with Tommy Davies

Secretary of State meets leaders

Unashamed to be sexist...

At my age and with my wealth, I try to avoid being desk bound. I prefer to tell people what to do and leave until the next board meeting. But just occasionally I enjoy the atmosphere of sitting in an open office working. I like to feel the pulse of a workplace – to assess whether things are too lethargic, too traumatic or just plain erratic. A quick but steady rhythm is always best.

There are two offices I tend to do this in and they are opposites in every way. One is in London, sales driven and staffed entirely by men. The other is in South Wales, task driven and staffed entirely by women.

As you can imagine, they make for very different experiences.

The blokes in London are full of bad breath, strong coffee and testosterone.

The animosity between some of them is palpable. Because they work in sales this is not always a bad thing as it brings out their competitive instincts. But they go at it hammer and tongs at times with banter that becomes increasingly targeted, personal and downright insulting.

They are, however, very funny. Their remarks are barbed and pointed and often worthy of any professional stand-up. They rip into each other without mercy for much of the day – but they then go for a pint together at 6pm.

As office environments go, is this a problem? Well it was when the company has previously tried to hire women. And it was when two of them started fighting.

So while it is funny, it is not really ideal and healthy competition can quickly descend into distraction, misdirection and misogyny, which no workplace wants.

The Wales-based office is very different.

It smells a lot better and has nice feminine touches. The fridge is full of strange and wonderful diet-related items and people give each other a baffling number of ‘thoughtful’

gifts – for birthdays, anniversaries, because they are feeling down, because their dog is ill. For all sorts of reasons…

On the surface, it looks like a workforce in perfect harmony – organised, tranquil and steady. Yet just as deep water can hide deadly currents, never underestimate the unseen forces at work in a female-only workplace.

While men shout, swear and sweat in the heat of office battle, this world is more akin to a complex game of chess played out across mobile phones, messaging services and, of course, the sacred kitchen area where hot drinks are made and midmorning snacks conjured.

To be good at chess you need to be clever, ruthless and single-minded. So are those who thrive in this environment. Yet forget the calm, quiet, calculated nature of a chess game. Throw into this a volatile bundle of emotions capable of changing the rules and nature of victory after every move.

While this office is a nice place to work for a man (and you tend to get given presents) it is just as bad for a company in that it too breeds diversion, time wasting and misandry.

This is why, like anything in life, a balance is needed between the sexes. Everything is good in moderation. For my next batch of recruits I plan to be unashamedly sexist just to balance things out in both locations.

Tommy Davies, born in midCwmtwrch in the Swansea Valley, is one of the region’s most successful entrepreneurs with businesses in telecoms, marketing and heavy industry

New Secretary of State for Wales Alan Cairns has met with business leaders to discuss the Swansea City Bay Region’s proposed City Deal.

Among those Cairns met was Julie Williamson, chairwoman of the Federation of Small Businesses’ Swansea Bay branch.

Cairns, who is MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, said: “As the new Welsh Secretary I will be using every opportunity to champion the contribution every corner of Wales is making to the growth we are seeing in our economy.

“From the businesses creating jobs, to the university that is competing with some of the world’s best institutions, the UK government understands the vital contribution the Swansea region is making to secure the success of our long-term economic plan.”

The City Deal aims to create stateof-the-art internet connectivity in the region.

With this in place, the plan is to use it to innovate, test and commercialise technologies to link up and optimise the energy network, improve health and well-being, and foster business growth.

Cairns added: “The Cardiff Capital Region secured a City Deal which promises to transform the city and make it a leading engine of growth for the UK. “This government recognises the potential the Swansea Bay region has to deliver the same exciting vision.

“Successful City Deals are built on big ideas to unlock growth across cities and their wider economic areas. They work best when everyone in the local area, including civic, business and higher education leaders, come together to tell government what needs to change and what can be done better.

“We are looking forward to seeing the discussions unfold and build towards creating a deal which could transform the fortunes of the entire South West Wales region.”

Williamson said: “The possibility of a City Deal for Swansea presents an important opportunity and I look forward to small businesses across the Swansea Bay region playing a significant role in its development.”

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Start Ups Indian catering firm adds spice to the city

Karen Kaur is looking to grow Rasoi Catering along the M4 corridor and across the UK. As Business Life discovers...

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When 20-year-old Karen Kaur was deliberating over the fine details of her wedding, she was, unwittingly, gaining valuable training for her future career.

Karen, from Swansea, is now the driving force behind a flourishing catering company, Rasoi Catering, bringing fine, modern Indian cuisine to special occasions across the city and to other parts of the UK. Rasoi Catering is now the preferred caterer for Swansea Marriott Hotel and the business has upcoming catering bookings in Bristol too.

The entrepreneurial spirit is in Karen’s blood, with her family running successful SA1 Indian restaurants, Rasoi Indian Kitchen and its younger sister Rasoi Waterfront.

Karen, now 21, says: “Starting out in business at the age of 21 is a big step, but growing up in my family it seemed to be a very natural thing to do.

“My parents are both born business people – astute, very hard-working, savvy and creative. My brothers, Jas and Suki, who own Rasoi Indian Kitchen and Rasoi Waterfront respectively, both have the same qualities, and I wasn’t going to be left behind!

“In some ways we are the clichéd Indian family – my parents ran convenience stores in a number of towns in Wales so Jas, Suki and I grew up in the shop, in a way. Then hotels followed and then the restaurants in Swansea.

“But Rasoi Catering is something I have very much made my own.”

Since taking the helm at Rasoi Catering last year, Karen has overseen fine food for weddings, engagements and other special events, in venues including Cardiff’s The Vale Resort, and at the Liberty Stadium. She is particularly focused on expanding the reach of the business along the M4 corridor to London, and up to the Midlands, where Karen’s mother grew up.

“I have catered for some events for Western families, but so far it has been mainly Asian weddings – which are always a something to behold,” Karen says.

“Famously they go on for three days with separate days for the marriage ceremony, for the families to get together formally and then for a boisterous reception which goes on for hours!

“Because Asian weddings are lengthy they can be very complex affairs to cater for, but our chefs are highly trained and highly skilled. And I love the challenge.

“And although Rasoi Catering is very much my business, I still feel the benefit of being part of a family firm. I am the youngest so my brothers probably still see me as the ‘baby sister’. We are like any other brothers and sisters, we argue together sometimes, but at the end of the day we support each other – we are all on the same side. And that, in life and in business, is priceless.”

Karen adds being part of a couple’s special day never loses its appeal.

“I love going out and meeting people and getting new business. I’m very proud of the product we offer. I think it is unique and I want to see Rasoi Catering blossom further. But I never lose sight of how special every single occasion and event is. When you are catering for someone’s wedding you need to play your part in making their big day magical. I wanted my magical day – or three days! - when I was a bride. Every bride deserves that.

“I attend each event to make sure everything runs smoothly. And each wedding reminds me of my own. My parents and my in-laws worked hard to make it special for me and for my husband. It was the most important day of my life and I do my part to re-create that atmosphere for others.”

I LOVE GOING OUT AND MEETING PEOPLE AND GETTING NEW BUSINESS. I’M VERY PROUD OF THE PRODUCT WE OFFER. 34 swanseabaybusiness.com

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Rasoi Catering

Start ups

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Start ups

Boss Brewing Company

Cheers! First-time mum and microbrewery celebrate awards A firsrt-time mother and co-founder of a Swansea-based microbrewery that started life in a garage has celebrated victory at this year’s Welsh Business Awards.

Sarah John, co-founder of Boss Brewing Company, was named as Young Entrepreneur of the Year after developing the business alongside becoming a mother.

The company itself scooped the award for both Start up Business of the Year, sponsored by Royal Bank Scotland, and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, sponsored by Western Power Distribution, at the awards ceremony held at the National Museum of Wales.

Closer to home, the microbrewery won the Best Business Start Up category of the South Wales Evening Post & Swansea Bay Business Life Business Awards 2016, held at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea.

The microbrewery was launched in April last year by Ms John and Roy Allkin, who both initially brewed beer in a home garage with a 100 litre kit. The two founders did extensive research and took formal brewing qualifications to ensure that they had a vast knowledge of the market and industry, aiming to create craft beers that appeal to all generations.

Ms John graduated with a first class degree in journalism and has since focussed her efforts towards pursuing a career in business, aiming to break down gender barriers in the brewing industry.

Judges were particularly impressed with her ability to lead a start-up business that can resonate with the cultural values of Wales, reinforcing entrepreneurial spirit based on a high-quality product, created by a talented team.

Ms John said: “I am hugely honoured to

receive this award, and am really proud of how far Boss Brewing Company has come in such a short amount of time. I am very commercially focussed and love being in a male-dominated industry to show that strong women can succeed in any business arena.

“This recognition will really drive me going forward both personally and professionally, and shows me that passion and dedication does result in success.”

More than 350 pubs across south Wales and the west of England now supply Boss Brewing Company beer, including 22 Wetherspoons. The business is also undergoing a trial with five Tesco stores to sell a bottled version of its product, and is planning to open branded outlets.

Boss Brewing Company won the Startup Business of the Year award after judges felt that the performance of the company was exceptional, and were impressed with the well thought through approach to branding and the attention to detail.

On accepting the award, Roy Allkin, co-founder of Boss Brewing Company, said: “After turning over a profit in the third month of trade, the business has come on leaps and bounds. Being named as Start-up Business of the Year at the Welsh Business Awards is a huge honour and is the icing on the cake after all our hard work to lay the foundations for our company.

“Creating a brand isn’t easy, but with industry support and recognition, it proves that hard work in business does not go unnoticed.”

Sarah John, Boss Brewing Company and Huw Evans of Western Power, with the award for Young Entrepreneur of the Year

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Expert opinion with Julie Williamson chairwoman of the FSB Swansea Bay branch

Nigel John and Roy Allkin, Boss Brewing Company, with the award for Start-up Business of the Year, and sponsor Mark Mountford, Royal Bank of Scotland

Now in their 14th year, the South Wales Chamber of Commerce Business Awards, in association with the University of South Wales, reflect the efforts of businesses and individuals throughout the whole of 2015. The awards were presented by former Blue Peter presenter, TV host Gethin Jones.

Keith Palmer, chief executive of the South Wales Chamber of Commerce, said:“All of the winners, including Sarah John and Boss Brewing Company, have shown an unflinching commitment to driving their businesses successfully over the last year.

“All of the 36 businesses that made the shortlist, as well as those who have been crowned winners, should be proud of their achievements in 2015, as they have not only strengthened the local economic landscape, but demonstrated that Wales is a true contender in a global marketplace.

“I would like to thank the University of South Wales for supporting this event for another year, all of the category sponsors and everyone who has worked tirelessly to make these awards one of our best ever.”

Tom Chapman, head of business at the University of South Wales, added: “Once again this year the winners of the awards have shown their excellence in business, and we congratulate them on their success.

“Being involved with these awards further cements the University of South Wales’s historic connections with business and industry, while our

Survive the initial period

CREATING A BRAND ISN’T EASY, BUT WITH INDUSTRY SUPPORT AND RECOGNITION, IT PROVES THAT HARD WORK IN BUSINESS DOES NOT GO UNNOTICED. partnerships across a wide variety of sectors gives our students the chance to experience some real-world challenges.

“We’re proud to play our part in developing the next generation of award winners.”

All winners have been encouraged to submit entries to the British Chamber of Commerce Awards, which launch on April 11. Welsh businesses have traditionally performed well against UK-wide competition and a number have successfully secured a share of the prize money which has been as much as £50,000.

With recent ambitious plans unveiled for Swansea, including the new £50m investment opposite the railway station on High Street, it is easy to understand why there is such optimism in the business world about the future of Swansea, and the Swansea Bay region as a whole.

The challenge that many businesses, particularly start-ups, may face over the coming couple of years is going to be surviving the period before the planned developments are complete.

Although national companies are tendering for larger contracts it also means that smaller businesses can benefit.

However, this can depend on the local authority and developers insisting that a certain percentage of work be subcontracted to local companies, which usually employ staff drawn from the local area.

The council in Swansea has made it clear that smaller local firms will get contracts, as it is aware that it has a greater impact on the local economy if the money generated is retained locally.

Whilst our city has attracted many new specialist independent retailers recently, other excellent small businesses have struggled as a result of high business rates and high rental costs whilst they wait for the additional footfall that will be generated by the new developments.

I would encourage anyone who is considering starting up in business in the near future to seek as much information and advice as possible. Whether that comes from Business Wales or FSB, there is help there to support people to start businesses which can go on to trade successfully for years to come. swanseabaybusiness.com 37

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• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •

Preparation of annual accounts Preparation of of tax annual accounts Submission returns Submission of tax returns Payroll Payroll Bookkeeping Bookkeeping VAT returns VAT returns accounts Management Management New businessaccounts start-ups New business start-ups Company formations Company formations

Swansea Office: Swansea 144 WalterOffice: Road 144 Walter Swansea SA1Road 5RW Swansea SA1 5RW 01792 543520 01792 543520 mail@gordondown.co.uk mail@gordondown.co.uk www.gordondown.co.uk www.gordondown.co.uk

©LW

©LW

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Our Region Harbour’s constant change

Saundersfoot Harbour and its £10m plus investment is a successful example of the private and public sectors working closely together, writes Ted Sangster, chair of the Pembrokeshire Business Panel and a member of the board of the Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone...

PEMBROKESHIRE CARMARTHENSHIRE

SWANSEA NEATH PORT TALBOT

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Our Region

Phas Ocea

Pembrokeshire

The only constant in business is change.

Technology, regulation, tax regime, competitors, customer requirements, stakeholder expectation – all change, all the time. Success is responding to this changing environment.

Saundersfoot Harbour Commission (SHC) is a trust port, of which there are more than 100 in the UK sharing the common factor that they are run as commercial enterprises by appointed commissioners with a duty to reinvest for the benefit of the harbour and its stakeholders – there are no shareholders.

In 2011 a new bunch of SHC commissioners were appointed through a Welsh Government process to this small, attractive fishing and leisure harbour – but an ossified, very inward looking business, drawing most of its inadequate revenue from car parking.

Some five years later SHC is very different – no longer just a car park but once more an active working harbour, the beating heart of the local tourism economy and embarked on a £10m plus investment to completely reshape this fishing and recreational harbour into the Wales International Coastal Centre.

Fancy title – what does it mean? Well by expanding its boat operation from 200 to more than 300, overcoming tidal problems through building a new slipway to allow launching at all states of tide, installing more outer harbour moorings and pontoons and a dry boat racking system ashore SHC can truly support Visit Wales’ intent to increase the use of our coastal waters for recreational use.

Harbour property developments will provide overnight accommodation

for activity tourists, interpretation of the local heritage, all weather community and retail spaces and through covering over the sluice provide an events arena using the innovative backdrop of a replica “tall ship”.

Commercial users benefit from a new inner harbour pontoon allowing safer passenger access on the local tripping boats and the wider operational window.

How was this achieved? Well a number of elements were involved, many relevant to any business even though their mix and intensity will inevitably be different.

The first was self-analysis - openly recognising that the business was underperforming, drifting with little sense of direction and a declining reputation.

An early identification of a vision was integral to a detailed strategic review from which the commissioners identified their preferred future that had focus, clarity of purpose and unanimity of

commitment to achieve.

Skilled and enthusiastic management and staff were then recruited to deliver this.

As a trust port it was important for SHC to fully engage with all stakeholders including the public sector (Welsh Government and Pembrokeshire County Council) to align with their policies, and locally undertaking detailed and open consultation with harbour users, local businesses and the community.

An investment of more than £10m even over a few years is beyond the capacity

THE END RESULT WILL BE A COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED HARBOUR BRINGING IN NEW AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF USERS AND VISITORS INTO THE LOCAL ECONOMY

Coastal Sea Water Lido (Phase 2), Saundersfoot Harbour 40 swanseabaybusiness.com

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Phase 2 Ocean Square

Pembrokeshire

Our Region

Ocean Square (Phase 2), Saundersfoot Harbour

of a relatively small business such as Saundersfoot Harbour. However the economic impact of these developments plays well beyond the organisation itself and a case has been made and support received to bid for European and public sector funds to add to the SHC’s own funding and borrowing. A real and successful example of the private and public sectors working closely together.

Regulator engagement was also vital especially given that the harbour is in a Special Area of Conservation and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

Having established the vision and the direction of travel it was important to match resources and capabilities and set them into an achievable timeframe – a phased approach.

The end result will be a completely transformed harbour – profitable, well used, bringing in new and different types of users and visitors into the local economy, and when complete creating more than 90 new jobs both directly and through the new and expanded small businesses making use of the Wales International Coastal Centre at Saundersfoot.

Harbour Deck (Phase 2), Saundersfoot Harbour

Ted Sangster is a member of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, board member of Pembrokeshire Business Initiative, and he is on the advisory committee of the Milford Haven Port Authority. swanseabaybusiness.com 41

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e Our Region

Pembrokeshire

Boat building firm wins contract creating 20 more jobs at Pembroke Dock A flagship contract for a replacement chain ferry for the Isle of Wight Council has been won by Pembroke Dock-based boat building company Mainstay Marine Solutions.

The contract will create another 20 jobs in the region bringing the workforce up to 100.

It adds to an on-going success story for the firm, which was formed just two years ago following the collapse of Mustang Marine (Wales) Ltd. Projects have included building a 50 tonne, 20 metre, wind farm support vessel for Turbine Transfers, a large multicat refit. Also, a £3.6m contract for building three 19 metre pilot boats for the port of Milford Haven.

The new company, which is based within Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone, has grown its workforce threefold from an initial 31 staff, thanks to financial support from the Welsh Government.

The company is now recruiting for skilled workers in welding, fabrication and marine painting.

Economy Minister Edwina Hart said: “This is really good news and I am delighted to hear how Mainstay Marine is expanding, winning significant new orders and creating highly skilled jobs in the area.

“I am also pleased the Welsh Government helped support the new company, which is now a key employer in the area providing highly skilled jobs and making a name for itself not just in boat building but wider marine infrastructure projects and marine energy device fabrication.”

Mainstay Marine Solutions is also one of a number of companies to benefit from the Business Rates Relief scheme open to businesses in the enterprise zone.

The Isle of Wight Floating Bridge will be designed as a drive through, roll-on roll-off chain ferry with hydraulically operated loading and unloading ramps at each end of the vessel. There will be four lanes for vehicles with additional space for the stowage of motorbikes, scooters and bicycles.

The project is due for completion in November with trials and commissioning from mid-January 2017.

Stewart Graves, managing director at Mainstay Marine Solutions, said: “The firm is now one of the largest employers in the area with continued growth expected in future years. This is a much needed boost for the local economy both through direct labour input and supply chain requirements.

The financial support received from Welsh Government and Finance Wales has been paramount to the company’s continued success.

“We are delighted to have won the contract and truly see this as a flagship project which will set the bar high in terms of proving our capabilities. We look forward to working with Isle of Wight Council to ensure that the bridge is delivered to time, within budget and to the highest of quality so that its users can enjoy its benefits for years to come.”

Designer creates new app for tax Tech designer Dave Legion, who grew up in Haverfordwest, has created a new app that lets people know how much tax they owe.

TAXO’D is an accounting tool built for freelancers as an easy alternative to services designed mainly for big businesses.

Mr Legion, 34, developed the app from scratch over a four-year period after trying every available accountancy tool and failing to find a programme that suited his needs.

“I hated everything about the tax process,” he said. “I just wanted an easy way to stay in control of my finances, but there was no software that catered for me as a freelancer - they were all tailored to big businesses paying corporation tax.

“When you start a business you have to become an instant financial

expert. Most freelancers don’t have that sort of knowledge – or time – and pay someone else to do it.

“I wanted to cater for the selfemployed and to keep it as simple as possible for people to understand.”

Users record their business transactions as they go, and the app calculates a real-time tax bill and files a tax return.

Expert opinion with Stan McIlivenny, chairman of the Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone.

Building for the future...

My first year as chair of the Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone has been a busy and eventful time which I believe bodes well for the future of the Pembrokeshire economy. We have expanded the Enterprise Zone to allow more businesses to benefit from schemes such as Superfast Broadband and Welsh Government Enterprise Zone Business Rates relief as well as give us more room to attract new companies.

The purchase of the Blackbridge and Waterston site by Egnedol Ltd to build a clean energy plant has the potential to be a massive transformative project for the Enterprise Zone.

We have also seen existing firms within the Zone expand such as Main Port Engineering’s £1.6m expansion which they expect to create 100 new jobs and JSI Timber Frame’s exciting plans to expand its manufacturing facility on Thornton Business Park.

Pembrokeshire is still feeling the effects of the closure of the Murco Milford Haven oil refinery and the Enterprise Zone board is continuing the good work started by the Murco taskforce in helping the recovery. Schemes like the Economic Growth Fund and the Murco Transform Skills Programme have made good progress in helping former employees find new work and support supply chain businesses affected by the closure.

Welsh Government continue to roll-out superfast broadband within the enterprise zone, a crucial infrastructure project for all the companies here, and by mid-March have reached nearly 84 per cent coverage. I look forward to building on this work and making further progress in the coming financial year.

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Our Region

Carmarthenshire

Ymlaen

Llanelli How the BID will put Llanelli on the map ...chamber president Andrew Stephens gives Business Life an insider’s view...

In December last year, 79.53 per cent of Llanelli businesses voted for Llanelli Business Improvement District, or Ymlaen Llanelli as it’s officially styled. That’s Forwards Llanelli, for the uninitiated Cynics might say that Llanelli had nothing to lose, but Andrew Stephens, president of Llanelli chamber of commerce and manager of the St Elli shopping centre, says the deep-rooted support demonstrates the commitment of Llanelli business to drive the town forwards.

The mood, says Stephens, is upbeat.

Llanelli-ites who have often often muttered about everything going to Carmarthen, were both pleased and surprised when Carmarthenshire County Council picked Llanelli over Carmarthen or Ammanford.

Stephens, who has worked in retail in the city centre for 35 years, says that there are a lot of ideas flying around for events.

“We want to put Llanelli on the map,” said Stephens. “Hay-on-Wye is famous for its literary festival, and Porthcawl is known for its Elvis festival – we want to develop a key festival for Llanelli, and we will be looking to see what we can do.”

The town already has a hugely successful and well-supported Christmas carnival each November. “We get 15 to 20,000 people on a rainy Friday night. So who knows how many we will attract in spring or summer,” he said.

Llanelli chamber of commerce already works alongside Carmarthenshire Tourist Association and Carmarthenshire County Council and Ymlaen Llanelli will also be working with both these and other bodies to further this aim.

As well as developing new platforms for both the local people and for tourists, one key aim of Ymlaen Llanelli is to better communicate what the town already does.

“There are so many things happening in and around Llanelli – we need these to be co-ordinated and communicated more robustly,” said Stephens.

“Bearing in mind that we’ve only met once so far, one of the ideas that we have discussed as a BID project is a digital noticeboard.

“This may detail events at both the city centre as well as sporting events at Pembrey Country Park and Millennium Coastal Park.

“Pembrey often hosts huge events but the city centre is barely aware of them.

Instead of all these visitors going to the festival and then going straight home, we want to make sure that we market the town centre to them.

“We have seen how Swansea BID works.

It has been very proactive and the benefits that Swansea city centre has had from BID are impressive,” said Stephens.

Pembrey Country Park

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Carmarthenshire

Our Region

Ymlaen Llanelli: the lowdown...

Wynne Lloyd of Choc Dragon, (right), pictured with judges David Jenkins and Llanelli Chamber of Trade President Andrew Stephens after winning the Best Dressed St. David’s Day stall competition

• When does the BID come into force?

April 1, 2016 • How long will it operate?

Until March 31, 2021

Ever since the £27.5m Millennium Coastal Park regeneration project began to give the coast back to the people of Llanelli in the late 1990s, the town has been on an upwards trajectory.

But up until recently, the town centre itself has been at the mercy of out-of-town retail parks.

Now the recent development of East Gate, a leisure destination par excellence, complete with new cinema complex and restaurants, has revitalised the gateway to the town from the East. It sits alongside ‘Ffwrnes’, a purpose-built state-of-theart 500-seat auditorium, and a beacon of creativity and arts in the region.

Meanwhile, Welsh Government investment and European funding has been used to regenerate and improve the appearance of the town centre itself.

It still has more than its fair share of charity shops, and what some might call a shortage of high street retail brands, but overall the whole feel of the centre is more modern and Ymlaen Llanelli is likely to go a long way towards attracting further private sector investment.

Stephens points out that what Llanelli

does well is independents – the colourful and bustling market is undergoing ongoing renovation and is well-supported by locals.

In this environment, independents are thriving, such as Emilia May Gifts, currently in the Elli centre. Owner Jonathan Armstrong is one of the key champions of Ymalen Llanelli.

“NewRiver Retail purchased the St Elli Shopping Centre in December 2013, and this was pivotal to attracting a wider variety of retail offering,” explained Stephens.

And adding to the increased cultural pull of the town, the ongoing restoration of Llanelly House, and the renovation of Llanelli library, are all boosting the cultural credentials of Llanelli.

“I foresee a way forward will be to form a task force with the Local Authority, Town & Rural Council, Llanelli Chamber of Trade, Ymlaen Llanelli and St Elli Shopping Centre.

“This is our chance to work together by drawing up a long-term vision for the town centre. Together we can really put Llanelli on the map.”

• What does BID stand for?

Business Improvement District • What is a BID, exactly?

A body led by a group of local businesses that aims to promote the local economy by improving the area. It typically covers a high street or town centre.

• Is it a new idea?

Nope. Started in the US and Canada decades ago.

• How many BIDs are there in the UK? More than 170 • What changes will I see in Llanelli?

This will be up to Llanelli BID (Ymlaen Llanelli) • Do residents pay for this from council tax? No. • How is it funded?

Each business in the BID area pays a small extra charge, known as a ‘levy’, on top of its normal business rates.

• Do small businesses have to pay?

There is a threshold, but smaller businesses often make voluntary contributions. swanseabaybusiness.com 45

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Our Region

Carmarthenshire

Expert opinion with Hannah Dahill, head of employment at Redkite Solicitors

Cleaning business Mrs Bucket moves to new headquarters in Llanelli Domestic and commercial cleaning company Mrs Bucket has moved into a new head office on the outskirts of Llanelli.

The move to Llanelli Gate Business Park is part of the next stage of expansion for Mrs Bucket, after it grew by 52 per cent last year, with turnover reaching £2.5m.

The company has taken out a five year lease on the 2,000 sq ft property, which is now home to the administration, training, finance and human resource teams, as well as the new base for the Mrs Bucket training academy.

The new head office, which is over two floors, includes a state-of-the-art board room and has room for the company to grow as it plans to recruit additional staff in 2016 and grow its turnover to £3.5m.

Mrs Bucket is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Founder Rachael Flanagan said: “We are all thrilled with our new head office.

It’s just off the M4 which is a great location as we continue to expand along the M4 corridor, and has plenty of space to accommodate the team, with enough room to expand in the future.

“The office is fresh, bright and modern making it a fantastic place to work for our staff and with state-of-the-art meeting space, we can be proud to welcome our clients to our new headquarters.

“It is a fantastic base for our training academy. It provides an excellent learning space for our new starters to ensure they have the right skills and

experience to provide a high quality cleaning service of the best possible standard to each and every one of our clients.

“During the last ten years, our focus has been on investing in our staff, processes and procedures, so that we can differentiate ourselves in the marketplace, and so having a high spec head office hasn’t been a priority for us.

“However, when we entered our 10th year in business and put our growth strategy together for the next five years, we felt it was important that we moved to a HQ that gave our brand and our team the right environment to grow from.

“The new environment is already a huge motivator to the team and it is an important step for our company as we look to ramp up our expansion plans in 2016.”

Mrs Bucket was set up in 2005 by Ms Flanagan when she was 18, with just a vacuum cleaner and £20, which she spent on promotional flyers.

Over the past decade, the business has expanded from a one-woman domestic cleaning service to a full-service commercial and domestic cleaning company with offices in Swansea, Cardiff, Newport and Bristol.

It has 300 employees and over 250 domestic and commercial clients along the M4 corridor.

Benefits may be ahead With recent announcements from Welsh Government and talk of a City Deal, many Carmarthenshire businesses are continuing to prosper and grow.

Despite the potentially catastrophic impact the Tata Steel restructure may have on the region’s businesses, in the last six months alone locally-based companies such as Magstim, a world leader in the evolution of transcranial magnetic stimulation technology, has announced that it is seeking to expand its workforce to 150 as it looks to drive US sales.

Only this month, Castell Howell Foods announced that full planning permission has been granted for a 50,000 sq ft extension to their Cross Hands distribution centre, which will give them further capacity for business growth. A national car parts firm is also set to open a new branch in Carmarthen creating around 20 new jobs.

More good news was received from Economy Minister, Edwina Hart, last month when she announced a £21m finance package to expand SMEs in Wales and create or safeguard more than 1,800 jobs.

Additionally, if the City Deal is approved, it will have massive benefits for Carmarthenshire. The £500m bid by the Swansea Bay City Region will support key local projects including the Cross Hands East strategic employment site, covering 19 hectares with 40,000 sq metres of floor space to accommodate up to 1,244 jobs. Also, Yr Egin, a purposebuilt complex which will be S4C’s new home in Carmarthen, will create around 150 jobs and boost the Welsh language.

With growth and development comes the need for improved infrastructure. A new Carmarthen West link road is being built to help support the region’s growth and expansion and BT has announced it will be taking on apprentices from Carmarthen and Haverfordwest.

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Our Region

Swansea

Gas maintenance firm expands creating six jobs An independent provider of gas maintenance services has created six new jobs and is set for further growth after moving to a new premises at Swansea Enterprise Park...

Swansea-based Gower Gas and Oil Heating Services Ltd plans to expand further over the next 12 months, increasing its workforce at its headquarters by at least 30 per cent throughout its target areas.

The firm, which provides gas maintenance services to commercial firms and public sector associations, has won a number of new contracts with major providers, and acquired a new office base in Pembrokeshire. Recognising that it would need much larger head office premises, the company approached Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking for the funding to purchase the new site.

Hywel Vickers, co-director of Gower Gas and Oil, founded the business more than 10 years ago.

He said: “It’s been an exciting process to see it grow and develop over the years.

We expect our turnover to continue its rapid upward trend and moving to our own premises in the Swansea Enterprise Park will help us to boost growth further, providing us with the extra space to increase capacity and expand our workforce”.

The firm received a six-figure funding package to facilitate the move to the new site.

Julie Jones, co-director of Gower Gas and Oil, added: “Having changed providers, we now feel encouraged by our banking partner, and the relationship team has given us the confidence to implement our expansion plans.”

Beth Evans, relationship manager for Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “Gower Gas and Oil is an example of a

fast growing business, which recognises the value of offering a personal, high level of service to its clients.”

She added the bank’s latest Business in Britain report found that more than two fifths of Welsh companies were expecting their business activity to increase over the next 12 months. The bank has pledged to increase its lending to SMEs by £1 billion net each year until 2017.

GOWER GAS AND OIL IS AN EXAMPLE OF A FAST GROWING BUSINESS, WHICH RECOGNISES THE VALUE OF OFFERING A PERSONAL, HIGH LEVEL OF SERVICE TO ITS CLIENTS.

Lloyds Bank’s Beth Evans (centre) with Hwyl Vickers and Julie Jones and their staff at their new offices in Swansea

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Swansea

Our Region

Swansea council leader Rob Stewart (right) at the new Dr Organic depot with group export director Steve Price, operations director Kevin Wykes, group marketing director Michael Lightowlers, group finance director Matt Harvey and co-founder/director Steve Quinn.

Award-winning Dr Organic’s move down to £5 million funding The South West Wales-based owner of natural and organic skin care brands, which won two categories at the Swansea Bay Business Awards, used nearly £5 million worth of investment to expand into its new premises in Swansea.

Dr Organic Group, which won Overall Business of the Year and the Innovation Awards at the Swansea Bay Business Awards, made the move to the former Alberto Culver site on Llansamlet Enterprise Park due to £4.85million funding from Barclays bank.

Exports now account for 40 per cent of the group’s turnover and the UK market is primarily serviced through health retailer, Holland & Barrett. Worldwide distribution now stretches to more than 60 countries.

Entrepreneurs Steve Quinn and Fred Whitcomb established the business in 2008.

Mr Whitcomb, Dr Organic company founder, said: “We had outgrown our former premises which simply could not keep up with the continued growth of the business.

“The acquisition of the new site is fundamental to our growth and through strong management and leadership we are looking to build on the foundations that we achieved over the last eight years. The new company headquarters will provide all the additional storage and office space for the entire group and provide a foundation for future expansion in manufacturing.

“We had the opportunity to raise the finance from a number of banks and institutions however, given our existing relationship with the bank’s local team, its clear understanding of our needs and the speed of execution offered, we decided to take the funding package from Barclays.”

Julian Hallett, Barclays relationship director, added the bank was confident of Dr Organic’s future success.

He said: “By really understanding the business and the industry sector, Barclays has been able to provide a funding package to support Dr Organic throughout this exciting new venture.

A £4.85 million investment in the new premises demonstrates both Barclays and Dr Organic confidence in the success of the business.”

Further expansion is planned in the US and Dr Organic’s new target markets in 2016 include China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Korea and Russia. The business anticipates group turnover to exceed £50 million this year.

Swansea Council agreed to sell its freehold interest in the Alberto Culver site at Llansamlet Enterprise Park to the group towards the end of last year.

The 18.75 acre site had been unoccupied since the autumn of 2012 following Alberto Culver/Unilever’s decision to close its Swansea operation. The company’s manufacturing was moved to Merseyside and a facility in Poland, leading to 60 job losses in Swansea.

Dr Organic anticipates their move to the site will open up 110 jobs within a period of two to three years. The company is proposing a distribution, manufacturing, design centre and head office facility at the Swansea site that would help consolidate its operations across the UK and Europe.

Mr Quinn said the quality of Swansea’s infrastructure and communication links, together with the availability of skilled labour, played a major part in the decision.

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Alongside the supply of concrete, the company operates a concrete pumping service enabling concrete to be efficiently and effortlessly placed and is particularly useful on sites which would otherwise require the concrete to be transported using dumpers or barrows.

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The locally based company has extended its area of materials supply, by commissioning a new ready mixed concrete plant at Penygroes, near Crosshands.

Penygroes plant is capable of producing high volumes of ready mixed concrete for large civil engineering, agricultural, building projects or the smaller load for use on typical DIY jobs.

The concrete is delivered on the company’s own fleet of ready mix trucks operated by experienced staff. Concrete can also be collected by customers who have the facilities to do so.

Back up, should it be necessary, is provided by the company’s existing BSI accredited plant at Cwmffrwd, near Carmarthen. The company also operates three other BSI accredited concrete plants at Narberth, Haverfordwest and Coygen near Laugharne.

Alongside the supply of concrete, the company operates a concrete pumping service enabling concrete to be efficiently and effortlessly placed and is particularly useful on sites which would otherwise require the concrete to be transported using dumpers or barrows.

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industry particularly in Carmarthenshire, complementing the existing quarry operations at Coygen and Alltgoch near Llanybydder which also produce a full range of tarmacadam products. These products are available for purchase by contractors or supply to the company’s own Surfacing and Civil Engineering sections.

Tel: 01267 232 638 Norton Road, Penygroes, Llanelli SA14 7RU Gelli Gaeros, Idole, Carmarthen, SA32 8DG

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Our Region

Swansea

Easy as pie for Welsh chef A chef who has catered for football teams including Wales’ national team, Swansea City and Queens Park Rangers has leant his expertise to a local pie manufacturer.

Michael Knight partnered with the Swansea-based Lewis Pies and Pasty Company to advise on the development of its new premium product range, Wilfred’s, which is part of the firm’s bid to target upmarket suppliers and consumers.

The Lewis Pies and Pasty Company launched the Wilfred’s range in March this year, coinciding with British Pie Week.

Knight has extensive experience as a chef, having also worked for A-list actress Catherine Zeta Jones and her family.

Engineering firm wins national award Swansea-based RDM Electrical & Mechanical Services has been awarded the JTL National Award 2016 in recognition of its commitment to training in Wales.

The announcement was made at the JTL National Awards Ceremony in London in March.

JTL is a not-for-profit company that offers advanced electrical apprenticeships as well as plumbing, engineering, maintenance and heating, and ventilating apprenticeships.

Dave Kieft, director and co-owner of RDM Electrical & Mechanical Services and president-elect of the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), was in attendance to receive the award.

Commercial vehicle firm invests to help vulnerable Swansea-based Low Cost Vans, a commercial vehicle provider operating across the UK, has been getting ahead of new regulatory guidelines by training a vulnerability champion.

Low Cost Vans moved to pre-empt growing moves by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to clamp down on companies deemed to have mis-sold finance to individuals who were ‘vulnerable’ at the time the finance was sold.

Jade Griffiths was appointed Low Cost Vans’ vulnerability champion at the start of the year after completing an intensive training programme.

Rod Lloyd, managing director of Low Cost Vans, said: “Although our staff already carry out an extensive fact finding exercise when someone calls about the possibility of leasing a vehicle, we wanted to go one step further and make sure there is a dedicated member of the team to help potentially vulnerable customers.”

Expert opinion with Juliet Luporini, chairwoman of Swansea BID

A £500m development but the devil is in the detail...

Swansea stands on the precipice of the most fundamental and potentially fantastic regeneration developments the city centre has ever seen.

We have all, by now, seen the exciting plans for the £500m scheme, which would transform Swansea as we know it.

If we get this right, it leads to the Promised Land. It would make Swansea a vibrant and viable destination of choice to work, shop, study, visit, stay and do business.

In their outline stage, the plans look ambitious and positive. There certainly seems to have been an all-important change in mind-set politically reflecting an aspirational and confident approach and a can-do attitude.

However, it is an over-used phrase but the devil is in the detail. Without absolute attention to detail, which takes account of our unique climate, culture, shopping habits, transport requirements and infrastructure needs we could end up with elements of the scheme becoming white elephants.

For example, the flyover connecting us to the sea will be fantastic on warm sunny days. However, what about the windy and wet days – and let’s face it, we get a few of those! We need to think carefully about the flyover/bridge.

Perhaps there is design potential to open it on nice days and close it during less clement weather.

We also need practical shopping areas where there is cover keeping us dry whilst we move laden with shopping from place to place. Meanwhile, every part of our city needs to be used whilst carefully planning the development to avoid business displacement.

We need to plan in green areas. Let’s make sure that we have parks and children’s play areas and encourage a culture where families enjoy and frequent our city centre. The most beautiful cities have plenty of trees and green spaces.

I’m incredibly passionate about our city and its potential, something reflected by the time I give voluntarily to some key groups I attend.

We have a legacy of good partnership working in Swansea. In the case of this development in particular, we must ensure it achieves its maximum potential. That will mean conducting meaningful consultation and partnership working. We must remember that designers will not necessarily have the knowledge of the practicalities of living, working and trading in our city centre.

My final plea would be to not shy away from going that extra mile to ensure the flyover is used all year round and providing a wow factor in our city that people look for. This is our big chance; it’s an exciting and exhilarating time, but we need to get it right.

Juliet Luporini is chair of the Swansea Business Improvement District, a board member of the Swansea Bay City Region and the owner of the Kardomah café in the city centre.

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Our Region

Neath Port Talbot

Enterprise zone created to boost economy Workers who have lost jobs in the steel industry are among those who could benefit from the creation of the Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone. Business Life looks at what the positives might be...

The establishment of the Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone will help to create economic growth and jobs for the area recently hit by steel job losses.

That’s according to Economy Minister Edwina Hart, who made the announcement last month.

The enterprise zone will offer financial incentives to companies based there, including tax and business rate breaks.

The planned zone was one of the key actions to come out of the Tata Steel Task Force to help support the steel industry.

Hart said: “The recent announcement of job losses at Tata in Port Talbot is the latest blow to the steel industry in Wales. As such a major employer this will have a knockon effect for the local economy and we are determined to do all that we can to support the area and the local supply chain.

“We will deploy a range of incentives for existing and new business in the zone, and today I am announcing a targeted Business Rates offer for qualifying businesses for the coming financial year.”

THIS IS A VERY WELCOME DEVELOPMENT AND WILL MAKE THE ENTERPRISE ZONE MORE COMPETITIVE AND BE A STRONG INCENTIVE FOR NEW INVESTMENT

She added following “very productive” discussions with HM Treasury, the Chancellor announced in his Budget the offer of Enhanced Capital Allowances for the zone, subject to agreement with officials on the boundaries.

“This is a very welcome development and will make the Enterprise Zone more competitive and be a strong incentive for new investment,” she said.

The Minister said the Welsh Government would work closely with the Swansea Bay City Region, the local authority, major employers and other stakeholders in the area to ensure Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone was a success.

The enterprise zone will be based around the employment sites of Baglan Energy Park, Baglan Industrial Estate and Habourside/Port Talbot Docks.

She added: “As the recent investments by Aston Martin in St Athan and MotoNovo in Central Cardiff demonstrate, enterprise zone designation is also a powerful tool in

raising an area’s profile and in attracting new companies and investment.”

Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone is Wales’ eighth enterprise zone. At the end of September last year, the other seven zones had created, assisted or safeguarded over 7,795 jobs in Wales and paved the way for further investment and development.

Meanwhile, two directors at an expanding South West Wales recruitment agency have met with Tata Steel representatives.

Spotless Recruitment has opened a new base in Port Talbot, at Water Street Business Centre, and launched a new division Spotless Living, specialising in training, site mobilisation, cleaning, and the supply of protective clothing.

Craig Thomas and Zak Locke, the two new directors of Spotless Living, who also head up the recruitment agency, said they would use funding from the Redundancy Action Scheme to help those jobless find work.

Zac Locke (left) and Craig Thomas (right) with staff of Spotless Recruitment at their offices at the Water Street Business Centre in Port Talbot.

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Our Region

Expert opinion

with Ian Price, assistant director of CBI Wales

Empowering region to deliver growth and jobs

Business Minister Edwina Hart outside Tata Steelworks in Port Talbot

WE HAD A VERY POSITIVE MEETING WITH SPOTLESS RECRUITMENT. IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE COMPANIES LIKE THIS OUT THERE LOOKING TO HELP PEOPLE FIND WORK Thomas, who is from Port Talbot and has twice been made redundant, said: “On a personal level I really feel for the Tata workers and their families.

“Members of my own family have had jobs at the steelworks. I have worked in the public and private sector, and have been made redundant twice.

“During these desperate times for the local community there are some glimmers of hope.

“We have already been helping to place office staff into customer service roles.”

The Welsh recruitment company has a head office in Llanelli and the new Port Talbot office will be the headquarters of Spotless Living. Spotless Recruitment supplies the construction sector as well as social housing and care, and administration firms with a range of skilled workers across South Wales.

Locke added: “The recent news

about job losses has been massively discouraging for the community, and the future is still uncertain for many.

“If you have worked in the steel industry you will have many of the valuable, transferable skills that construction employers are crying out for. The good news is that we have React funding to help retrain and upskill people.”

“As a company, our policy has been to help those out of work to retrain for new sectors.

“The vast majority of our Llanelli staff didn’t have a background in recruitment, and several had experienced redundancy and long-term unemployment.

“We saw their skills and potential and retrained them as recruitment professionals.”

John Mainwaring, a union rep at Tata Steel, said: “We had a very positive meeting with Spotless Recruitment. It is good to know that there are companies like this out there looking to help people find work.

“We look forward to meeting them again.”

The meeting was welcomed by Bethan Jenkins, AM for South Wales West.

She said: “In these times of great uncertainty, it is heartening that people and organisations in Port Talbot are rallying around our steel workers and offering them support of this kind, which could prove to be invaluable in the coming months.

“I hope that both the Welsh and UK governments see what Spotless Recruitment are offering and use it as a template for a wider, comprehensive support package for the industry in South West Wales.”

The CBI’s manifesto for the Welsh election, A Plan for Prosperity, lays out the private sector’s vision for the Welsh economy, including Neath PortTalbot, which extends to an ambitious vision for our nation’s regions.

We believe our key regions need dedicated regional development corporations to drive forward their economic future. South West, South East and north Wales have always been drivers of prosperity and employment.

As local devolution in England empowers local councils to drive their own growth, our regions must not be left behind. In much of Wales, the existing governance landscape remains confused and contradictory. With a population of just three million, we do not need 25 planning authorities, 22 local authorities and dozens of government organisations delivering separate strategies.

In recent years, the government has taken positive steps towards regional working, creating city regions in south east and south west Wales. After a slow start, the city regions are starting to make a difference on the ground but they lack the powers and resources some of their English cousins enjoy, as a result, our regions must not miss out on the opportunities that a city deal could bring.

The early implementation of local government reorganisation will encourage a more strategic approach to growth, and this must be matched by the government adopting a regional approach to economic planning.The next Welsh Government should enhance the powers of our city regions, creating regional development corporations (RDCs) for South East Wales and South West Wales. Working under the guidance of the Welsh Government, each RDC should enhance economic competitiveness and renew local infrastructure, they should manage their region’s enterprise zones, sector specialisms, anchor companies, and identify local skills needs. Free from local bureaucracy, the RDCs can make a real difference to local growth and jobs.

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Our Region

Neath Port Talbot

New £1m factory set to bring jobs boost Ash & Lacy Building Systems, a leading manufacturer and distributor of metal buildings, has officially opened its new manufacturing facility and trade counter at Baglan’s Rutherglen Centre.

Ash & Lacy Building Systems, a leading manufacturer and distributor of metal buildings, has officially opened its new manufacturing facility and trade counter at Baglan’s Rutherglen Centre.

To mark the opening of the state-of-theart factory, Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock paid a visit to see how the business would benefit the area.

It is hoped the new facility will create even more jobs for the region.

A spokesman for Ash & Lacy said: “We are proud to announce the opening of our new manufacturing facility and trade counter in Neath Port Talbot.

“Our new facility houses a new rolling mill with machinery providing total flexibility for the manufacture of fabrications flashings and profiled sheets.

“Experienced staff and highly skilled operatives will be able to satisfy the most demanding challenges.

“In addition this branch also carries extensive stocks of carbon and stainless steel fixings along with our in-house manufactured support bar system —

ashgrid products are also supported by our national distribution network with strategically positioned branches in Glasgow, London, Devon, West Bromwich and now Wales.”

Ash & Lacy, which employs almost 200 people in the UK, says it hopes to increase its staff to more than 225 by the end of this year, with some of the jobs coming to Baglan.

The opening of the new factory has been welcomed by Baglan councillor Peter Richards.

He said: “I welcome them into the community of Baglan and extra jobs within the community are always welcome.”

Mr Richards said he was pleased to hear that more jobs could be making their way to Neath Port Talbot with the current concerns surrounding Tata Steel in Port Talbot and Crown Packaging, also known as Metal Box, in Neath.

“I welcome any type of employment coming in to our communities, and we will support them in any way we can,” he added.

Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock paid a visit to Ash & Lacy’s new £1million factory in Baglan.

£11m station ‘fantastic gateway’ A new 400-tonne footbridge, which links Port Talbot with its improved train station, has been hailed as a “fantastic gateway” to the town.

The bridge, which is part of an £11 million regeneration of Port Talbot Parkway station, has been installed as part of Network Rail’s £40 billion railway upgrade plan to provide a bigger, better, more reliable railway for passengers.

Port Talbot Parkway station will form part of the town’s new £15 million integrated transport hub, which will include pick-up and dropoff points for buses and taxis with easy access to the train station.

The transformation of the station is being carried out as part of the Wales Station Improvement Scheme.

Food group launched Producers and suppliers in the region are being given a voice to shout about its cuisine.The Swansea Bay Good Food Circle has been launched

by Tourism Swansea Bay, the trade organisation for tourism businesses in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.

It aims to support food businesses which are producing, selling or serving local produce, and promote eateries, markets, events and food producers which champion local and Welsh produce.

An event was recently held at Le Petit Bulle in Neath as an opportunity for guests to network and promote each other.

Management buy-out A precision engineering company in Neath has been sold to its management team.

Chris Barker, Mike Pragnell, Ian Petitt, Wayne Thomas and Jon Upton have purchased Mollart Engineering Ltd in a move supported by Mollart’s existing bank, HSBC, and venture capital investor Vine Street Capital.

Guy Mollart, who has worked in the industry for 30 years, remains as president.

He said: “The company has been in the Mollart family hands for 88 years and the existing management team are the best placed to take the business forward and build on its successful heritage.”

Mollart has a facility at Neath Vale Supplier Park in Resolven.

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Finance Turbo-charged insurance

Taking a mammoth share of the specialist car market, which includes Chevy’s and Cabriolets, is a Swansea insurance company set for further growth...

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Finance

Brentacre

Pictured is managing director, John White (left) with Kevin Nicholas from Santander and Mike Jones (right) from Bevan and Buckland.

Turbo-charged insurance Petrol-heads, pimped up cars, vintage, classic and specialist cars are all par for the course for Swansea insurance firm and Fast Track 25 member Brentacre...

In the curious world of Chevy’s, Cabriolets, vintage wheeled beauties and 10-litre engine cars, a Swansea insurance company has nabbed itself a mammoth market share.

Brentacre, established in 1987 by Bill and Freda White, and now run by son John White, has tapped into the rich pickings offered by the modified car and van and classic car market. You name it, vintage, imported, horse boxes, super cars – basically anything on wheels that’s a little out-of-the-ordinary.

The specialist insurance firm is a member of the class of 2015 of Fast Track 25, the invitation-only club of Swansea Bay Business Life, sponsored by Santander and Bevan & Buckland.

Darren Coote, manager at Brentacre, explains how the modus operandi of the firm has been revving up the ante in the insurance world.

“We do the stuff that falls through the cracks – the stuff that very few companies want to do because it’s modified, American or doesn’t fit into the computerised model,” said Coote.

The firm has taken an innovative approach to its recruitment policy – building on the essence of its niche market, it has targeted individuals based on their love of cars, rather than experience in the insurance industry.

“When you work at a conventional insurance business, it’s fairly monotonous and computer-driven, it’s like working in a call centre.

“What we are dealing with and the types of people we are dealing with does make it more interesting and unusual.

“We have recruited people with an interest and passion for cars – mechanics, engineers, car enthusiasts; I can teach someone about insurance but I can’t teach

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BUSINESS LIFE them to be passionate about modified cars,” explained Coote.

And what Coote describes as the firm’s “old-fashioned personal service” is a big sell with its target audience, which explains its impressive month on month growth figures.

“I’ve been here three years and the firm has doubled in size during that period.

We want to grow and get as big as we can without losing that personal service and control. We don’t want to be a big call centre.

“We think really hard about how to make our customers feel comfortable. We tend to dress casually, mainly because of the types of clients we have, and it helps them feel relaxed.

“Our managing director, John White, is known as ‘the guy in the flip flops’.

He’s a big surfer, that’s his big passion.

He has this relaxed surfer mentality and

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Brentacre

then this really driven part of him. I’m a snowboarder, so we’re opposites in that respect!”

Within Brentacre’s target market there are a wide range of customers from all walks of life, explains Coote, and they appreciate both the expertise and enthusiasm of the account holders.

“From the young guy who spends all his available money on his modified Renault Clio, to someone with a drag car, for example. Drag cars are popular in the States, and they’re actually legal for the road over here. They’re 10 times more powerful than an ordinary car, you might have a 10-litre engine and there might be something like £250,000 tied up in the car.

“It’s a left field market so you have to be approaching it from a non-conventional view. We have 95% of the UK modified American car customers – and it’s a growing market. Classic and modified cars make up around five to 10% of the UK market and we have by far the biggest slice of this pie.

Coote describes the Brentacre team as a competitive bunch. “It used to be a maledominated office but we’ve tried very hard to get rid of that overtly macho feel,” he said.

“We now have six or seven girls working

here, which has made the office a more rounded place.

“Incentivisers are important – in a lot of companies the bosses get everything – so we try to give out treats like a day out round the tracks, a ride in a Porsche etc.

We try and move it round the office so everyone gets a chance.

“And we try to do some team activities – carting, paintballing, everything that involves a winner – once a month ideally,” explains Coote.

“Brentacre’s growth has been organic,” said Coote. “Most of the business we get is based on recommendations from existing clients. Our marketing has mostly been advertisements in specialist trade press, and we also take a stand at key motor shows and events. We have a lot of clients who put their cars on our stand.”

In keeping with its fairly laidback and hip image, Brentacre is more active on social media than a typical insurance company.

“We try to make our facebook page as fun and relevant as possible. We put stuff up there that’s a good read as well as content that is solely business-related,” said Coote.

“We try to make ourselves as socially aware and interactive as possible – that’s how young people communicate, and we actually employ someone to do our social

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media and IT.” So what now for Brentacre? Having made a name for itself off the beaten track, it looks set to power ahead for the foreseeable future.

“Going forwards we have some ambitious growth plans, although we don’t ever want to lose the friendliness and personal service levels we are able to offer to our clients.”

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Are You a Limited Company Owner or An Investor? Be Aware of the New Tax on Dividends Regime Martin Hudson, a Director at Swansea-based chartered certified accountants, Morgan Hemp, specialises in personal and corporate taxation, advising companies of all sizes on business management and development. He shares his insights into the new tax rules on dividends:

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George Osborne has said that this move will see 85 percent of those receiving dividends being unaffected or better off.

The Fine Print

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One of the major announcements of the summer 2015 budget was a complete overhaul of the way dividend payments are taxed – with the changes coming into effects in April 2016.

The new rules will see the dividend tax credit – which reduces the amount of tax paid on income from shares – replaced by a £5,000 tax-free dividend allowance for all taxpayers.

It is a move which has baffled some financial experts, who have warned that it will be a proverbial double edged sword which discourages people from saving while also making investors think twice about putting their money into big UK companies, since limited company shareholders are now likely to see lower returns.

The new rules seem designed to counteract the tax planning opportunities available to limited company owners, who often pay themselves small salaries, then tax the lion’s share of their incomes in the form of dividends.

However, George Osborne has said that this move will see 85 percent of those receiving dividends being unaffected or better off.

Under the new rules basic rate taxpayers will pay 7.5 percent tax on any additional dividend income, excluding the first £5,000, instead of receiving a 10% tax credit to settle the dividend tax at the basic rate of tax.

However, higher rate taxpayers will pay 32.5 percent and additional rate taxpayers 38.1 percent. Dividends paid within Isa’s and pensions remain unaffected by the changes.

The new rules are likely to prompt the fiscally astute to transfer some shareholdings if appropriate, and to time dividends to best effect.

Dividends above the first £5,000 will be taxed as if the £5,000 used up either the basic rate band or the higher rate band.

So: - dividends exceeding the dividend nil rate will be taxed at: - 7.5 percent in the basic rate band (the ordinary rate); - 32.5 percent in the higher rate band (the upper rate); and - 38.1 percent in the additional rate band (the additional rate); - the tax credit, which currently attaches to dividends paid by UK companies, will be abolished from 5 April 2016, so the dividend paid will no longer be grossed up by onetenth when calculating the shareholder’s taxable income.

Over recent years, since the 10 percent tax credit has covered all their income tax liability, some basic rate taxpayers have had no assessable income.

So one potential pitfall is that under these new rules dividends in excess of the dividend allowance received after 5 April 2016 will not be fully covered, so taxpayers in this position will now have to notify a liability to pay tax to HMRC for the first time for 2016-17, and potentially have to register with HMRC to submit self-assessment returns.

It is also worth noting that the withdrawal of the tax credit for dividends may create a liability to pay the income tax relating to donations under the Gift Aid Scheme. There is no income tax liability on dividends taxed at the nil rate, so such dividends cannot frank the income tax on a Gift Aid donation made after 5 April 2016.

For further detail please see: http://www.morganhemp.co.uk/pdf/thenew-rules-on-dividends.pdf For tailored taxation advice please contact Morgan Hemp on: 01792 466428.

103-104 Walter Road, Swansea, SA1 5QF Tel: 01792 466428

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3/29/2016 2:53:40 PM

Derwen Group

Finance

Extracting success from

waste recycling Hi-tech optical sorting at Derwen Group is helping turn mountains of waste into re-usable commodities but there is a gap in the market for more home-grown clean-tech buyers

Waste not, want not. Well, that’s certainly the view of South Wales recycling experts Derwen Group.

The Neath-based firm is a leader in the Welsh environmental and waste management sector, turning over £6.5m a year.

In 2013, building on the success of the original Derwen Aggregates, the group launched Derwen Recycling, investing £4.5m in a state-of-the-art recycling facility with cutting-edge waste recovery technologies.

Most of the ensuing ‘commodities’, including their alternative fuels, are sold to an overseas market, and Derwen Group co-director Stuart Hanford says he sees a real opportunity for Wales to cash in on this gaping hole for a specialist processing industry able to re-use recovered waste products.

Because waste is really taking off, so to speak. Already the purpose-built Derwen Recycling facility contributes around 60% of total group turnover. In the two years it has been operating, it has processed 60,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste that would have otherwise gone to landfill, and created 40 new full-time jobs.

“We always knew the potential was there,” says Derwen Group co-director Stuart Hanford.

Financing for the firm’s investment in the new plant was supported by Barclays, with asset finance. Derwen Group also had support from ARID – a largescale grant programme administered by WRAP Cymru a government-funded body working for a waste-free Wales.

“We feel very passionate about what we do, and we’re very proud of the recovery rates we get,” explains Hanford. “Derwen Recycling manages to recover 99% of all the waste it receives, so that only 1% is sent to landfill.”

Whereas construction waste heads to Derwen Aggregates, Derwen Recycling takes in a combination of commercial and industrial waste, from manufacturing, warehousing and other industries.

“We have a fleet of 12 branded vehicles to collect waste from construction sites and other sites,” explains Hanford. “We recover wood, cardboard, rubble, plastic, anything we can recover we segregate. Our vehicles also often deliver recycled aggregates to site on the outward journey, therefore reducing cost, vehicle movements and ultimately our carbon footprint.

Hanford describes the process in simple terms as the opposite of a production line – a kind of production line in reverse or “a disassembly process”.

Derwen Group co-director Stuart Hanford

“Waste is initially mechanically pre-sorted before being loaded into the sorting plant.

It’s reduced to a manageable size by a series of shredders, allowing the shredded waste to flow throughout the plant.”

An artillery of air, magnetic and optical separating technologies and screens sort the waste; magnetic separators nab the metallic bits, which then pass through a quality control process. Optical sorting machines detect plastic or cardboard in other waste. “And there’s also a large element of human input in quality control,” adds Hanford, “hence the 40 new jobs.”

Once waste has been segregated into its component parts and passed quality control, it’s essentially reincarnated in the form of commodities – be they plastic, paper, cardboard, wood or aggregates. The combustible components of waste, which are not able to be recycled, are turned

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3/29/2016 12:56:15 PM

expert opinion

broomfield alexander

broomfield alexander

expert opinion

Buy-To-Let Changes From April 2016, buy-to-let investors will start to see a number of tax changes implemented by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that may raise questions over how attractive the property market is for buy-to-let investors.

As announced in the recent Autumn Statement, April 2016 will see the start of five years of taxation changes being implemented on the buy-to-let market.

Changes we are already anticipating will start from the 1 April when second home buyers and buy-to-let investors will see stamp duty rise by 3% for purchases made after this date. A little under a week later, from the 6th of April, landlords’ wear and tear allowance is being abolished and will be replaced by a deduction for actual spend.

From April 2017 we will start to see the phasing in of the removal of tax relief on loan interest. There will be a gradual stepping down of the level of relief that can be claimed until 2021 when all interest can only be claimed at 20%.

So with these changes, should you rush to invest in buy-to-let this month? Or perhaps the better question is should you rush to sell your buy to let portfolio?

In real cash terms, buy-to-let investors could find themselves in a very different situation in only a few years’ time if they do nothing at all.

Currently, landlords with furnished properties benefit from extra tax relief amounting to 10% of their rental income per year to account for wear and tear on their properties. Many landlords don’t spend this amount over the course of a year and so benefit from the difference.

Take, for example, a landlord who receives £10,000 in rent each year, has a mortgage costing £7,500 each year in interest and pays a letting agent £1,000.

With tax relief at 40% and £1000 wear and tear allowance, at the end of the year the landlord sees a cash surplus of £1,300 and a tax bill of £200.

By 2021, assuming no other changes, the effect of a lower amount of tax relief on the mortgage and actual wear and tear payments sees this cash return of £1,300 become an annual £600 cash deficit and the tax bill increase more than tenfold to £2,100.

For advice on how this could affect you please contact us.

Contact

Sarah Curzon TAX DIRECTOR BROOMFIELD & ALEXANDER

Tel: 01792 790444 mail: Sarah.Curzon@broomfield.co.uk www.broomfield.co.uk @TaxFairy

@BroomfieldWales

©LW

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3/29/2016 2:56:26 PM

Derwen Group

Finance

Throw away culture...

“The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we do not recognize”, said Shigeo Shingo the Japanese industrial engineer who is widely regard as the world’s leading expert on manufacturing practices and the Toyota Production System.

“There is no such thing as ‘away’.

When we throw anything away it must go somewhere.” Attributed to Annie Leonard, The Story of Stuff

into Refuse Derived Fuel, more commonly known as RDF. “We have to sell these ‘commodities’ where we can get the best price for them,” says Hanford. “At the moment that’s in the Far East, notably China – where it is incorporated into new manufactured goods, and the cardboard is recycled into packaging for these goods.

“Some of our plastics go to Holland where they are processed and come back into the UK to go into plastic manufacturing,” explains Hanford, “but we would like to see this loop cut out.

“It would be great in the future if more of the materials we recover could be processed in Wales. Our alternative fuel is exported to Sweden where it replaces fossil fuels and is used to fuel power plants.

“We don’t currently have enough of that technology in the UK to do that. Our RDF is burned in power stations to create

electricity which is fantastic. But it would be even more fantastic if that was done in Wales,” says Hanford.

“Essentially, we pay other countries to take our waste and burn it, and at the same time we pay to import coal. We would like to see more alternative fuel used in Wales to generate electricity,” he says.

Reflecting their environmental ethos, Derwen Group takes a strong line on its own waste. “We are looking at getting photovoltaic panels on the roof of our building to generate electricity for our own processes,” says Hanford.

As for the future? “We’re looking to expand the business, ideally adopting even more sophisticated technology. We see big opportunities in plastic recycling,” says Hanford. So maybe Derwen may even think of filling the clean-tech gap itself.

After all, it would be a waste not to…

“...if the society toward which we are developing is not to be a nightmare of exhaustion, we must use the interlude of the present era to develop a new technology which is based on a circular flow of materials such that the only sources of man’s provisions will be his own waste products.” Kenneth E. Boulding, British economist and educator.

“Recycling is more than just a response to the environmental crisis and has assumed a symbolic role in beginning to change the nature of western societies and the culture of consumerism. Indeed many environmentalists assume that there will be an inevitable shift from our “throwaway” society to a post-industrial “recycling” society of the future.” Matthew Gandy, Recycling and the Politics of Urban Waste Last but not least…

“A recycled beer can saves enough electricity to run a television for three hours.” Erm, thanks Denis Hayes, founder of Earth Day. Hic!

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Financial Planning Understand your options, take control and achieve your ďŹ nancial objectives Speak with one of our chartered financial advisers – we'll help you develop a strategy that aligns your current circumstances with your future objectives.

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Phone: 01792 477763 Email: mail@estatecapital.co.uk www.estatecapital.co.uk

3/29/2016 10:15:09 AM

Finance

Industry Insight

Are businesses getting the best deal from their banks?

With Brett Thomas

OSTC FX

Interesting research emerged at the start of 2016 from East & Partners, Asia-Pacific’s leading business banking market research and analysis firm. The research claimed as businesses throughout the UK look to mitigate the risks of currency fluctuations, the corporate foreign exchange market shows significant growth and also increasing competition.

East & Partners’ UK Business Foreign Exchange (BFX) report looked into FX market dynamics across three corporate segments: micro businesses; SMEs with an annual turnover between £5m and £20m; and lower corporates with turnover between £20m and £100m.

It also further reviewed the respective BFX product categories of Spot FX, FX Options and Forward FX. The research showed that whilst the UK’s largest banks continue to control the market across the three products, Non-bank providers like OSTC FX are making real headway in a number of areas, particularly in their Spot FX and FX Options market share.

There is clear evidence that the banks are progressively relinquishing market share to nonbank competitors, as British SMEs are becoming better informed, looking outside of the banks for their foreign exchange requirements, by seeking out better exchange rates and higher levels of personalised service. Indeed the report highlighted that where non-bank providers are able to differentiate their offering, for example, through transparency, service quality (such as through a dedicated broker), or value for

Admiral staff to receive cash gift The boss of one of Swansea’s largest private sector employers is to give most members of staff a £1,000 surprise gift each.

Admiral chief executive Henry Engelhardt and his wife Diane have put aside £7m as a thank-you to the company’s 8,000 plus workforce.

Engelhardt will stand down as chief executive of the car and home insurance giant which employs 1,893 staff in Swansea and just over 6,000 across Wales.

The Engelhardts are giving all Admiral staff a cash gift of £1,000, or £500, depending on length of service.

The money — from their own pockets — was confirmed by the couple at Admiral’s annual staff meeting held at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena.

£26m solar investment

money, they can take advantage of any complacency from their more established competitors.

At OSTC FX, we understand the reality of what businesses experience when it comes to dealing with banks directly for their foreign exchange dealings. Through the use of a ‘Currency Audit’, which is offered free of charge to all prospective clients we are able to reveal exactly what their banks have charged them on their most recent FX transactions. These figures can often be jaw dropping, with banks applying a spread or margin of 2 per cent or higher on many occasions.

For a no-obligation meeting to discuss your currency exposure and requirements, or for a free audit of your most recent currency transactions, please contact OSTC FX.

OSTC FX Brett Thomas 01792 720873 dealing@ostcfx.com

A £26m investment in Port Talbot to drive forward the solar energy industry has been announced.

The money will support a new phase of research and commercialisation of technology being developed at the town’s SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre.

Experts there want to transform commercial and residential buildings into power stations by enabling them to generate, store and release their own solar energy.

The funding, made up of £15m of EU funds, £4m from the Engineering and Physical Research Council and Innovate UK, and £7m from Swansea and Cardiff Universities, coupled with investment from industry partners, will support a five-year phase of research and commercialisation of technology being developed at the SPECIFIC centre.

Technology giants funds hub Two global companies are backing a programme to create the next generation of doctors, nurses, healthcare staff, scientists, researchers and innovators in Swansea.

Talent Bank, which is part of the Arch (A Regional Collaboration for Health) Programme, has just secured investment from Fujitsu and Intel.

The cash from two of the world’s leading technology firms will mean Talent Bank’s first intake of Swansea students will learn in Wales’s first-ever Fujitsu Innovation Hub. Led by Gower College Swansea, in partnership with the Institute of Life Science at Swansea University Medical School, Talent Bank is a new education and skills programme specifically designed to support the evolving life and health science sector in South West Wales. swanseabaybusiness.com 67

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advertising feature

Butterfield Morgan

Butterfield Morgan

advertising feature

Ambition, expertise and approachability It’s one of Swansea’s largest and most experienced accountancy firms but Butterfield Morgan also prides itself on offering a personal service, with a growing team of approachable, knowledgeable staff, writes Jenny White.

It’s been a busy couple of years for Butterfield Morgan, one of Swansea’s largest and most experienced firms of chartered accountants. Besides handling major business disposals, mergers and acquisitions and servicing the needs of its many regular clients, the firm has expanded by merging with Morris Accountancy in Llanelli.

“The merger, which took place two years ago, enabled us to expand further into West Wales, with an increased client base from Llanelli and beyond,”says Steve Williams, a partner in the firm since 2000.

The other partners in the firm are Chris Harry and Matthew Woolway. Chris is a founding partner of the firm whilst Matthew was made a partner last year

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Dean Cunnah Lucy Kettleborough

having joined the firm in 1999. Matthew has also taken on the role of Senior Statutory Auditor following the transition.

As a group, the firm’s 16 staff bring together a huge wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise. In addition to the core tax, audit and accountancy services, the firm also offers specialist services which include succession planning, business valuations and advice on disposal, merger and acquisition transactions. During the past year, Butterfield Morgan has, amongst other transactions advised on the disposal of the Glass Systems Group to the polish glass manufacturer Press Glass SA. Butterfield Morgan is equally comfortable handling this type of large

3/29/2016 3:00:07 PM

Butterfield Morgan

advertising feature

Matthew Woolway, Steve Williams

Gemma Bowers, Stephen Ellis, Lee Gallagher

Robert Griffiths, Richard Nedin

“You get a one-to-one service and partners and managers are always accessible should our clients need to contact us” corporate finance transaction or handling the accounts of small businesses and sole traders and it’s this flexibility and reach, combined with a friendly, personal approach, that is helping the firm to grow year on year.

Last year saw a 10% growth in fee level and a number of new appointments and structural changes.The firm has promoted Richard Nedin and Robert Griffiths to tax and audit manager respectively, whilst three new graduates, Lee Gallagher, Stephen Ellis and Gemma Bowers were brought in to train as chartered certified accountants – a move that will ensure

the longevity of a firm that is already over 30 years old and was formed by the merger of two practices dating back to 1946. Butterfield Morgan is rare in its commitment to training new accountants, but sees this as an important part of its work.

“Training staff up is a good way to keep on top of things and to ensure succession,” says Steve.“We pride ourselves on being a training organization.”

The firm’s previous intake of two graduates - Dean Cunnah and Lucy Kettleborough - are now about to sit their final examinations to qualify as chartered

certified accountants.

Just as Butterfield Morgan’s staff usually stay with them for years, so do their clients: the firm has superb retention levels, which Steve puts down to not only expertise but also a true personal touch.

“You get a one-to-one service and partners and managers are always accessible should our clients need to contact us” he says.

“It’s also down to genuine hard work and being able to relate to our clients – we understand their businesses and we don’t complicate things by using overly technical language.”

Druslyn House, De-la Beche Street, Swansea , SA1 3HJ 01792 650381 www.butterfieldmorganaccountants.co.uk

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3/29/2016 3:00:15 PM

Your LOCAL Financial Team As one of the largest accountancy practices with 6 offices across Swansea, Cardiff, Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Carmarthen and St Davids and a track record spanning more than 100 years, you can be sure that Bevan & Buckland are your local financial team who have your best interests at heart.

Every client is unique and deserves a unique service.

Our philosophy is to put our clients first - to understand their situation and provide a first class service tailored to their specific needs.

Because we establish a one-to-one relationship with each client we are able to offer timely, individual advice on how to improve your business or personal finances.

Bevan & Buckland have also developed a new range of services to meet the needs of modern businesses, including a comprehensive business advisory service.

“They specialize in my area and understand my sector.”

Our Services: • Accounts • Tax compliance • Audit • Tax planning • Debt management • Insolvency • Financial planning • Corporate finance • Payroll • VAT advice and returns • Tax Investigations • Business start-up • Business Growth

Our Sectors: • Manufacturing • Property & Construction • Tourism & Leisure • Agricultural sector • Creative industries • Professional services • ICT sector • Life sciences • Green & Environmental • Charities • Housing associates

CONTACT YOUR LOCAL ACCOUNTANCY www.bevanbuckland.co.uk • mail@bevanbuckland.co.uk Swansea Office 01792 410100

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Pembroke Office 01646 682380

Carmarthen Office 01267 233115

Haverfordwest Office 01437 760666

St David’s Office 01437 720352

Cardiff Office 02920 459960

3/29/2016 9:02:35 AM

Finance

Manufacturing robotics set to boost the economy Committing more than £1bn to robotics and automation could have a huge impact in the region and further afield, but there are dangers, Business Life reports

Investing an additional £1.2bn into manufacturing processes to increase robotics and automation over the next decade could add as much as £60.5bn to the UK economy over the next decade, a reports shows.

This is equivalent to nearly two fifths of the manufacturing sector’s value to the economy today, according to the new research from Barclays bank.

The Future-proofing UK manufacturing report reveals investing in automation technology will help to increase the international competitiveness of the UK’s manufacturing sector through increased manufacturing productivity and efficiency. As a result of more investment, the manufacturing sector would be worth £191bn in 2025, £8.6bn more than currently

projected and a 19.6 per cent increase.

Martyn Ingram, managing director at Carmarthenshire manufacturing firm Morgan Marine, based in Llandybie, said: “I can understand the excitement which surrounds the predictions of a great increase in automation and the use of robots in industry. It is certainly the case that many industries are facing interesting times and it does feel as if we are, in some ways, on the brink of a new era and a new way of working, which might change the landscape of manufacturing and production for good.

“Of course, predictions like these bring fears that technological advances will leave a trail of unemployment in their wake. I know the chief economist of the Bank of England said very recently that

up to half of the jobs in the UK, not only in manufacturing but also clerical roles, administration, accountancy and sales could be wiped out by robots within the next 20 years.

“While I’m sure there is some validity to what he and others are predicting I suspect the real picture is somewhat less extreme.

“For a company like Morgan Marine, for instance, I can’t foresee a time when we won’t rely completely upon people power.

“The processes we use are very much manual processes. One of our biggest strengths, and one of our most valuable selling points, is that everything we produce is bespoke and carefully tailored to fit the precise requirements of individual clients, so for us, automation wouldn’t be viable or desirable. We don’t produce 71

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We can connect you to the right people in the right markets

We know taking your business overseas can be daunting. It’s a big step. That’s why we created the Santander Trade Portal and Trade Club. Helping you to find the right people with the right local knowledge, they could give your business its best chance to break through internationally. It’s just one of the reasons why every eight minutes another business chooses Santander.

To find out more, visit santandercb.co.uk

Santander Trade Portal and Trade Club are available to Santander Corporate & Commercial customers.

Source: Internal data February 2016.

You need to be a customer of Santander Corporate & Commercial to gain full access to the Trade Portal and Trade Club. Santander Trade Portal is provided and managed by Export Entreprises S.A. Santander provides access to its client companies but is totally unrelated to the database contents, which are the responsibility of Export Entreprises S.A. Santander Corporate & Commercial is a brand name of Santander UK plc, Abbey National Treasury Services plc (which also uses the brand name Santander Global Banking and Markets) and Santander Asset Finance plc, all (with the exception of Santander Asset Finance plc) authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Our Financial Services Register numbers are 106054 and 146003 respectively. Credit cards are provided by Santander UK plc. In Jersey, Santander UK plc is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission to carry on deposit-taking business under the Banking Business (Jersey) Law 1991. Registered office: 2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London NW1 3AN. Company numbers: 2294747, 2338548 and 1533123 respectively. Registered in England and Wales. Santander and the flame logo are registered trademarks. Santander UK plc is a participant in the Jersey Bank Depositors Compensation Scheme. The Scheme offers protection for eligible deposits of up to £50,000. The maximum total amount of compensation is capped at £100,000,000 in any 5 year period. Full details of the Scheme and banking groups covered are available on the States of Jersey website (www.gov.je/dcs) or on request.

MC0094_1 FEB 16 HT

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Finance

Morgan Marine MD Martyn Ingram and HRH Prince Charles

large numbers of identical products so robots would be of little practical use to us and there are many other manufacturers across the UK who, I believe, work in a similar way.

“I perhaps can see a time when a much larger number of sales jobs are taken by robots and that would have implications for employment in Wales. I know the Office for National Statistics produced a chart recently predicting the probabilities of incoming automation on various professions and occupations. The caring sector ‘scored’ highly on this. I find this a bit alarming. Shouldn’t people be cared for by people?

“There is of course a much broader philosophical question surrounding the idea of mass automation and the use of robots in the workplace. If the predictions are accurate and if we are to believe the numbers that are being bandied about then a very large percentage of the population will potentially be let loose from the employment pool in one or two generations’ time.

“Here in Wales we know the hardships that come for whole communities when mass unemployment hits after the loss of an industry. Do we, as a society, have the imagination to completely re-fashion the way our society works, so those people can live productive and satisfying lives outside of the workplace? It is a big question and it is one for economists, philosophers and sociologists to answer but I think it is a

question which can’t be avoided for very long.”

The Prince of Wales visited Morgan Marine to officially open a new extension to the Morgan Marine office building and take a tour of the factory.

Barclays’ report suggests increased investment in automation will help to soften the expected long-term decline in manufacturing sector jobs by safeguarding 73,500 additional workers in 2025, due to the creation of a larger, more productive and competitive UK manufacturing sector.

A total of 32,300 more jobs will be supported elsewhere in the economy through the generation of more business in the supply chain, from raw materials through to logistics, as well as the effect of workers spending more widely in the economy. In 2025 alone this is forecast to represent an additional stimulus worth £3.9bn.

Mike Hayden, head of Corporate and Business Banking for Barclays in Swansea and South West Wales said: “This report highlights the importance of investing in robotics and automation for Welsh manufacturers as a potential solution to the on-going productivity puzzle. By investing an additional £1.2bn in automation technologies over the next decade, the UK manufacturing sector is forecast to create an additional £60.5bn of economic output and safeguard more than 105,800 jobs throughout the wider economy.

West Wales needs to have a slice of that economy.

“However, to reap these rewards we need to address some of the barriers to investment including the need for more user-friendly and flexible technology, addressing skills barriers within the sector and supporting manufacturers to access the funding and information already available to them for robotics investment.”

The pharmaceutical and food manufacturing industries have the most to gain from further investments in automation with the research showing a more than 10 per cent increase in output between 2016 to 2020 and close to a 25 per cent rise between 2020 to 2025 for both sectors. This would be driven by the two sectors’ large existing base in terms of size and take up of automation technology, and by the relative ease of application of automation technology to both sectors.

The research found that more than half (58 per cent) of British manufacturers surveyed report that they have already invested in automation and, of these, twothirds (65 per cent) felt that they are more productive as a result. A total of 76 per cent of British manufacturers state they believe there are opportunities for further investment in their business with parts manufacturing (24 per cent) assembly (15 per cent) and packaging (12 per cent) identified as areas of the business with the greatest potential for future investment in automation technology. swanseabaybusiness.com 73

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3/29/2016 9:43:32 AM

Workforce Cometh the hour, cometh the geek

Swansea Bay region is to become a magnet for technology companies across a range of industry sectors...

Workforce is sponsored by

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3/29/2016 1:01:41 PM

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY CAREERS FAIR 2016

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LAUNCHING SEPTEMBER 2016

YN CAEL EI LANSIO YM MIS MEDI 2016

the Swansea University Job Shop connects our talented students to graduate recruiters, part time jobs and work experience opportunities.

bydd Siop Swyddi Prifysgol Abertawe yn cysylltu’n myfyrwyr dawnus â recriwtwyr graddedigion, swyddi rhan-amser a chyfleoedd ar gyfer profiad gwaith.

To be part of it or to discuss how we can support your recruitment plans, please contact employability@swansea.ac.uk

I fod yn rhan o’r cyfan neu i drafod sut allwn gefnogi’ch cynlluniau recriwtio, cysylltwch ag employability@swansea.ac.uk

www.swansea.ac.uk/employability-academy

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3/28/2016 3:29:33 PM

Founded by Industry for Industry

Sylfaenwyd gan Ddiwydiant ar gyfer Diwydiant

Swansea University plays a major role in developing the regional economy through research collaborations, skills development and access to staff and students.

Mae Prifysgol Abertawe yn chwarae rhan bwysig wrth ddatblygu’r drwy waith ymchwil ar y cyd, datblygu sgiliau a sicrhau mynediad i staff a myfyrwyr.

Access to talent

Mynediad at Dalent

The Swansea Employability Academy (SEA) allows local employers to benefit from a range of flexible schemes where trained skilled students are placed in the workplace for a few days, four week placements, three month graduate internships or even longer term.

Mae Academi Gyflogadwyedd Abertawe (SEA) yn galluogi cyflogwyr lleol i elwa o amrywiaeth o gynlluniau hyblyg ble caiff myfyrwyr medrus hyfforddedig eu lleoli yn y gweithle am ychydig ddyddiau, ar leoliadau pedair wythnos, internaethau tri mis i raddedigion, neu hyd yn oed am gyfnod hirach.

The College of Engineering’s ‘year in industry’ scheme provides a great opportunity for students to gain valuable experience, opening the door for further collaboration and benefitting the company they work with.

The School of Computer Science, CHERISH-DE Centre offers strategic academic secondments with industry, paving the way to collaborative research opportunities within the Digital Economy.

Developing skills for your workforce Swansea University offers a wide range of professional training tailored to the individual needs of employers and employees, including leadership and management programmes and more sector-specific courses, aimed at developing the skills of employees to support personal development, commercial productivity and growth. Examples of projects that have been funded by the European Social Fund through the Welsh Government include: • The ION leadership project offers life changing leadership courses delivered by business experts to help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) grow • The Materials and Manufacturing Academy (M2A) and Materials Education, Training and Learning (METaL) projects provide industryled postgraduate research training, collaborative research and funded training courses for businesses in advanced materials and manufacturing.

Ensuring skills for the region The College University Skills Partnership (CUSP) aims to fulfil the higher level skills needs of employers in Wales. Its approach has created an innovative and quality-driven training and learning system, with Swansea University’s world-class facilities and resources accessible to regional employers and employees.

To find out more about how Swansea University works with business and industry please visit www.swansea.ac.uk/business-and-industry

Mae cynllun ‘blwyddyn mewn diwydiant’ y Coleg Peirianneg yn cynnig cyfle gwych i fyfyrwyr gael profiad gwerthfawr, a bydd hynny’n agor y drws at ragor o gydweithio a bydd hynny o fudd i’r cwmnïau y byddant yn gweithio â hwy.

Mae Ysgol Gyfrifiadureg Canolfan CHERISH-DE yn cynnig secondiadau academaidd strategol mewn diwydiant, gan arwain y ffordd at gyfleoedd ymchwil cydweithredol o fewn yr Economi Ddigidol.

Datblygu sgiliau er budd eich gweithlu Mae Prifysgol Abertawe yn cynnig amrywiaeth o hyfforddiant proffesiynol wedi’i deilwra yn ôl anghenion unigol cyflogwyr a gweithwyr, yn cynnwys rhaglenni arwain a rheoli, a chyrsiau sy’n fwy penodol i sectorau, sy’n ceisio datblygu sgiliau gweithwyr i ategu datblygiad personol a chynhyrchedd a thwf masnachol. Mae enghreifftiau o brosiectau sydd wedi cael eu hariannu gan Gronfa gymdeithasol Ewrop trwy law Llywodraeth Cymru yn cynnwys y canlynol: • Mae prosiect arweinyddiaeth ION yn cynnig cyrsiau arweinyddiaeth a all weddnewid bywydau, a chânt eu cyflwyno gan ein harbenigwyr ar fusnes i helpu busnesau bach a chanolig (BBaCh) i dyfu eu busnes.

• Mae’r Academi Defnyddiau a Gweithgynhyrchu (M2A) a’r prosiect Addysg, Hyfforddiant a Dysgu ynghylch Defnyddiau (METaL) yn darparu hyfforddiant ynghylch ymchwil uwchraddedig dan arweiniad diwydiant, cyfleoedd i ymchwilio ar y cyd a chyrsiau hyfforddiant cymorthdaledig ar gyfer busnesau yn y sector gweithgynhyrchu a defnyddiau uwch.

Sicrhau sgiliau er budd y rhanbarth Mae’r Bartneriaeth Sgiliau Coleg a Phrifysgol (CUSP), yn ceisio diwallu anghenion cyflogwyr Cymru am sgiliau ar y lefel uwch. Mae ei hymagwedd wedi creu system addysg a hyfforddi arloesol a safonol, ac sy’n sicrhau bod cyflogwyr a gweithwyr y rhanbarth yn cael y defnydd o gyfleusterau a’r adnoddau o’r radd flaenaf sydd ar gael ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe.

I gael rhagor o wybodaeth ynghylch sut mae Prifysgol Abertawe yn gweithio gyda busnes a diwydiant, trowch at www.swansea.ac.uk/business-and-industry

www.swansea.ac.uk

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Capital gains tax: an added danger to employee shareholder agreements The government announced its latest budget in mid March with an understandably huge furore around various cuts leading to the resignation of one of the government’s cabinet members. One of the many other announcements that seemed to slip past the media net was the changes to employee shareholder agreements, although admittedly the headline does not lend itself to an easily rhymed and catchy slogan.

A new deadline was created at midnight on 16 March 2016 where a lifetime limit of £100,000 on the capital gains tax exemption was introduced for the disposal of shares that were acquired under an employee shareholder agreement. Any person who enters into such an agreement after this deadline will be liable for capital gains on any amount surpassing the £100,000 threshold. The new limit will not be retrospective for

either realised or unrealised gains where the agreement was entered into prior to the deadline. Prior to the budget the capital gains exemption had no limit.

So, what will the impact be for both the individual and businesses?

Individual The impact for the individual is that tax will have to be paid at the relevant capital gains banding on the amount that tips over this threshold. Independent advice on any employer shareholder agreement should always be sought, but now more so if the value of these shares is likely to be an amount greater than £100,000 either at the time of acquisition or predicted to rise to such an amount in the future.

Business The company that provides the employee the option of an

employee shareholder agreement also needs to ensure that proper independent advice is given to the individual. An employee shareholder agreement will not be effective unless this proper advice is given and disposal should be part of that advice. No business wants to be the first to create precedent law in having an agreement deemed ineffective due to lack of advice of tax implications on disposal of the shares!

Seeking advice The Employment Team at Hutchinson Thomas (pictured above) are able to provide advice on employee contractual benefits including shareholder agreements.

For further information please contact Simon Thomas on 01639 640164.

Hutchinson Thomas • Pendrill Court, 119 London Road, Neath, SA11 1LF Tel: 01639 645061 • Fax: 01639 646792 E-mail: reception@hutchinsonthomas.com Website: www.hutchinsonthomas.com

©LW

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3/29/2016 9:05:19 AM

Cometh the hour, cometh the geek

Private sector business is eyeing up the Swansea region with interest for many reasons – including, most recently, a £500m City Deal bid submitted in February (2016) that aims to create an ‘internet coast’ hotspot for tech-based investors.

Coupled with key recruitment drives by the likes of BT and Admiral, it’s good news for both employers and potential employees in the region.

A flagship scheme of the Swansea Bay City Region, SBCR, (which covers Swansea, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Neath Port Talbot), the City Deal bid could potentially be worth £1 billion if funding from EU innovation focused funds and private sector match funding come through.

The scheme aims to drive the digital future of energy, technology and healthcare – essentially positioning the Swansea Bay City Region as a giant digital test bed. Depending on which analyst you use, the scheme is projected to create somewhere between 33,000 to 39,000 jobs over the next 20 years.

South west Wales has been struggling economically, and recent announcements at Tata Steel have confirmed the need for greater resilience. The City Deal marks a key change towards a focus on brainbased industries, and a chance for the region to re-brand itself.

The ‘internet coast’ City Deal comes in the wake of Swansea’s announcement of a £500m radical facelift for the town and a go-ahead on the £1 billion Tidal Lagoon project looks more hopeful than it did.

Work presses ahead on creating the infrastructure for G-fast broadband,

Workforce

BT Ultra Fast Fibre Broadband announcement, BT Tower, Swansea.

From left ro right: Mike Galvin, Sir Terry Matthews, Alwen Williams, Cllr Rob Stewart

and BT has made Swansea a key hub in its nationwide recruitment drive. BT recruited 100 new jobs to its Swansea base in January this year – representing one tenth of its overall commitment to create 1,000 permanent jobs across the UK between now and April 2017.

Alwen Williams, director for BT Cymru Wales, said: “Swansea is increasingly playing a key part in BT’s strategy both in terms of its customer care initiative but also its ultrafast broadband delivery – which is great news for the local community and economy.”

Better broadband looks almost guaranteed, as the City Deal includes an ambitious proposal for a transatlantic fibre-optic broadband link between

THE ‘INTERNET COAST’ CITY DEAL COMES IN THE WAKE OF SWANSEA’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF A £500M RADICAL FACELIFT FOR THE TOWN AND A GO-AHEAD ON THE £1 BILLION TIDAL LAGOON PROJECT LOOKS MORE HOPEFUL THAN IT DID.

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Workforce

Cometh the hour, cometh the geek

NewYork and Oxwich Bay, Gower – which will open up the business potential of smaller coastal towns in the region.

When it comes to workforce issues, Sian Timbrell, director of Swanseabased Prgamatic HR consultancy, says that regional employers will be buoyed by the flow of students from Swansea University’s landmark £450m Bay Campus on Fabian Way, and the potential it offers for business education collaboration.

One of the biggest knowledge economy projects in Europe, it opened in September this year. Work has also begun on the Swansea Waterfront Innovation Quarter SA1 development by the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Engineering companies which are flourishing across the region, notably in Carmarthenshire, which broadly comes under the SBCR umbrella – will be taking a keen interest in these university developments that may ease the traditional skills shortage in their industry sector.

Meanwhile, insurance giant Admiral also recently announced a recruitment drive in the area. Ben Moriarty, a recruitment manager at Admiral, said that by April 2016 the firm will already have recruited 130 new members of staff this year, and regularly searches for talented people to join its teams.

Admiral has also partnered with Swansea University to provide more opportunities for graduates. The partnership aims to help ensure that talented graduates are able to remain in the region, and support the growth of the Welsh economy.

“We have a variety of different jobs available that we know will appeal to a lot of people in the Swansea area,” said Moriarty.

Russell Lawson, director of Swansea BID, which was recently renewed for a further five-year term, said that the recruitment drives in the region were welcome news.

“With more people working in the city centre naturally foot flow begins to increase and spend, which in turn improves the economy and vibrancy. And with the recent regeneration announcements, the region seems to getting a lot of attention from investors. The right mix and balance of more people living and working in the area works hand in glove with the exciting new plans,” said Lawson.

Regardless of industry sector, for SMEs the economic growth and upcoming development of Swansea Bay City Region is a key feature in the recruitment, talent retention and sustainability of jobs in the area.

Timbrell points out that the burgeoning stature of Swansea as an attractive inward investment opportunity is a game

RUSSELL LAWSON, DIRECTOR OF SWANSEA BID, WHICH WAS RECENTLY RENEWED FOR A FURTHER FIVE-YEAR TERM, SAID THAT THE RECRUITMENT DRIVES IN THE REGION WERE WELCOME NEWS.

changer for existing companies – who will need to make sure their talent retention procedures are up to scratch.

“For local employers, it’s about ensuring that their company has all the right policies and procedures, practices and indeed incentives to attract the ‘best fit’ people for the role,” said Timbrell.

With a growing emphasis on work life balance, the lush rolling countryside of Carmarthenshire and the famous raw beauty of Gower contribute to what business analysts call the ‘wider factor’ of human resources, and are likely to play a key role in staff attraction and retention.

It seems that after years of shuffling along as a laid-back coastal town, Swansea and its satellite towns are headed towards the top of the list for UK and global investment. The future looks hi-tech and bright, and ready to be seized by a bright young code-savvy workforce.

80 swanseabaybusiness.com

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Workforce

Industry Insight

Strategic directions With Mark Jones

Principal, Gower College Swansea

In the past couple of months the college has been carrying out some consultation – with staff, students and key stakeholders, many of whom will I’m sure be reading this article – into the future direction of the college and the priorities that we need to focus on going forward.

This work is timely and recognises that the college is now in a very different position from when we last carried out such a fundamental review. Back in 2010 we were a newly merged college, bringing together the well-recognised and, in some cases, different and complimenting strengths of the former Swansea College and Gorseinon College. But now, in 2016, we are a much larger (£40m) college and better placed to make a strong contribution to the communities that we serve across Swansea and the South West region of Wales, through the delivery of a wide range and high quality programme of both accredited courses and training support.

One of our main challenges is that the range of provision we offer is so wide, for example supporting basic literacy and numeracy, the development of vocational skills amongst our young people, progressing students onto the top universities, the delivery and development of higher level

skills, apprenticeships (a key priority for all political partners) and supporting our local businesses and employers through bespoke and tailored provision – with each one of these programmes coming with their own individual challenges and opportunities.

With this complexity of provision, our strategy is to focus on four overriding priorities – essentially a small set of overriding principles which will build on our mission and core values and which can be applied across all areas of the college business. These we have termed our four strategic directions and the development of these four ‘directions’ underpins the ongoing consultation work in which we hope to not only get support but also to get a formal sign off from stakeholders etc that this is the route that we need to go down.

The directions themselves are not rocket science. They start with ‘putting the learner at the centre of everything that we do’ and ‘delivering the highest quality possible in everything we do’ but also talks about ‘achieving the highest positive impact on the economic and social wellbeing of learners in the region’ while at the same time ‘striving to be an excellent organisation, growing sustainability, innovating and investing’. If approved,

NOW WE ARE A MUCH LARGER COLLEGE AND BETTER PLACED TO MAKE A STRONG CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITIES THAT WE SERVE ACROSS SWANSEA AND THE SOUTH WEST REGION OF WALES these will act as the foundations for our 2016 – 2020 strategic plan, which we are currently developing.

Any comments from readers and other stakeholders will always be welcome with our aim being that, by working together, we can ensure that the college makes an even bigger contribution going forward and plays a key role in the economic regeneration of the region.

Gower College Swansea 01792 284000/890700 www.gcs.ac.uk

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3/29/2016 1:07:40 PM

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are proud to be Wales’ only ISO9001 recognised practical training company and we continue to maintain our Grade 1 status for SQA and OCR training and exam centres. We also hold RTITB, NPORS and JAUPT accreditations and have our own DVSA government approved LGV test centre.

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3/29/2016 3:02:42 PM

Advertising Feature

Can leadership development really help your business growth?

All datblygu arweinyddiaeth helpu’ch busnes i dyfu mewn gwirionedd?

Dywed Nigel Whitehead, Prif Weithredwr BAE Systems“...

Mae’n rhaid i sgiliau arwain fod wrth galon y gwaith o wella galluoedd cadwyni cyflenwi. Dyma’r sgiliau sy’n cefnogi pob agwedd arall ar sefydliad i weithio ar eu gorau. Mae cwmnïau sy’n cael eu rheoli’n dda yn tyfu’n gynt, yn gwneud mwy o elw ac yn dal gafael ar eu staff gorau.”

Mae pob busnes yn wahanol ond mae agweddau cyffredin sy’n cyfrannu at dwf. Mae gan fusnesau sy’n tyfu weledigaeth glir y mae’r gweithwyr yn credu ynddi.

Mae busnesau sy’n tyfu yn addasu’n gyson i’r newid yn yr amgylchiadau sy’n dod yn sgil twf.

Mae busnesau sy’n tyfu yn deall beth sydd ei eisiau ar gwsmeriaid a’r hyn maen nhw’n gallu ei ddarparu. Maen nhw’n creu enw da iddyn nhw eu hunain oherwydd bod eu cynnyrch/gwasanaeth yn gwbl addas i’r diben.

Gall busnesau sy’n tyfu fethu – e.e. gall diffyg arian lorio busnes oherwydd gall llyfrau archeb llawn achosi problemau o ran llif arian. Mae cynllun gan fusnesau sy’n tyfu ac yn goroesi, ac maent yn addasu’r cynllun wrth i amser fynd yn ei flaen.

Mae busnes sy’n tyfu’n llwyddiannus yn adnabod ei farchnadoedd, yn defnyddio ei adnoddau’n ddeallus ac yn trochi ei bobl mewn diwylliant sy’n cefnogi ac yn ysgogi twf.

BAE Systems CEO Nigel Whitehead says“…Leadership skills have to be at the heart of improvements in supply chain capabilities. These are the skills which support all other aspects of an organisation to work at their strongest.

Well-managed firms grow faster, make more profits, and hold onto their best staff.”

Every business is different but there are common aspects that contribute to growth. Growing businesses have a vision that is clear and believed in by the employees.

Growing businesses are constantly adapting to the changing circumstances that accompany growth.

Growing businesses understand what customers want and they are able to deliver. They generate a great reputation because their product/service is perfectly fit for purpose.

Growing businesses can fail – e.g. inadequate finance can bring a business to its knees as full order books cause cash flow meltdown. Businesses that grow and survive have a plan and flex it as time progresses.

A successful growing business knows its markets, makes intelligent use of its resources and leverages its people through a culture that supports and encourages growth.

Nid cyd-ddigwyddiad mo hyn. Mae’n digwydd oherwydd bod yr arweinwyr yn creu’r amodau cywir er mwyn tyfu.

Gyda gweledigaeth glir, cynllun ac anogaeth i newid pethau er gwell, bydd gweithwyr yn dod i’r gwaith yn chwilio am gyfleoedd i dyfu’r busnes.

This is no accident. It happens because leaders create the right conditions for growth. With a clear vision, a plan and encouragement to change things for the better; employees will come to work looking for every opportunity to grow the business.

Mae modd creu arweinwyr gyda’r hyfforddiant cywir. Mae ein tîm ni wedi gweithio gyda 900 o arweinwyr busnes ers 2010. Mae ein hymchwil yn dangos bod yr arweinwyr hyn yn tyfu eu busnesau 26% ar gyfartaledd.

Leaders can be created through the right training. Our team has worked with 900 business leaders since 2010.

Our research shows that these leaders grow their business by an average of 26%.

Ond peidiwch â derbyn ein gair ni – dewch i gwrdd â rhai o’r arweinwyr llwyddiannus hyn drwy archebu eich lle yn ein sesiwn rhagflas o’r rhaglen yn Sioe Fasnach arweinyddiaeth ION yn Stadiwm Liberty, Abertawe ar 19 Ebrill.

Don’t take our word for it – come and meet some of these successful leaders by booking yourself into our programme preview session at the ION leadership Trade Show at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea on April 19th.

Mae rhagor o wybodaeth ar gael yn: www.ionleadership.co.uk Find out more at: www.ionleadership.co.uk Neu siaradwch gyda Maggie Northam neu Kim Talbot ar 01792 606738 Or speak to Maggie Northam or Kim Talbot on 01792 606738 info@ionleadership.co.uk @IONleadership

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3/29/2016 9:49:50 AM

Workforce

Former confused.com boss Debra Williams named new head of Careers Wales NEATH-born entrepreneur Debra Williams has been named the new chairwoman of Careers Wales.

Dr Williams, who is a former managing director of price comparison business confused.com, has begun her three year appointment with Welsh Government organisation Careers Wales.

She said: “I am honoured and excited to be appointed as the new chair of Careers Wales.

“My passion comes from a number of sources. I am the mother of a teenager currently going through the decisionmaking process, choosing subjects to focus on that will hopefully lead to the right career choice. My work in universities, higher education and with adults across Wales has given me an insight into the challenges. I live in a part of Wales currently experiencing mass redundancies, but I also see the great opportunities Wales has for its future economy.

“My business experience gives me firsthand understanding of the skills and requirements needed by Welsh employers.”

Careers Wales aims to provide high quality, bilingual, impartial careers information, advice and guidance to people

of all ages.

Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology, Julie James said: “Dr Debra Williams’s wealth of experience of business, innovation, education and employment matters makes her an ideal candidate to take on the position of chair of Careers Wales.

“Debra will have a key role in delivering Careers Wales’ remit and ensuring the service achieves maximum impact and I look forward to working with her.”

Dr Williams is currently a council member for Swansea University, and a trustee of the Alacrity Foundation, working closely with Professor Simon Gibson, chief executive of the Wesley Clover Corporation, and Sir Terry Matthews, chairman of the Swansea Bay City Region Board.

Her previous roles include managing director of Tesco Compare and global vice president of NCR Ltd, an international ICT solutions company.

She was honoured as Welsh Woman of the Year for Innovation in 2006, recognised as one of the UK’s top 200 business women by

Her Majesty, the Queen in 2007, presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the South Wales Evening Post and Swansea Bay Business Life magazine’s Women in Business Awards in 2014 and honoured with a doctorate from Swansea University in 2015.

Promotion for construction director An award-winning construction company in South West Wales has promoted its construction director.

Terry Edwards becomes Swansea-based John Weaver [Contractors] Ltd’s managing director after a successful 12 months.

Pontypridd-born Mr Edwards has 35 years of industry experience and his previous roles include deputy managing director, operations director and regional director of a number of prominent South Wales construction businesses.

Working out of its head office in Swansea, Edwards will direct both the construction and conservation divisions of the contracting business, ensuring the company’s steady strategic growth on new build, refurbishment and conservation projects throughout Wales.

Gregg Burgess, chairman of John Weaver Contractors, said: “Terry fits the bill perfectly well. His first 12 months in the business has been a great success and he has made a positive impact on the business.”

Edwards added: “I am delighted to be promoted to managing director of one of the largest indigenous construction businesses in Wales and I am looking forward to the challenge of such a diverse range of projects.”

The company’s recent projects include the refurbishment of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea.

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DATBLYGU BUSNES AC ARLOESI BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION Mae Grŵp Prifysgol Cymru Y Drindod Dewi Sant yn sefydliad sector deuol sy’n cynnwys Coleg Sir Gâr a Choleg Ceredigion. Gan adeiladu ar ein enw da am gefnogi busnes, mae Timoedd Datblygu Busnes ac Arloesedd y Grŵp yn darparu mynediad i rychwant o wasanaethau i’r sector busnes yn cynnwys: • Dewis o brosiectau ar y cyd â diwydiant • Mynediad i Ganolfannau Arbenigedd • Ymgynghoriaeth a chefnogaeth er mwyn da trys problemau penodol • Partneriaethau Trosglwyddo Gwybodaeth (KTPs) • Cefnogaeth ymarferol gan raddedigion a my fyrwyr • Cefnogaeth i ddenu arian grant • Hyfforddiant a Datblygiad • Cyfleoedd i ymwneud a’n datblygiad newydd i adeiladu Ardal Arloesi’r Glannau yn SA1 Aber tawe a Chanolfan S4C Yr Egin yng Nghaerfyrddin.

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) Group is a dual sector organisation comprising the University, Coleg Sir Gâr and Coleg Ceredigion. Building on our long established reputation for supporting businesses, the UWTSD Group’s Business Development and Innovation Teams aim to provide access to a wide range of services to the business sector including: • A range of collaborative projects with industry • Access to our Centres of Expertise • Consultancy and support to help solve specific problems • Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) • Practical support from graduates and students • Support in attracting grant funding • Training and Development • Opportunities to engage with our new Water front Innovation Quarter in SA1 Swansea and Canolfan S4C Yr Egin in Carmarthen.

Manylion pellach / Further Information: www.uwtsd.ac.uk/for-business 0300 323 0013 Untitled-1 1

3/29/2016 9:50:10 AM

Workforce

Industry Insight

Harnessing the potential of the

“Internet Coast” Professor Medwin Hughes, DL Vice-Chancellor University of Wales Trinity Saint David & University of Wales

The Swansea Bay City Region is a very special place to be at this time and there has never been a better opportunity to work together to attract further investment and prosperity to the region.

Already, there are multi-million pound developments ongoing in the region which are attracting international companies, creating jobs and new opportunities. The Swansea Bay City Region has brought four local authorities, two universities and the private sector to work together on finding solutions to our challenges, exploiting opportunities and ensuring that this region’s needs are placed high on the political agenda.

It is particularly pleasing to note that in his recent budget statement Chancellor George Osborne gave the green light for ministerial talks to commence on the region’s innovative “Internet Coast” City Deal proposal.

The success of any City Deal proposal will, however, depend upon recognising each partner’s strengths and expertise. No City Region can

fully achieve its potential without engaging in a proactive manner with all key stakeholders.

The City Deal has a bold vision that by 2030 South West Wales will be a confident, ambitious and connected region, recognised internationally for its emerging knowledge and innovation economy. It is a proposition that harnesses the transformational power of digital connectivity to accelerate growth, not only for the region, but also across Wales and the UK. It focusses on three key areas – energy, health and economic prosperity - which are focused on the needs of people as well as the commercial and geographic assets of the region.

The City Region Chair, Sir Terry Matthews, talks about “moving the needle”. If successful, this proposition will shift the needle to new heights.

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3/29/2016 9:50:31 AM

Expert opinion With Lisa Baker, head of marketing at Codel Software and editor, HR News

Brexit debate needs detail...

Businesses, workers and managers throughout south west Wales could be massively affected by the outcome of June’s Brexit referendum, yet investment in the region remains unprotected.

We recently saw big job cuts at Tata Steel and Virgin, and Pembrokeshire has only just recovered from the 2014 closure of the Murco refinery. However, we’ve seen major successes too, with businesses like Castell Howell Foods in Carmarthenshire winning national awards and Admiral Insurance creating new jobs.

The Welsh are a resilient bunch, fighting back from the loss of our mining heritage, Welsh farmers battling foot and mouth and now our industries are fighting falling steel and oil prices.

Despite the blows our region continues to recover.

However, the economic investment, subsidies and support which have helped the recovery have largely come from EU funding. Welsh farmers also rely heavily on EU exports, raising concerns that a

Brexit could put pressure on businesses and create further job losses for south west Wales.

Alan Davies, of the Farmers’ Union of Wales, reminded voters of the impact of 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, which meant Welsh farmers were unable to trade with other EU members.

“That year the incomes of our hill farmers, who make up the majority of our industry, fell to an average of £1,700,” he said.

It’s a scary time too for apprentices and graduates, with much of the training currently available being funded by EU investments.

Would the skilled EU migrant workers employed in the region have to leave in the event of a Brexit? If so, does it create a skills shortage for Welsh businesses, or more jobs for skilled welsh workers?

Have politicians even assessed our skills requirements?

What about employment laws such as the EU Working Time Directive – are any legal changes planned?

BUSINESSES, WORKERS AND MANAGERS THROUGHOUT SOUTH WEST WALES COULD BE MASSIVELY AFFECTED BY THE OUTCOME OF JUNE’S BREXIT REFERENDUM, YET INVESTMENT IN THE REGION REMAINS UNPROTECTED. Despite the huge potential impact, nobody on either side of the Brexit debate has given any detailed plans about Wales’ future. All we’ve had is a vague threat from David Cameron that investment in Wales ‘won’t be guaranteed’ if the vote doesn’t go his way. Win or lose, Wales’ jobs, investments and exports need protection.

Employers and employees are being asked to answer a very big question in June. It’s important that before voting, we get clear, specific answers to issues affecting south Wales’ future. At least then, our decision can be an informed one.

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Swansea Bay City Region’s Marketing Suite is now open. It will act as the focal point for boosting the economy of the region.

The Technology:

The Location:

•

HD video wall consisting of nine 55” video wall displays with 4K system resolution and superb 5.1 surround sound audio

•

Minutes from both the M4 and Swansea City Centre, the Digital Marketing Suite is located within the iconic Great Hall at Swansea University’s new Bay Campus.

•

State of the art video conferencing and multi-source collaboration equipment

•

Access to the Great Hall Bar and Terrace with panoramic views over Swansea Bay.

•

User friendly control of system via the latest iPad Pro

•

Onsite parking & extensive range of catering

•

Digital library of images and videos, plus interactive 3D mapping of Swansea Bay City Region

Public and private sector organisations from across the Swansea Bay City Region and beyond are invited to use this facility and to explore its creative and technical capabilities

Next Steps: For more information and to arrange a viewing, please contact:

Gemma Nesbitt 01792 606222 | 07966 651898

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Rachael Cunningham

Workforce

Mum Rachael loves DVLA role thanks to job variety Rachael Cunningham has juggled her home and work life as finance director at the DVLA, which celebrated International Women’s Day...

DVLA staff have worked to change perceptions to help aid gender equality in south west Wales.

DVLA’s staff networking group Chrysalis hosted an event on International Women’s Day, launching a new network.

The Supporters of Chrysalis network consists of 19 senior role models in the agency and they will support staff through mentoring, plus offer advice and guidance to help nurture talent.

The aim is to empower women to reach their potential and help guide the next generation of senior managers on their career development.

Last month’s session was open to DVLA staff and neighbouring government agencies.

Rachael Cunningham is DVLA’s finance director.

She lives in Mumbles with her husband, two children and their pet dog.

Cunningham, who studied for her degree in London, said: “I read chemistry at Imperial College in London and really had

no idea what I wanted to do.

“I fell into accountancy through a desire to earn money, rather than try to be a barrister and face two more years of unpaid studying, as it was a training contract that would pay me to do it. Having said that, I have no regrets and went on to spend six years in PWC in London and then working in an FTSE 100 interior design company in London following that as FD. It was very Ab Fab — lots of candles and creatives — I loved it.

“I then moved back to Wales after getting married and took any job I could find really to do that. Big mistake, and I left that company after 18 months because it really wasn’t right for me.

“I applied for a job at DVLA, but I was reticent at first because I was worried about joining the public sector as I thought it may be boring and stagnate my career — how wrong I was. I have never looked back and in comparison to my private sector peers (people I trained with) I have had far more variety and responsibility in

my roles at DVLA.” DVLA is working with charity Chwarae Teg to identify and reduce the barriers to women applying for and succeeding in internal and externally advertised vacancies, to increase representation in senior managers posts.

Cunningham, who is also joining Chwarae Teg as a trustee, said: “I’m looking forward to seeing more and more women in the top roles at DVLA. “I was also delighted to hear that Chwarae Teg will be working with us and I’m really pleased to be taking on a trustee role with Chwarae Teg, which will help strengthen our links with them even further.”

The major south west Wales employer has traditionally had a larger female workforce than men, around a 62 to 38 per cent female/male split.

“But, some senior roles still tend to be dominated by men — such as high pay level Grade 6, which has around a 24:76 per cent female/male split,” said Cunningham. swanseabaybusiness.com 93

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Rachael Cunningham

What do you think could be done to help more women progress in senior positions? What changes would you like to see for women in work in general, not just DVLA?

How does DVLA compare with other places you have worked and does the public sector differ from the private sector when it comes to helping women progress? Are there more opportunities in one than the other?

I love it for many reasons.

The first thing I noticed about the public sector versus private sector was the culture and how everyone’s, no matter how junior, thoughts and opinions were valued.

I noticed this on my first day when I went to a meeting where everyone at all grades had an opportunity to put their two penneth in – that would never have happened in previous jobs. I think the public sector provides huge opportunities for people – especially at DVLA where you can work for years and never get bored – always facing new challenges and plenty of different roles that you can move into.

I think that opportunities that DVLA, and generally the public sector provides, are not just exclusive to women – it is great for both men and women and presents great opportunities.

It’s a large-scale organisation with links to wider opportunities in other parts of central government - all based in Swansea!

I think it’s about seeing the potential that women can offer and generally embracing all diversity. Women will often see something from a different perspective to men so this is really important to have this in senior decision making. I have been given great flexibility in the way I work and when I work, which has helped me juggle a very challenging home life with a very senior role.

I think if we can do this more often where we see women with potential it would be a great thing. I also think career planning is very important – and again working with women who are keen to succeed to help them to do it – encouraging them to go for roles that will help them on this path. Actually thinking about the goal and what experience will help achieve that goal and then working out ways of doing that.

What motivates you?

Doing a great job. Delivering the highest quality product I can with my team.

I think this stems from my chartered training where quality was drummed into us.

What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in your career?

My husband was diagnosed with a long term terminal illness four years ago - motor neurone disease. So juggling this with work has been my biggest challenge. I have a very understanding boss and peer group, the other DVLA directors, who have been amazingly

Workforce

IT’S A LARGE-SCALE ORGANISATION WITH LINKS TO WIDER OPPORTUNITIES IN OTHER PARTS OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT - ALL BASED IN SWANSEA! supportive and an even more amazing team underneath me. This has allowed me to carry on in this role. I even applied to be a director when this was happening but I set my stall out very clearly as to my home situation from the beginning and, although I need huge leeway at times, it means that I equally want to give more than 110 per cent back. I am usually always contactable and hopefully have set up the processes and structures so that if I am not available things carry on.

What advice would you give to women starting out in their career?

I think that having an eye on your ultimate career aspiration, would be my advice and believing that someday you will get there can really help. Confidence is huge, as is self belief. Also, you do have to learn to live with that constant guilt. If you don’t feel guilty about home/family you’ll be feeling guilty about work – it’s give and take and at certain times one side gives more while the other takes.

You just need to keep an eye on it so that overall it balances out and one side isn’t always losing out. If it is then something needs to change to redress that balance. swanseabaybusiness.com 95

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3/29/2016 9:52:13 AM

Property and construction Can Swansea learn a trick or two from Newport?

Hamish Munro, who led the startling re-incarnation of Newport, talks to Business Life about Swansea’s regeneration plans....

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Property & Construction

Hamish Munro

Can Swansea learn a trick or two from Newport?

Hamish Munro, who led the startling re-incarnation of Newport, talks to Business Life about Swansea’s regeneration plans...

Newport and Swansea have a lot in common; in their industrial heydays both were former coal exporting ports. Both were targeted by the Luftwaffe – with Swansea suffering devastating structural damage to many of its civic and historic buildings. And both then suffered at the hands of 1960s cash-strapped concreteloving city centre planners.

To put it plainly, these two cities have spent many years being rather grey and downbeat; (Swansea has its very own Dylan Thomas to thank for its famous ‘ugly, lovely’ moniker).

And both Newport and Swansea have been in the shadow of the illustrious capital Cardiff, which has reinvented itself many times over in the wake of devolution.

Now a reinvented Newport can boast

a revitalised shopper’s paradise in the form of Friar’s Walk, a game-changing £39m revitalised dock quarter, and it blew a raspberry at capital Cardiff when it nabbed the Ryder Cup in 2010 and the NATO summit in 2014.

As Swansea gets ready for a £500m city centre facelift, regeneration expert Hamish Munro, who led the widelyacclaimed regeneration of Newport, says that the regeneration of any city is about a story.

“What story does Swansea have to tell its own people and people outside the area?” asks Munro.

“After all, there will be discomfort while it’s all being built, a lot of diggers and cranes and closed roads. It’s about helping people to understand that they will be getting something that’s taking

the city forwards,” he says.

Munro, who played a key role in the creation and implementation of a series of multi-million pound regeneration strategies across Wales, says that Swansea could learn a lot from the Newport regeneration model.

“In Newport, there was a lot of negativity about the town centre from local people.

You have to bear in mind that the regeneration project started in 2003 and we worked towards a 2020 masterplan,” says Munro.

“It was difficult to convince people in Newport that there were positive things going on – especially as the worst recession in living memory cut across the regeneration plans early on.

“You have to understand what the final vision is and communicate it well. You

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need a broad range of people who support it and understand it and who will be vocal about it,” he explains.

And although he is not a fan of the out-of-town location of the £450m Bay Campus, Munro believes that the global reputation of Swansea University is a huge boon.

“Regeneration is about convincing local business and people that their area is not just about the traditional industries – it’s about diversification, and that does take time.

“Swansea University seems to be emerging with ideas and collaborative projects,” says Munro. “For example, I think they have talked about collaborating on an aquatic research centre to run alongside a proposed aquarium.”

IT WAS DIFFICULT TO CONVINCE PEOPLE IN NEWPORT THAT THERE WERE POSITIVE THINGS GOING ON – ESPECIALLY AS THE WORST RECESSION IN LIVING MEMORY CUT ACROSS THE REGENERATION PLANS EARLY ON

Swansea is taking something of a scatter-gun approach to the regeneration of the city – spreading out its key investments across city centre and SA1 and Fabian Way. “It’s one way of doing it,” says Munro, “but it’s important to keep the focus on the city centre.”

Munro points out that Swansea City Council has done really well to generate some really good quality bids for its civic centre waterfront site. Rivington Land and Acme have been appointed to lead regeneration of the former St David’s shopping centre, the St David’s multistorey car park and the LC car park.

Trebor Developments has been appointed lead on the civic centre site.

“Generally speaking, it’s important for county councils to think more deeply about their covenant strength and ability to borrow at a low interest rate,” he adds.

There are three key questions that Munro believes are fundamental for any successful regeneration programme: Is it affordable? Can it be delivered? And is it sustainable?

Take the planned 3,500-seat arena for instance. It’s one of the key elements in the winning development plan, but Munro points out that arenas are historically difficult to run without subsidy.

“Cardiff has struggled to operate a 5,000-seat arena, yet is currently seeking to increase capacity in order to attract larger scale events. You have to ask what a 3,500-seat arena will do for Swansea – what will it actually contribute in the whole scheme of things?”

Plans for a new ‘skypath’ walkway linking the city centre to a new dynamic waterfront are integral to the council’s vision for the city. “Connectivity is key,” explains Munro.

But it’s not just about making the connection, it’s about making it as convenient, safe and attractive as possible. “It’s about making sure that what you are providing is worth the trip,” says Munro.

at a glance St David’s Shopping Centre Revamp...

• A raised covered platform linking both sides of Oystermouth road. Just in case it rains!

• A 3,500-seat arena, perched above a multi-storey carpark • A combined residential/hotel building rivalling Meridian Tower in the skyscraper stakes • Oodles of new shops housed in a retail street and circuit • Foodie paradise with a new restaurant and café quarter • State-of-the-art cinema • New public square (hopefully without a strange gilded leaf) • Improved links between the city centre and waterfront.

Munro also makes the point that it’s not just about the regeneration scheme per se – everybody has their part to play.

“Do people use the city centre or do they favour out-of-town centres,” he asks.

The final advice that Munro has for Swansea is this: “Don’t compromise too much. Seek consensus rather than compromise.”

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Property & Construction

Industry Insight

The perils of failing to serve a break notice correctly

With Sarah Davies Director & Head of Property Litigation

Legal notices are required for many matters when it comes to commercial property. For instance, a notice can create new rights or interests, extend existing rights or interests, alter the terms of an existing agreement, or indeed bring an interest in land to an end. Here Sarah Davies, Director and Head of Property Litigation at JCP Solicitors, highlights the importance of complying with break notices: “A lease will often include a clause known as a break notice which permits the landlord or the tenant to terminate the lease early – this right to break the lease may arise on a specified date or on a rolling basis.

As a landlord or tenant, if you wish to exercise a break notice then the lease terms and conditions need to be considered carefully, as it is often the case that pre-conditions need to be met. Those pre-conditions may include a payment of rent, providing vacant possession, or complying with the tenant’s obligations contained in the terms of your lease. These may include, for instance, meeting your obligations to carry out any repairs to the property in question.

As well as ensuring that you meet any pre-conditions it is essential that the notice itself is in the correct form and that it is served correctly.

The notice must be sent by and received by the correct party at the correct address and by the correct method of service.

The consequences of not serving a break notice or of serving the

notice incorrectly can be significant.

The Courts are strict in their interpretation of compliance with break notice provisions, as is borne out in a flurry of case law in this area recently.

Any such issues can mean that as a tenant you are left on the hook for the rest of the lease term, or as a landlord you miss out on a more profitable letting or development.

A recent Supreme Court Case involving Marks & Spencer is a reminder as to the length tenants need to go to ensure compliance with the terms of a break clause. In this case, Marks & Spencer chose to exercise a break notice, which was conditional upon there being no arrears of rent on the break date and Marks & Spencer paying a penalty which was equivalent to a year’s rent, on or prior to the break date.

The break date was part way through a quarter.

Marks & Spencer acted correctly in paying rent not simply up to the break date but for the whole quarter. If they had not done this the break notice would have been invalid. On leaving the premises

Marks & Spencer sought to recover what they saw as an overpayment for that part of the quarter after the break date. The Supreme Court has held that Marks & Spencer was not entitled to a refund of any of the paid rent, the car parking fee, or insurance charges that related to the period after this date. While Marks & Spencer failed in the Supreme Court Case they were successful in breaking the lease.

Whilst Marks & Spencer succeeded in breaking the lease it is all too often the case that tenants who want to break a lease look to serve the notice without taking legal advice and they then fail to comply with what can be complicated provisions.”

Sarah Davies is one of the most effective specialists in the field of Property LItigation. Her expertise in property advice and property dispute resolution has secured her a wide portfolio of Commercial and Residential Property Clients across South & West Wales.

Sarah holds regular legal update seminars for commercial landlords and tenants. If you are interested in attending please contact events@jcpsolicitors.co.uk to be added to the mailing list.

sarah.davies@jcpsolicitors.co.uk 01792 529617

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Property & Construction

Regenerating Swansea

Swansea swaps scruffy for chi chi The regeneration of Swansea High Street and city centre aims to breathe life into the Swansea Bay region. Business Life looks at the best deals so far in 2016 and what’s in the pipeline for later this year...

The problem with regenerating Swansea, is that there is simply too much to do.

Where do you start? And if you pump up the retail in one spot, are you in fact robbing another? Is the core of the city too big for purpose? So what would it be good for? And how do we make sure it gets what it needs to be so that it doesn’t morph into a ghetto when the development of the St David’s and the waterfront civic centre sites kicks off?

At the moment, the centre of Swansea is failing to meet potential. Limited residents, poor quality office stock delivering low rents, low footfall, and lots of vacant retail space. Not to mention a toe-curling traffic system guaranteed to deter even the most ardent of city centre fans. Nope.

Not even the cockles and mussels in Swansea market can make up for that at the moment.

Reviving a tired city needs a master plan.

An all-powerful architect. A plan that keeps everyone informed and everyone on board. Sadly, Swansea doesn’t have one…

OK, that’s not exactly true. Buried next to What’s On, and Things To Do on the swanseacitycentre.com website, (heard of it? No, us neither), is an 80-page master plan.

Great news. Except that it’s not, because most of the major property developers in the city aren’t even aware of its existence.

There’s Sir Terry Matthews, chair of the much-lauded (and rightly so) Swansea Bay City Region – exerting his influence via the SBCR board to try and keep the area on the most economically profitable course.

Swansea Bay Futures, a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2006, aims to bring the strands together, but there’s not a single regeneration expert on the board.

(And by expert, we mean someone who has worked in regeneration, not just sat on committees at which decisions on regeneration were taken.)

Every couple of weeks a press release or announcement plumps onto the scene, trumpeting some grandiose plan or other.

But, the problem is that no-one is joining

these plans together.

“We missed out on the opportunity for over 5,000 more students to be living and working in the city,” said commercial property expert, David Blyth, co-director of BP2 Property.

“Instead they’re down in Fabian Way, disconnected from Swansea city centre,” he said, although he is keen to point out the overall benefit the university represents for the area.

“The University represents the single largest investor and biggest growing organisation in our region – they are at the cutting-edge of research and innovation and the City should be working with the University to encourage the creation of skilled employment opportunities and spin-out business,” added Blyth.

Last year, Swansea was going to be “the city of innovation”, complete with downloadable branding packs and all.

This year, Swansea is down for a £500m City Deal that is going to create an ‘Internet Coast’. Sounds good. Maybe it will even happen.

And to be fair, there are some great plans afoot. What’s not to like about a £500m facelift – complete with a skypath walkway linking a redeveloped St David’s retail area with the civic centre retail area,

which will be practically bursting with attractions… including (apparently…) an aquarium and an arena?

Creating a fabulous retail destination in Swansea certainly sounds good.

It will undoubtedly impact the retail offering in the city centre – paving the way for either a dismal descent of the core into oblivion… or, as Blyth suggests, a chance to capitalise on increased demand for student accommodation.

“We missed out on the opportunity to develop the university campus in the city, let’s not miss out on the opportunity to maximise the residential offering of the city to meet demand for purpose-built student accommodation. That will bring people back in to the core and hopefully increase footfall and vibrancy,” he said.

“It’s within the gift of the local authority to lead the regeneration of the city centre as they own the freehold to the vast majority of the buildings. Developers and occupiers will do business in the City, but there needs to be an incentive for them to do so,” he added.

City-wide, there are plenty of positive developments; Coastal Housing and Swansea BID are beavering away on the north of the High Street, and have just completed an 11,000 sq ft warehouse renovation – for property let.

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Also part of their Icon 21 scheme to change the landscape of Swansea High Street, is a refurbished 20,000 sq ft serviced office space that will be let to innovative start-ups who would not otherwise be able to afford the rent.

Swansea Bay Futures recently organised a tour of all this, and it’s certainly high time the High Street had a bit of TLC poured into it. It’s already started to sprout a few boho watering holes, and, as of 2014, is home to The South Wales Evening Post – publishers of this magazine.

Castle Gardens is having a regeneration ‘moment’ too. Expect to see high-spec offices and ground floor office space in property around here, which will pave the way for further development and hopefully some better landscaping Meanwhile, the Kingsway. What can you say?

It’s like an awful scene from post-communist Eastern Europe, minus the trams.

But with the developments across the city, even the Kingsway will be getting a new lease of life.

The Welsh Government is providing £2.45m grant to help create a business district on Swansea’s Kingsway.

In March 2016, national commercial property consultancy, Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has released data for Q4 of 2015, covering information on rents, take-up and supply, and highlights some interesting trends in Cardiff and Swansea’s business districts.

The data forms part of LSH’s Office Pulse which provides investors, occupiers and developers with detailed insight across a number of UK office markets.

Cardiff enjoyed a boom in the last quarter of the year, marking its strongest performance since 2011. Predictably, the upturn in Swansea has not proved as dramatic although Tom Rees, of LSH’s Swansea-based Agency team said there was reason to feel confident.

“Although the final quarter’s take-up of 112,000 sq ft fell short of the city’s total of last year at 118,000sq ft, it is important to recognise that the year ended five per cent higher than the 10-year average,” he said.

Rees added: “We are confident about the prospects for the year ahead; prominent city centre buildings such as Alexandra House have seen a surge of occupancy, now standing at 80 per cent.

“Landlords are reflecting that confidence too with speculative refurbishments underway, including West Glamorgan House and Epona House.”

So, overall, piecemeal though it may be, it looks as if Swansea’s regeneration will make it more of a hotspot than a scruff spot in years to come. Just have patience…and hope.

IT’S WITHIN THE GIFT OF THE LOCAL AUTHORITY TO LEAD THE REGENERATION OF THE CITY CENTRE AS THEY OWN THE FREEHOLD TO THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE BUILDINGS 105

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Commercial Properties

www.johnfrancis.co.uk Aberaeron

Newcastle Emlyn

CARMARTHEN

New Quay

Offers in the region of £399,950

Offers in the region of £850,000

Offers in the region of £165,000

Offers in the region of £525,000

Fully Let Investment Premises Retail Unit, 2 Flats & Garage Producing In Excess of £23,000 pa EER - Various

Producing In Excess Of £64,000 pa 2 Commercial Units 11 Self-Contained Flats Good Standard Of Maintenance Throughout

Prominent Listed Office Building Net Floor Space Approx 2414 sq ft (224.3 sq m) Parking Space To Rear Easy Pedestrian Access Into Town Centre

New Quay Resort Centre Retail Unit With Living Accommodation Outbuildings, Garage & Parking.

EPAR: 50 (B)

Carmarthen

Cardigan

Carmarthen

Carmarthen

£140,000

Offers over £130,000

£12,500 Per annum

Prominent location in busy market town.

Nearby retailers include Boots, Greggs and Dorothy Perkins.

Ground floor approx. 1,028 sq ft (95.50 sq m) Potential to convert upper floors to flats, office etc (STP)

Town Centre Location Well Known Restaurant/Coffee Shop Busy Market Town With Traders Including Boots, Smiths, Marks & Spencer & Debenhams Historically Over 70 Covers EER - D(77)

Central Location In Busy Market Town Recently Refurbished Other Town Centre Occupiers Include Marks & Spencer, Body Shop, Next & W H Smith EER - D(77)

Reynalton

Johnston

Carmarthen

Cardigan

Offers in the region of £150,000

Offers in the region of £300,000

Offers in the region of £150,000

£12,500 Per annum

Planning Consent For Seven Houses Approximately 0.8 Acres Available For Immediate Development Edge of Village Location

Well Established Public House/Restaurant Owner/Manager's Accommodation Prominent Road Frontage Large Car Park To The Front EER - C(57)

Town Centre Location 1,375 sq ft Of Office Space Predominantly Professional Firms in Surrounding Buildings Available Immediately on New lease EER - D(94)

Refurbished Retail Unit Prominent Town Centre Location Nearby Occupiers Include W H Smith, Dorothy Perkins & Boots

LLANGRANNOG

Haverfordwest

Carmarthen

Newcastle Emlyn

Offers in the region of £425,000

£10,000 Per annum

£12,500 Per annum

£15,000 Per annum

Town Centre Restaurant Premises Ground Floor 624 sq ft (57.97 sq m) Currently Total Of Approx 50 Covers Ideal For Other Uses (Subject To Planning) EER - D(83)

Self Contained Office Building on Three Floors Located in Carmarthen Town Centre Listed Building with Imposing Facade High Quality Accommodation Suiting Professional Firm EER - D(95)

Central Location Busy Market Town Suit Most Retail Uses Available On Lease

General Store and Off Licence Overlooking The Beach Four Bedroom Flat Lifestyle Opportunity EER - F-22 EER-F-22

www.johnfrancis.co.uk

©LW

£24,000 Per annum Soon To Be Refurbished Prominent Frontage To Slip Road Off A40 Trunk Road Approx 4,666 sq ft (433.69 sq m) Ideal Trade Counter Location

Commercial Dept 01834 861810

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17-21 Cowell Street, Llanelli, Swansea, SA15 1UU

Bendigo Units 9-10 East Gate, Stepney Place, Llanelli, SA15 3YF

Public House To Let. G/F NIA Approx. 349 sq. m (3757 sq. Ft.) Decorated To A High Standard.

Prominent Location Large Seating Area, Bar, Kitchen Cellar, And Toilet Facilities, Office To Basement. Prominent Location EPC C73

Prominent A3 Unit To Let Approx.

554 sq. m (5963 sq. ft.) Over Two Floors. Bar, Restaurant Area, Kitchen, Cellar, W.C Facilities.

Located Within Leisure Development.

Prime Retail Area. Formerly Operating As A Bar And Restaurant.

EPC B38

Price On Application

Price On Application

Eddie Rockets Cafe, 1 York Street, Swansea, SA1 3LZ

Country Stores, 3a Church Street, Gowerton, Swansea, SA4 3EA

An Excellent Opportunity To Acquire A Lease & Business/ Franchise For Sale. A3 Consent (65 Covers) Close to Prime Leisure Quarter.

Large Sales Area, Kitchen, Staff & Customer W.C Facilities, Storage & Office.

EPC D98

Excellent Opportunity To Acquire Established Business (Approx. 30 Years) And Long Leasehold Property (68 Years Remaining). Benefits By Income From 1st Floor And Solar Panels. We are Inviting Offers In The Region Of £100,000 For The Business Plus Separate Negotiation For Stock.

EPC B46

Offers In The Region Of £115,000

Offers In The Region Of £210,000

©LW

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Swansea 01792 641481 swansea@pablack.co.uk 49 Mansel Street, Swansea www.pablack.co.uk

Prestige homes from Peter Alan Ltd

Royal Oak Road, Sketty, Swansea

The Beeches Close, Sketty * Four double bedrooms * Nestled in private grounds * Driveway for several vehicles * Superb gardens

EPC = D

£350,000

£550,000

Gower Road, Sketty, Swansea EPC = D

£395,000

Ffynone Drive, Swansea * Spacious detached family home * Superb views from the front aspect * 5 bedrooms & 3 reception rooms * Front, side and rear gardens * Viewing essential to appreciate size

EPC = D

£320,000

©LW

* Spacious detached family home * Conveniently positioned for Sketty Sq and Singleton Hospital * Six bedrooms * Superb sea views from upper levels * Surrounded with mature trees providing privacy

EPC = D

* Spacious detached home + annex * Five bedrooms * Superb gardens backing onto woodlands * Integral garage and driveway * No onward chain

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Expert opinion with Lee Mogridge, head of national commercial property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton Wales

Closing the gap What are factors that make a city thrive?

Lambert Smith Hampton has produced The Vitality Index which is research into the 20 datasets that relate to the different aspects of a town or city’s economy to identify what sets them apart.

By analysing the UK’s largest towns and cities outside London through a mix of demographics, educational attainment, business activity levels, economic output, affluence, sustainability and commercial property data, it is possible to compile a rounded view of the health of a location.

The top 10 have been identified as: Cambridge, Brighton, Oxford, Reading, Guildford, Bristol, St Albans, Manchester, Edinburgh and Milton Keynes.

While it is disappointing that no Welsh town or city featured, it is helpful to drill down and see how wide the gap is in certain key indicators.

A typical top 10 location has 1.1 per cent of residents claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance compared to two per cent in Swansea. In 2015, average earnings were £568 per week with Swansea employees averaging £485.

Axis 17, Axis Court, Mallard Way Swansea, SA7 0AJ Tel: 01792 702 800 3 Callaghan Square, Cardiff CF10 5BT Tel: 029 20523030 www.lsh.co.uk

Perhaps the widest gap however, is Gross Value Added (GVA) per head, which in a top 10 location stood at £36,000 compared to just over £18,000 in Swansea.

Supermarket chain opens new branch in Burry Port Supermarket chain CK’s Foodstores has opened a new store in Burry Port.

CK’s Foodstores is the largest independent food retailer in South West Wales, and has launched another store, taking its total to 23, on Gwscwm Road.

The store held a recruitment day in the town earlier this year at Burry Port Memorial Hall.

Vacancies included store manager, supervisors, general assistants, butchery assistants and bakery assistants.

CK’s Foodstores employs more than 450 staff across South West Wales.

So what will need to change for that gap to close?

High street chain to take over popular cafe

Looking at what has helped other regions, it is clear that they have benefited from the focus on town and city centre regeneration, commercially and residentially along with efforts to improve infrastructure and transport links.

Partnership matters too. SA1 is a good example of what is possible, regenerating an area which is now established as a commercial, residential and leisure destination.

Looking ahead, it has helped link the waterfront to the city and onwards to the Gower coast, which continues to grow as a draw for tourists and visitors.

Undoubtedly, there are challenges for our region but there are opportunities too.

THE company which owns Aberafan Shopping Centre in Port Talbot has confirmed it has entered into an agreement with a high street chain to take over the space of a popular coffee shop.

Barista’s has been open for the past 10 years, but last month bosses were told their lease would not be renewed by the centre’s Londonbased owners Edinburgh House.

A spokesman for Edinburgh House said the company had approached Barista’s coffee shop in January about the lease renewal for the café and were sorry the terms of the proposal were not taken up.

The spokesman added: “During that time, we entered into an agreement with a high street chain for the space meaning we could no longer extend the original lease for Barista’s.

“We have now reached an agreement with Barista’s to relocate to another unit in the centre and are in the process of preparing the space, ensuring the unit meets the legal health and safety regulations and arranging the formal agreement with the coffee shop proprietors.”

Construction firm wins top industry award A Swansea-based construction specialist has won a top industry award.

The construction arm of The Premier Group has been announced as an award winner at the latest CBRE & Shell UK supplier of the year awards.

The innovation award was presented to the company for its Premas1s software platform. The software was recognised for its technological advancements, enabling improved management, efficiency and best value.

The Premier Group initially rolled out the bespoke system to all staff involved in a UKwide project it is working on for Esso.

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odern semi detached home with e good sized bedrooms. En suite to ter bedroom, family bathroom, kroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, n plan lounge, gardens with driveway king. EPC Rating: D(67).

A modern semi detached home with three good sized bedrooms. En suite to master bedroom, family bathroom, cloakroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, open plan lounge, gardens with driveway parking. EPC Rating: D(67).

A modern semi detached home with three good sized bedrooms. En suite to master bedroom, family bathroom, cloakroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, open plan lounge, gardens with driveway parking. EPC Rating: D(67).

ig-Cefn-Parc, Ffordd Ellen 9,950

THE LARGEST INDEPENDENT FIRM OF ESTATE AGENTS & AUCTIONEERS IN SOUTH AND WEST WALES

odern semi detached home with e good sized bedrooms. En suite to ter bedroom, family bathroom, kroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, n plan lounge, gardens with driveway king. EPC Rating: D(67).

dach, Western Road 19.000

odern semi detached home with e good sized bedrooms. En suite to ter bedroom, family bathroom, kroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, n plan lounge, gardens with driveway king. EPC Rating: D(67).

rriston, Furze Drive 29,9500

Morriston 01792 795 727

QUALIFIED AUCTIONEERS FOR OVER 40 YEARS WITH A WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE TO SELL YOUR PROPERTY Ynystawe, Clydach Road £134.000

Morriston, Godre’r Graig £135,000

NEW!

odern semi detached home with e good sized bedrooms. En suite to ter bedroom, family bathroom, kroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, n plan lounge, gardens with driveway king. EPC Rating: D(67).

dach, Tygwn Road 59.000

Now taking instructions for our next auction on; A modern semi detached home with three good sized bedrooms. En suite to master bedroom, family bathroom, cloakroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, open plan lounge, gardens with driveway parking. EPC Rating: D(67).

A modern semi detached home with three good sized bedrooms. En suite to master bedroom, family bathroom, cloakroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, open plan lounge, gardens with driveway parking. EPC Rating: D(67).

Morriston, Clydach Road £179.500

Birchgrove, Birchgrove Road £185.950

NEW PRICE!

odern semi detached home with e good sized bedrooms. En suite to ter bedroom, family bathroom, kroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, n plan lounge, gardens with driveway king. EPC Rating: D(67).

A modern semi detached home with three good sized bedrooms. En suite to master bedroom, family bathroom, cloakroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, open plan lounge, gardens with driveway parking. EPC Rating: D(67).

A modern semi detached home with three good sized bedrooms. En suite to master bedroom, family bathroom, cloakroom, fitted kitchen, dining room, open plan lounge, gardens with driveway parking. EPC Rating: D(67).

WEDNESDAY 15TH JUNE Reduced entry fees for the first 20 properties entered for this sale.

CONTACT YOUR NEAREST CLEE’S OFFICE Swansea 19 Walter Road, Swansea, SA1 5NQ

Tel 01792 475332

Morriston 111 Clase Road, Morriston, Swansea.

SA6 8DY

Tel 01792 795727

Pontardawe The Old Factory, 1a Tawe Terrace, Pontardawe.

SA8 4HA

Tel 01792 865042

Ystradgynlais 22, Heol Egwlys, Ystradgynlais, Powys SA9 1EY

Tel 01639 844426

Ammanford 8, High Street, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire SA18 2LY

Tel 01269 591884

Neath 82, Windsor Road, Neath SA11 1NR

Tel 01639 646926

Port Talbot 40 Station Road, Port Talbot SA13 1JS

Tel 01639 881556

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TechHub

Property & Construction

TechHub director Matt Warren, CEO DVLA Oliver Morley, TechHub directors Paul Harwood and Tim Morgan.

New home for TechHub Fledgling tech start-ups should prepare to fly; with specialist space sponsored by the DVLA, and the launch of Wales’ first tech accelerator programme.

The wraps are off TechHub’s purpose-built new building on Swansea High Street, which has been designed to provide fertile working space for tech-focused start-ups, and boasts the fastest internet connection of any UK TechHub – BT Ultrafast broadband with speeds of up to 3.9Gbps.

Edwina Hart, minister for Economy, Science and Transport, officially opened the specialist office space earlier this month, along with Oliver Morley, CEO of the DVLA, which has sponsored a dedicated event floor in the building.

The 15,000 sq ft space will have room for new members and also follow-on office space for larger start-ups to become part of the tech cluster. It includes four large meeting rooms with 50” screens and whiteboard walls and five Skype pods.

Part of Coastal Housing Group’s £25m Urban Village regeneration scheme on High Street, it is the first dedicated space in Wales to be built purely for use by the creative and tech industries.

The new building will also be home to the DVLA-sponsored Furnace, a dedicated space within the new TechHub building for the tech community to use for workshops, meet ups, conferences and hackathons.

Furnace has 150 person capacity, three projectors and superfast 300Mbps Wifi provided by BT Ultrafast broadband.

“It’s a fantastic space that will benefit the tech community not just in Swansea but throughout Wales and has been made possible thanks to the support of the DVLA, who share the same vision to create a vibrant tech cluster in Swansea,” said Paul Harwood, TechHub director.

“It is really important for us at DVLA to be a part of the local economy in South Wales and help it grow. The digital economy is vital to the region’s future development and we are extremely proud to help push that forward through our hugely successful partnership with TechHub,” said Oliver Morley, CEO of DVLA. “This is a very exciting time for Swansea as the city looks to regenerate itself and we now have a DVLA sponsored space on High Street. Furnace will be a dedicated community place right in the middle of the city where we can bring people together to create opportunities for DVLA and South Wales as a whole, sharing our own expertise and learning from others.”

Techhub Swansea first burst onto the scene back in December 2013, and since

then has fostered a growing community of start-up businesses – primarily aiming to help budding entrepreneurs build and grow their business.

Affiliated to a successful global network, the non-profit collaborative began with just six members in a 3,000 sq ft office.

TechHub now boasts over 100 members and has increased its space by 300%.

The opening of the new state-of-theart office space comes in the wake of the launch of TechHub Swansea’s ideas.fund – Wales’ first tech accelerator programme.

The scheme is match-funded by Welsh Government and offers 10 start-ups £10,000 and mentorship from experts such as JustEat’s CEO and Google Creative Lab’s design director.

The ground floor of the building will be given over to a 2,000 sq ft TechHub Cafe, which will be open to the public, featuring fresh Welsh coffee. As a tech-friendly cafe, customers will have charging points on the tables for their laptops and phones and are encouraged to work and meet in the new space, taking advantage of the 300Mbp Ultrafast broadband Wifi.

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MWCHE FARM

NR LLANSTEFFAN

OFFERS IN THE REGION OF

ÂŁ800,000

Contact Carmarthen Office Tel 01267 233111 | carmarthen@johnfrancis.co.uk Mwche Farm offers a superb opportunity to acquire a property of individual uniqueness. Modern living with 4/5 Bedroom Farmhouse with open plan living area (AOR) with some superb coastal views. Running costs are minimal due to solar panels etc. 48 Acres of top quality red sand stone land capable of good growing quantities (Further Land Available). A stock & sheep set up for easy day to day use set away from the dwelling.

VIEWING IS A MUST TO FULLY APPRECIATE. A superb location with views of Carmarthen Bay and across to Laugharne & Dylan Thomas Boat House along with the surrounding countryside and its own land.

TRESAITH

OFFERS IN THE REGION OF

ÂŁ680,000

Contact Cardigan Officen Tel 01239 612080 | cardigan@johnfrancis.co.uk Wow Factor Property! Sea Views! Stunning Design! Beach Down The Road!

A totally unique and luxurious detached modern home boasting superb architectural features and commanding excellent sea views!

The property sits in an elevated position within the sought after coastal village of Tresaith, privately accessed via electric gates with voice and camera intercom. As soon as you walk through the front door this house shouts quality! The choices of materials and fixtures are of high specification, excellent levels of natural light flows through the living spaces, its 3/4 bedrooms are equally impressive with a master suite having its own sun lounge and there is a large sun terrace also from where the best sea views can be enjoyed.

There is no doubt this stunning house sits in a league of its own and should be viewed by those seeking a high end main residence or second home. Offers will be considered by genuine ready to proceed buyers only.

www.johnfrancis.co.uk

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www.johnfrancis.co.uk 3/29/2016 10:32:43 AM

Property & Construction

£2.7m funds boost for Port Talbot will revamp Plaza Cinema Port Talbot is set to receive a funding boost worth more than £2.7m to revamp the Plaza Cinema and create new social housing apartments.

Port Talbot is to receive funding as part of an overall £12.8m boost to 12 projects across Wales thanks to the Welsh Government’s Vibrant and Viable Places programme.

The programme will see £2.7m being put towards the creation of 130 new housing units in the area, including at sites in Green Park, Port Talbot town centre, the former police station, as well as 300 private properties in Port Talbot.

A further £356,000 is also being assigned to the restoration of the art deco former Plaza Cinema.

Plans for the iconic building have been ongoing for several years, and will include space for theatre and dance performances.

The facility is also proposed to have a cafe and restaurant and space that can be

rented out to small businesses.

Neath Port Talbot councillor Saifur Rahaman, who sits on the economic and community regeneration scrutiny committee overseeing the restoration of the Plaza cinema, has welcomed the plans.

Rahaman said: “I am very pleased with the announcement that this project will get funding. We are awaiting further funding, but we are not sure when we will receive it.

“It is a very exciting time for Port Talbot.”

Steven Phillips, chief executive at Neath Port Talbot Council, said: “We have already received Welsh Government support towards the Plaza project. This allocation forms part of the overall Vibrant and Viable Places programme and it is very welcome.

“Port Talbot’s VVP Regeneration

Programme is well under way and is already providing benefits for local communities.

“We are seeking additional funding from various sources to supplement this funding allocation for the former Plaza Cinema to realise the council’s and the local community’s aspirations for this site.”

He added the 41 units also formed part of the Vibrant and Viable Places programme, which in total amounted to around 130 new housing units in and around the town centre including sites at Green Park, Port Talbot town centre, the former police station and a further 300 private properties in Port Talbot with energy efficiency measures and repair schemes.

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What is a Service Charge?

An amount payable by a Freeholder or Leaseholder in respect of services, repairs, maintenance, insurance, improvements or costs of management this is called ‘service charge’.

At CLC Chartered Surveyors we provide Residential and Commercial Block Management services to Developers, Landlords and RTM Companies across South Wales

What do CLC do?

In Brief CLC provide the following services;                

Preparation of annual estimates of expenditure Issue Service Charge Demands Management of communal areas Manage the Sinking Fund Provide Individual Client Accounts Complying with RICS Guidelines Managing and verifying invoices for payment Manage Major Works Proper control of sub-contractors from both a health & safety, and quality point of view Oversee external maintenance such as grass-cutting and gardening Lift maintenance and insurance Ensure Health & Safety and Fire Risk Assessment Compliance Buildings/property owners insurance Completion and filing of annual accounts Service charge collection and credit control Clear, accurate and timely financial reporting Customer focussed, 24 hour 7 day service

If you are a Developer, Freeholder or part of a Management Company and you would like to discuss further please contact

Malcolm Roberts MRICS - Malcolm@clcproperty.co.uk Robert Camm MRICS - Robert@clcproperty.co.uk Peter Loosmore MRICS - Peter@clcproperty.co.uk

www.clcproperty.co.uk

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3/29/2016 10:12:34 AM

Cross Hands Business Park

Property & Construction

Four tenants for new business park Cross Hands Business Park has already attracted a handful of tenants. Business Life reports...

A new business park in Carmarthenshire has attracted four tenants.

Llys Y Barcud, a two-building scheme located in Heol Parc Mawr on Cross Hands Business Park, was built last year by local private developer Enzo Sauro.

The 12,000 sq ft park achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating and offers suites in a variety of sizes over two floors that suit micro-businesses as well as SMEs. Cycle Specific, a cycling coaching and fitness testing business, has taken a 2,500 sq ft suite on the ground floor of Block A. To Dare Is To Do Ltd, a clothing manufacturer for Lovell Rugby is moving into a 650 sq ft office in the same building.

Next door in Block B, call centre operator Everest Peak Services is occupying 1,300 sq ft as will Sauro Architectural Design.

National commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton is marketing the development and negotiating the deals.

Tom Rees, of LSH’s agency team, said: “Cross Hands is an established retail, office and industrial distribution location with excellent transport links both west and eastbound along the M4 corridor.

“We’re pleased with the positive interest shown in Llys Y Barcud and confident the remaining units will attract a good mix of occupiers. Ample parking coupled with modern, well designed buildings means tenants benefit from lower than normal occupational costs.

“What is also evident is that there is strong demand within the market for quality space adding to the potential for smaller speculative developments”.

The Cross Hands Business Park can be reached by a dual carriageway from both directions of the A48.

Other business operating in the Cross Hand area including the Cross Hands Food Park include Leekes, County Cycles, Home Bargains and Tile & Bath co.

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THE 12,000 SQ FT PARK ACHIEVED A BREEAM EXCELLENT RATING AND OFFERS SUITES IN A VARIETY OF SIZES OVER TWO FLOORS THAT SUIT MICRO-BUSINESSES AS WELL AS SMEs

The must-read for the Swansea Bay City Region business community

Introducing the new format Swansea Bay Business Life magazine, a bi-monthly business publication for the Swansea Bay City Region incorporating Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.

SWANSEA BAY

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Issue 41

BUSINESS LIFE COMMITTED TO SUPPORTING THE REGION’S

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Our Clients range from Large Global Corporations, Local Government, Small Businesses and Sole Traders, Whatever Industry you operate in we have a Solution for you.

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3/29/2016 10:13:02 AM

Technology &

communication For staff management, the future looks cloudy

Codel Software, a pioneer in cutting-edge cloud-based software solutions, talks to Business Life about its specialist human resources technologies and why aspirations needn’t go east

Technology & Communication sponsored by

TechnologyCommunication.indd 1

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Commercial Director Adrian Lewis, Technical Director Richard Hocking, Partner Bevan and Buckland Harri Lloyd-Davies, Relationship Director Santander David Thomas.

Codel Software, author of Activ Absence – one of the UK’s leading cloud-based absence management solutions, hit the Fast Track 25 list in 2015… which means it was plucked out and named as one of Swansea’s 25 most ambitious and fast growing companies.

The invitation-only club, sponsored

by Santander and Bevan & Buckland, celebrates and nurtures the area’s most promising businesses with a turnover of between £1 million and £10 million.

Adrian Lewis, co-founder and director of Codel, says Fast Track membership is a much-needed weapon in the battle to convince hearts and minds that there is some serious business talent in the region.

Codel, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in June this year, names Nissan among the global brands on its client list. From its South Wales base, the specialist software developer is pushing the boundaries of internet technology in terms of how it uses the internet, the cloud and the apps it develops for smart phones and tablets.

“Businesses are starting to realise that they don’t always need to go over the bridge to London or Manchester to find quality providers,” he said.

“It’s frustrating trying to break down barriers to help people appreciate that there are local companies who have the

skills, solutions and services. Fast Track 25 is helping to break down those barriers, and dispel the myth that you have to go further afield for cutting-edge service,” said Lewis.

The two arms of Codel; a software solutions emporium and software development and support hub, moved to new premises in Waterton Business Park, Bridgend last June, reflecting its rapid growth.

A specialist in software applications specifically designed for HR market, Codel has a suite of branded HR solutions including Activ Absence.

“Our expertise is both in core Microsoft skills and development technologies, and we also build and develop applications. We have a set of skills around development technology and we also need to have skills around the different web and internet technologies,” Lewis explained.

Lewis sums it up when he says “we have some clever guys who live in a technical world.”

Thanks to its big name clients, (although it does work with plenty of SMEs too), and its emphasis on technology, Codel is a holy grail for hungry IT graduates.

“We tend to take young and up-andcoming graduates who have new ideas who are fresh out of university,” explained Lewis, who is a fan of business and

BUSINESSES ARE STARTING TO REALISE THAT THEY DON’T ALWAYS NEED TO GO OVER THE BRIDGE TO LONDON OR MANCHESTER TO FIND QUALITY PROVIDERS

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Codel Software

Technology & Communication

In association with...

SWANSEA BAY

BUSINESS LIFE education partnerships.

“We have used the European-funded Go Wales placement programme in the past,” he said.

“We had a student from Aberystwyth University on a 12-month placement,” said Lewis, “he was fundamental to bringing new ideas to the table and to the development of our new cloud-based HR software.”

Codel has also had a steady stream of summer internships via Jobs Growth Wales, many of which have led to full time permanent roles.

“Jobs Growth Wales has been really helpful especially over the last five years, and we are looking to take more people on via this route,” said Lewis.

In terms of the challenges facing Codel’s clients, Lewis points out that from a software point of view, there are so many organisations across the UK who are using outdated technology, either still using paper forms or manual processes.

“When you have a significant number of staff, this represents a massive amount of administration and can become a drain on the business,” explained Lewis. “Many of the companies we work with are not really aware of the impact it has on their bottom line. But in terms of sickness absence, CIPD stats put the loss to business at billions of pounds.”

Solving staff absence is always going to be more of an art than a science, and, as Lewis points out there are always a pantheon of different issues that affect staff absence.

“We have had some clients come on board who may have historically had problems with high levels of staff sickness absence,” said Lewis.

“Now that they have online tools to easily analyse absence trends, some of our clients are exploring using strategic measures; they’re saying “let’s look at the potential of having a cold or flu jab exercise, from a data perspective let’s see the impact of the cold/flu jab.”

So, what do clients particularly like about Codel? “Our clients are buying into our experience of working with lots of different types of organisations across the UK from an HR point of view,” Lewis explained.

“They like that we have a really thorough background understanding of using web and cloud-based technology,” he said.

“In the IT sector one of the key trends is a move towards having software on subscription. Whereas you used to have to buy licenses and regularly update everything, you can now have software you don’t have to download or install. The cost element of owning software has been driven down,” explained Lewis.

But when it comes to cloud-based solutions, Lewis finds that businesses are often a bit nervous and not sure exactly what the cloud is or where their software is stored.

“The IT industry still has a way to go in dispelling the myths,” he said. “It’s the same as anything really, you have to be dealing with a reputable company with a good track record.”

In terms of getting results, Lewis points out that because Codel’s solutions are cloud-based they deliver a faster ROI than more traditional software solutions.

“We can get staff leave and absence software into an organisation quickly so they can get their ROI quickly. We are trying to bring down deployment and use of software into weeks rather than months or years.”

It’s not surprising that Codel has a flow of proposals for its services via digital

media, direct emails, social media, Twitter, LinkedIn and its website.

And once they come they stay. Lewis believes it’s due in part to the ongoing telephone and remote support they get every step of the way.

“It’s very important that they know and feel they are being looked after. They know they can pick up the phone at any time.

“Because it’s modular software, it grows with them – they might not take everything in one go, they can take it as needed,” he explained.

So, Codel is definitely one Fast Track 25 company operating firmly in the fast lane.

“People don’t tend to think that there are companies here that can help them solve their problems, but there are!” said Lewis.

“Wales is not just about steel or manufacturing – we have some great technical companies who can deliver. You don’t have to go to the big boys – there are plenty of SMEs in Wales working at the cutting edge of their industry sector.

“After all, there are massive benefits in terms of level of service and quicker reaction, to choosing a smaller, more local service provider who can deliver you both the expertise you need and the personal service you want,” said Lewis.

Commercial Director Adrian Lewis, Technical Director Richard Hocking, Partner Bevan and Buckland Harri Lloyd-Davies, Relationship Director Santander David Thomas.

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Advertising Feature

CLIENT FOCUS PETER LYNN & PARTNERS As a business-to-business service provider, ETS have been delivering complete solutions across all telecommunications services for over 25 years. With access to industry leading technology, high-speed broadband networks and state of the art security systems, they are market leaders when it comes to cost effective telecommunications.

Whilst the hardware and software are vitally important, it’s their approach to customers that sets them apart.

Their experienced team put the needs of customers at the heart of everything they do and work closely with businesses to ensure they talk regularly and are accessible when needed.

This approach has resulted in many businesses becoming long-standing clients of ETS and Peter Lynn and Partners are no exception.

As one of South Wales’ largest law firms, ETS have handled their telecommunications needs since 2004; the early days of the law firm when they operated from a single office in Morriston.

Nick Foden, Business Development Manager for ETS commented,“We have worked closely with Peter Lynn and Partners for over 12 years and have successfully managed their changing telecoms needs as the business has grown” What started as the management of phone lines, phone and fax systems soon expanded to include mobile phones. As the successful law-firm expanded and each new office opened,

so ETS ensured consistency and efficiency of the telecommunications service.

In 2015, Peter Lynn and Partners opened their Cardiff office, taking the number of sites across South Wales to 7 and triggered the need for a new system to link all sites.

Nick Foden said “During a review meeting, we identified the need for a fast, efficient way for each office to communicate with each other, especially when transferring calls; a requirement we met with a Panasonic Hybrid PBX System”.

The new system was installed quickly allowing staff to transfer calls between sites and mobile phones free of charge

enabling the firm to communicate quickly and effectively.

Peter Lynn, Senior Partner commented, “Communication is critical to our business. Whether it’s faxing signed documentation for the sale of a property, emailing business agreements or simply talking through a legal matter over the phone; knowing we have a fast a reliable system makes a positive difference to our firm”.

Working closely with customers to understand their business and telecommunication needs remains at the heart of ETS. If you would like to discuss your businesses telecommunication requirements, contact them to arrange a free, noobligation telecoms review.

✆ 0800 280 8980 enquiries@eurotels.co.uk EUROPEAN TELECOM SOLUTIONS

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www.eurotels.co.uk

3/29/2016 9:57:52 AM

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3/29/2016 9:57:58 AM

Technology & Communication

Cellnovo

Medical tech firm could transform diabetes care A South West Wales-based med-tech business which is pioneering new developments in diabetes care technology has made ground-breaking advances with an artificial pancreas.

Cellnovo, based in SA1, Swansea, has developed a digitally connected insulin patch pump which will be used with the artificial pancreas.

The firm, which was founded in the Swansea University Institute of Life Science (ILS) network and employs around 75 staff, is partnering with US technology company TypeZero, which will use Cellnovo’s digitally-connected insulin patch pump alongside its own software in the artificial pancreas.

The artificial pancreas is designed to automatically monitor and regulate bloodsugar levels in people with type 1 diabetes through the delivery of insulin.

Cellnovo is a multi-national company which is headquartered in France but has a major facility in Swansea’s SA1 district, which it expanded last year with the renting of a second suite of offices.

It recently raised £23m on Euronext exchange in Paris.

Set up in 2002, its products have been developed in the ILS network and their innovative diabetes management system is the first of its kind with mobile connectivity.

This connectivity is able to provide immediate, wireless data updates and display real-time clinical information to patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals. This year could see global deployment of its technology.

Sophie Baratte, chief executive officer of Cellnovo, said: “We are pleased to be working with TypeZero on this key artificial pancreas programme. This is an important milestone as it will be the first time our diabetes management system will be used by American patients taking part in this leading research programme.”

Cellonovo undertook its clinical trials in Swansea University’s Joint Clinical Research Facility and also manufacturers its products locally. JCRF is a purpose-built clinical research unit based at ABMU’s Morriston Hospital, with a second site at ILS2 on the Singleton Health Campus.

The clinical trials programme is a key component of the ARCH programme.

ARCH (A Regional Collaboration for Health) is a unique partnership between ABMU and Hywel Dda health boards and Swansea University. ARCH aims to improve the health and wealth of South West Wales through collaboration, innovation and research.

Professor Steve Bain, ABMU’s assistant medical director for research and development and clinical lead for the Diabetes Research Network Cymru, has praised the work of Cellonovo and the region’s role in helping to develop their products.

Bain, who is also a member of the Wales Diabetes and Endocrine Society and part of the ARCH research and development working group, said: “The involvement of Cellnovo in this pioneering artificial pancreas project highlights the high regard for their insulin patch pump which was developed here in South West Wales.

Artificial pancreas advances by a Swansea-based medtech firm could drastically improve diabetes care.

Business Life reports...

“This device uses state-of-the-art technology and was first tested in people with diabetes in Swansea’s Joint Clinical Research Facility.”

An ARCH spokesman added: “The integration of the existing university campus at Singleton and the hospital site into a new Singleton Health Campus will provide real physical changes which will enhance the collaborative research and innovation activity between the ARCH partners.

“The work of Swansea University’s Medical School, through the ILS, will create a new science MediPark environment where life science research and business can drive the development of the existing local cluster while also attracting world-leading organisations to the region.

“Cellonovo’s innovation in diabetes care and management is a fantastic testament to the health research already underway jointly between the university and health boards.”

Chad Rogers, founder and CEO of TypeZero Technologies, added the integration of Cellnovo’s insulin patch pump with its inControl AP platform was a “tremendous step forward” for the artificial pancreas product.

PwC, provider of audit and professional services in the UK, took Cellonovo public.

PwC recently announced the relocation of its Swansea offices to the Singleton Health Campus as part of the ARCH programme’s MediPark initiative, creating five new graduate jobs as part of the move.

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Technology & Communication

Expert opinion with Adam Curtis, CEO of Hoowla & MD of Clockwork Bear

Software developer acquires parcel firm

Exciting times for start-ups in the region Start-ups and technology businesses in Swansea are starting to show real promise. Mobile Computing Systems, the construction mobile technology specialist, was acquired by Viewpoint in 2014 for an undisclosed amount. Established estate agent software company Dezrez has reported turnover above £5 million and last year released its cloud software, Rezi.

The startup space isn’t far behind with the annual Startup Weekend in its third year.

The event in November sees people from Swansea take their businesses ideas build, test and launch them over a weekend.

Ones to watch for 2016...

MyNight, an app built by Swansea University students to promote pubs and clubs, is gaining traction and the team behind it are professional and ambitious.

Allergy Manager, an allergy advice app, winners of this year’s Startup Weekend are just starting but already have the support of successful businesswoman Debra Williams.

Train Track, a recommendation service for when your train is cancelled is just launching, and with the right partners this could quickly gain traction across the UK. Adlet, a platform connecting brands with social media influencers, continues to benefit from its 2013 Global Battle win and mentorship from Coca Cola. Finally Hoowla, the legal case management software, has already seen off the law society as a competitor last year and continues to go from strength to strength.

ParcelBright is set to help Swanseabased Veeqo, which is based on Wind Street, achieve its goal of making selling easier for online sellers.

The start-up’s service and software will be merged into Veeqo, with a focus on further improving their online sellers productivity.

For Veeqo and its eCommerce customer base, it is set to mean quicker and cheaper shipping, plus an expansion of shipping options on offer.

ParcelBright’s co-founders Daniel Lipinski and CarlosVilhena will continue to act as expert advisors for Veeqo, both commercially and technically, to further build on the firm’s market lead.

Matt Warren, CEO of Veeqo, said the move would create the biggest parcel delivery set-up in the UK.

Hotel joins in tech drive Village The Hotel Club in Swansea is looking to lead the way in innovation and technology with the launch of its click and share device.

The Village Hotel is looking to play its part in Fabian Way and the wider SA1 area’s transformation into an innovative technology corridor.

Adam Smith, hotel general manager, said: “With Swansea University and the University of Wales Trinity St David

both doing their bit to turn this area of the city into a vibrant, innovative and creative place to learn and work, we are working to enhance our technological offering to the customers that use our facilities.”

Click and share is a USB portal device that connects to any laptop or tablet.

It needs no wires or projector, but the entire room can see the user’s laptop display on a big screen.

Firm helps launch water treatment tech in India A Llangennech company has helped launch “life-changing” innovative water treatment technology in India.

Hydro Industries has worked in collaboration with Bengaluru-based start-up Aquapurum on technology to convert borewell or surface water into potable water in a matter of minutes, based on proven electro coagulation technology.

The joint venture with Intelligent Energy provided a link to India and also the opportunity for Hydro to make a positive impact to a country where it is estimated that over 37.7 million people are affected annually by water borne diseases.

The process took a little under one year from the start of the project to Hydro designing, developing and shipping 100 units to India.

Matt Warren is a director of TechHub Swansea and the founder and CEO of Veeqo

Any die hard tech fans should also keep an eye on SwanCon. In its second year it is the must attend Software Developer event in Wales.

There is plenty of support for startups in Swansea and those wanting more information should look at towards coworking space IndyCube or the Startup Weekend @swanseasw swanseabaybusiness.com 123

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Keeping it confidential DISPOSING OF CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS DOESN’T HAVE TO BE COMPLICATED. MATTHEWS CONFIDENTIAL SHREDDING OFFER A FRIENDLY, PROMPT SERVICE THAT FITS AROUND YOUR NEEDS. No business is a stranger to the issue of protecting confidential information. Under the Data Protection Act 1998, businesses are required to destroy under secure conditions any data containing personal information including names, addresses, financial and legal information and details, for both clients and employees. Failure for non-compliance can include fines up to £5000 and is a criminal offence.

A FAMILY RUN BUSINESS ESTABLISHED IN 1997, MATTHEWS CONFIDENTIAL SHREDDING OFFERS SECURE, EFFICIENT AND FLEXIBLE SHREDDING SERVICES TO BOTH BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUALS.

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They shred not only paper documents but also CDs, hard drives, floppy disks, memory sticks and x-rays.

Using their services can reduce the risk of your business reputation being marked by the misuse of business information, and does away with unnecessary storage costs. The company’s aim is to make sure your business STAYS your business.

Matthews Confidential Shredding is unusual in its field for being a relatively small family owned company, but this is also its strength.

While some shredding services can seem impersonal and inflexible, requiring you to contact a call

centre or fill in an online form to book a slot for your documents to be removed, Matthews Confidential Shredding offers a much more personal service.

“As well as being the account manager I manage the diary, which enables me to build up a relationship with our clients and adapt what we do to suit their needs,” says marketing and sales manager Nick Hardwidge.

“Shredding is a straightforward service but every customer has a unique way they want it done, so I

3/29/2016 10:16:27 AM

WHEN IT COMES TO DESTROYING THE DOCUMENTS, MATTHEWS CONFIDENTIAL SHREDDING USES A STATE OF THE ART SHREDDER AT ITS HEADQUARTERS IN PENLLERGAER. THIS CROSSCUTS DOCUMENTS TO A MUCH THINNER SIZE THAN MOST SHREDDERS, ENSURING GREATER SECURITY. THE SHREDDED DOCUMENTS ARE THEN RECYCLED. can also visit them and talk through the best solution. Our working day starts at 7am and finishes late, so it’s easy for us to arrange to collect the documents at the time that suits them best.”

Another important point is that the company never uses third parties, so you can be confident that your documents will not pass through anyone else’s hands before they are destroyed.

When it comes to destroying the documents, Matthews Confidential Shredding uses a state of the art shredder at its headquarters in Penllergaer. This crosscuts documents to a much thinner size than most shredders, ensuring greater security. The shredded documents are then recycled.

Such is the level of customer satisfaction that rather than tying them in to contracts, Matthews Confidential Shredding relies on customers to seek out their services whenever they are needed.

“Our customers are very loyal. Keeping them happy is

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paramount and we are always flexible and able to adapt to suit their needs,” says Nick. “For instance, not everyone stores their documents in the same way, so when we visit their premises we look at how much there is and how it has been stored and give them a realistic quote that is unique to that customer and their circumstances.”

Customers are quick to praise the quality of the company’s bespoke, personal service and its very reasonable prices.

“They like that they know who they are dealing with, and they tell us they appreciate our response time: we do our best to be there in 24 hours after a call,” says Nick. “Shredding is a simple process and we make sure we keep it that way: we don’t add any unnecessary complications.”

01792 897271 enquiries@mcswales.com

www.mcswales.com • Professional & Attentive Customer Service • Covering ALL of South Wales • Client Testimonials available on request • All staff have full security background checks • Liveried Vans & Uniformed Staff • Certificate of Destruction & Duty of Care provided without extra charge • Regular or Ad-Hoc collections * Accredited ISO Quality Services BS EN 15713:2009 * Secure, lockable, wheeled bins available

* Secure Office Consoles available * Dedicated Account Manager

3/29/2016 10:16:36 AM

Infinity Document Solutions are celebrating yet another milestone in their elevation which has seen them become one of the leading providers in Wales for printing, photocopying, scanning hardware and electronic document management software.

Following on from their success of being shortlisted for the Welsh Business Awards and recently being asked to join the prestigious Swansea Bay Fast Track 25, the company is now in its fourth year of trading supplying and servicing a number of multifunction devices through their Managed Print Service offering.

This has seen their devices produce over 100 million documents making them an important service provider to organisations within the Welsh Business Community. As well as this is the scanning and storage of over 5 million documents a year improving the compliance and workflows of their customer business processes.

This success and growth has also seen Infinity’s work force increase and the directors see this continuing through the new financial year ahead with the planned growth of both its sales and technical departments in order to improve their service to their customers.

Infinity Document Solutions would be delighted to visit your organisation and carry out a free professional consultation and print audit in order to establish if any savings can be made along with improvements to your document processes. If you want Infinity Document Solutions to provide this no obligation service please contact their Swansea office Tel: 01792-293605 or Email: info@ infinityds.co.uk and one of the Infinity team will be delighted to attend.

County House, Beaufort Road, Plasmarl Industrial Estate, Swansea SA6 8JG. Tel: 01792 293605 email: info@infinityds.co.uk www.infinitydocsolutions.com

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Motoring Luxury car brands bring powerful boost to region

TVR is to join Aston Martin in moving to South Wales, bringing hundreds of jobs to the region...

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Motoring

Day’s Truck Centre

Introducing Day’s Truck Centre, your local Swansea Iveco dealership.

Situated on Beaufort Road in Swansea, Day’s Truck Centre is home to the complete range of Iveco vehicles, from the light Daily range, to the medium and heavy ranges which include the Iveco Eurocargo and Stralis.

Our dedicated Iveco sales team are able to offer assistance and guidance tailored to the different ranges available and can advise which vehicles are best suited to your individual business needs. In addition, we also offer an extensive range of quality used commercial vehicles.

Day’s Truck Centre is also home to a large state of the art service centre which enables us to undertake all types of commercial vehicle repair work, servicing and MOTs. We are also an Authorised Testing Facility by DVSA, which ensures that vehicles meet the safety and environmental standards in

place to be roadworthy. Our highly skilled technicians use the latest diagnostic technology to look after hundreds of vehicles each year, so you can trust that your vehicle is in good hands. We are able to service all sizes and types of commercial vehicles.

One of the vehicles available at Day’s Truck Centre is the Iveco Daily Hi-Matic, which is the first commercial vehicle with an 8-speed automatic gearbox. Its ergonomic multifunctional shift lever allows you to be fully focused on traffic and driving conditions and its best in class engine allows outstanding fuel economy.

The vehicle currently comes with FREE three years servicing from new.

The Iveco Daily Hi-Matic range consists of three different variations: the Urban, Regional and the International.

The Urban is best suited for those who have to face the type of everyday traffic conditions often encountered whilst city driving and the Regional is suited to those who need outstanding flexibility.

This is achieved through the ability to switch between Eco and Power modes in order to adapt to your surroundings and driving conditions.

The third version, the International, is ideal for drivers who need to cover large distances as the long overdrive gear ratio and turbine-torsional-damper torque converter guarantee improved fuel efficiency.

A record gross weight of 7.2 tonnes and a wide range of engines across the range allows you to complete the most demanding tasks in ultimate comfort. The Daily Hi-Matic also has up to 10% lower maintenance and repair costs versus manual transmission thanks to record transmission and durability.

See the new Iveco Daily Hi-Matic at Day’s Truck Centre, Beaufort Road, Swansea, SA6 8HR. Call us on 01792 616000 or visit www.days.co.uk

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3/29/2016 10:27:01 AM

Motoring

Aston Martin/TVR

Luxury car brands bring powerful boost to region TVR is to join Aston Martin in moving to South Wales, bringing hundreds of jobs to the region...

Another luxury car company is to move to South Wales after Aston Martin announced their new car will be built in the region.

British sports car brand TVR plans to open a new factory in south Wales to build its latest high-performance model.

TVR’s investment in the Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone would create 150 quality jobs. Sources say the company may link up with Aston Martin, which is creating 750 jobs at St Athan.

Ricky Purdy, secretary at Swansea Round Table, which brings together young businessmen in the county, said the move would help put the region on the map.

“Of course the option of such additions to our region can only be a good thing,” he said.

“For the skilled automotive manufacturing workers of our area, an opportunity like this is great news.

“The obvious connotations and benefits will be far reaching to Swansea, east and west. Such iconic brands securing jobs, along with investments such as the university development at Fabian Way,

promote South Wales on a global level.”

First Minister Carwyn Jones said: “This is yet another fantastic high-profile investment for Wales and a great boost for our automotive sector.

“TVR is another iconic and much loved, world-class brand that still commands a strong and loyal international following.

“I am delighted the next generation of TVRs will proudly bear the label Made in Wales.”

TVR said it had already secured more than 350 deposits for its niche new sports car, which features an innovative, groundeffect chassis, created by Formula One designer Gordon Murray.

The design of the car is still under wraps with plans to unveil it towards the end of the year.

It is hoped that the factory will reach peak production of 2,000 cars a year by 2022.

TVR chairman Les Edgar said: “South Wales is

becoming a major hub for automotive and motorsport technology and development and I am delighted TVR is investing here.

“We have a sports car project that has attracted global approval and excitement, and we are delighted that the Welsh Government wishes to become a part of an exciting new era for TVR. “The Welsh factory will be busy fulfilling orders that already run through to the end of 2018, and with our ambitious plans for the future we believe that Wales provides the right environment to make the project a success.”

Meanwhile, Aston Martin, which recently unveiled its new DB11 at

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the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, is to build its new luxury electric concept vehicle at St Athan.

Chief executive Andrew Palmer revealed the carmaker, which considered offers from more than 20 locations around the world, chose St Athan due to the merit of the actual site, including levelling ground and buildings.

The cost of getting parts and bringing the car to market as well as the building and government aid, also helped in the decision. The aid includes putting in local infrastructure like roads and support for refitting the factory.

The carmaker needs to have production in 2019, meaning the site needs to be ready in 2018 and work is already underway.

Highly skilled workers will hand-build the DBX Concept car in the super hanger in St Athan.

Wales was up against 20 locations across the world and took two years to secure the deal.

As well as the direct jobs supported, the investment will also boost jobs in the supply chain.

A skills academy will be included as part of the project and work on the factory will start in 2017, with production beginning in 2020.

Aston Martin’s new vehicle will be an allelectric 4x4 and is expected to cost at least £160,000 to buy.

The company has said its target customer would be a young woman, American - and rich. The fictitious customer was dubbed Charlotte and seen as “an attractive lady, cool, in her 30s”.

AS WELL AS THE DIRECT JOBS SUPPORTED, THE INVESTMENT WILL ALSO BOOST JOBS IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN.

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Motoring

Sinclair Group

Following its 70th anniversary last year, the celebrations have been continuing for the Sinclair Group.

South Wales’ largest motor group, which boasts Audi, Mercedes-Benz, SEAT, Skoda, smart, Volkswagen Cars and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles outlets in Swansea, has driven off with a trio of prestigious awards.

Recognising the family values that have been at the heart of the business since it began in 1945, the Sinclair Group was named Family Business of the Year at the Swansea Bay Business Awards.

However its longevity was certainly not the only reason that the company was chosen as winners. Its strong brand presence across the region, continued growth and support for local charities and the communities surrounding its dealerships were also factors in the judges’ decision.

Mercedes-Benz of Swansea and its sister sites in Cardiff, Bridgend and Neyland were described as “outstanding” as the Sinclair Group was hailed as the UK’s best by the manufacturer.

Mercedes-Benz UK described the performance of the Sinclair Group’s retailers in Cardiff, Bridgend, Swansea and Neyland during 2015 as “outstanding”.

Representatives from the group’s management team were presented with the

Mercedes-Benz Retailer of the Year trophy at an awards ceremony in London, where they were praised for their all-embracing approach that ensures every area of the business received the same highly focused attention and clear direction.

“We tried to think of the one thing that Sinclair Group does that others don’t, but it’s not one thing, it’s everything,” explained Gary Savage, CEO MercedesBenz UK. “They’ve achieved what they have by hard work and dedication across the company and every employee plays their part in delivering a positive, efficient and friendly service.”

Looking after the requirements of more than 50,000 motorists across South Wales means that providing exceptional customer service and having the people and processes in place to deliver it is of paramount importance to the Sinclair Group. This was acknowledged by its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) team being honoured in the annual Welsh Contact Centre Awards, where the 20 -strong department won Small Contact Centre of the Year.

Lucinda Butler, Members & Events Manager for the awards body, said: “The Sinclair Group clearly demonstrated their recruitment strategies, their commitment to training and developing their people, and also proved how their contact centre contributes to their wider business.

Retailer of the year evening award (left to right) – Myleene Klass, Andrew Edwards – general manager Bridgend, Jeremy Phillips – Sinclair Mercedes-Benz head of franchise, Andrew Pacitti – general manager Swansea, Dean Adams Sinclair group marketing manager, Nick Payne – general manager Cardiff, Andrew Sinclair – director,

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Andrew Sinclair

“The judges were very impressed with how Sinclair Group explained their delivery of a world class customer service, achieved by combining what’s right for the customer with what works best for the business,” she added. “All of these qualities combined showed that Sinclair Group was both an effective, efficient business and a fantastic place to work.”

Following the company’s 70th anniversary celebrations last year, Director Andy Sinclair, whose grandfather Bill founded the business, was delighted that the group and his colleagues received such plaudits in the wake of such a landmark year.

“To achieve recognition from the business community of Swansea that we are so proud to be part of, one of the prestige automotive brands that we represent and our peers is a fantastic achievement and one that can be shared by everyone across the company,” he said.

“We are fortunate to have a very loyal following amongst our customers throughout South Wales and fantastic model ranges to showcase. But we also have teams at all of our locations who are committed to providing an outstanding retail experience and this award is testimony to their contributions and hard work, which remain vital to our future success.”

Swansea Bay Business Awards left to right - Jonathan Davies, Clive Williams group vehicle disposal manager, Gareth Lloyd Volkswagen sales manager, Ashley Fellows brand manager, Michael Allison aftersales manager, Rebecca Davies Editor of the Llanelli Star and Carmarthen Journal.

3/29/2016 4:21:23 PM

Mercedes-Benz UK

Retailer of the Year

The driving force behind local businesses.

Exceptional cars and exemplary service from the award-winning Mercedes-Benz of Swansea At Mercedes-Benz of Swansea, we mean business when it comes to looking after the motoring requirements of local companies.

We offer a highly professional yet very personal service when it comes to vehicle acquisition, which really is second-to-none.

Indeed as a company, we have recently been named Mercedes-Benz Retailer of the Year by the manufacturer and been chosen as Family Business of the Year in the Swansea Bay Business Awards.

Complementing our award-winning service is an award-winning range of cars to suit every requirement and budget from the

A-Class hatchback to the C-Class Saloon. Generating huge interest right now is the new E-Class, which redefines luxury travel with its supreme driving dynamics, technical innovations and efficient performance, which includes CO2 emissions as low as 102g/km, 72.4mpg (combined) and a BIK rating from just 20%.

So whether you are an owner-operator requiring a single vehicle or a fleet buyer seeking a range of models, let Mercedes-Benz of Swansea put your business on the road to tax-efficient, cost-effective motoring.

Contact Local Business Development Manager Michael Onions today on 01792 479400 or via email at m.onions@sinclairgroup.co.uk

Mercedes-Benz of Swansea

Langdon Road, Swansea SA1 8QY 01792 479400

www.sinclairmercedes.co.uk

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Sinclair Mercedes-Benz

@sinclairmercedes

3/29/2016 10:31:18 AM

Motoring

Citroen DS3

Introducing the new DS3 New design, advanced technologies and enhanced interior

The DS brand’s smallest DS3 hatch remains an appealingly sporty prospect. Jonathan Crouch checks out the facelifted version with its extra safety and connectivity.

The DS3 supermini has proved to be a popular success story over recent years for customers in search of an affordable, sporty and well-finished three-door hatch. It’s now a key model for the newlycreated DS brand that Citroen has created - and has been regularly improved, most recently in the facelifted guise we’re going to look at here.

The basic recipe though, is much as before, with a three-door-only range of hard-top or Cabrio models, striking practical design both inside and out, a range of proven engines and a huge variety of personalisation options.

Aesthetically, the key change with this facelifted DS3 is the introduction of the DS brand’s corporate front end, with the so-called ‘DS Wings’ sculpted around a vertically-orientated chromed front grille that wears the DS emblem and is flanked by smarter LED headlamps. There are now more personalisation possibilities too, including options for the roof, the bodywork and the mirror housings.

Inside, the cabin is much as before, but benefits from the addition of a freshly-

added 7-inch colour infotainment screen that incorporates the latest smartphonecompatible technology. There are smarter trim choices too and the option of classic DS ‘watchstrap leather’ seating and laser engraving on the dashboard trim and the door mirrors.The DS designers claim there’s room for five adults, with legroom in the rear enhanced by the slender backs of the driver and front passenger seats. In the tail, the boot of the hard-top version is 285-litres which is large for the supermini class and 60:40 split rear seats give options for extending that capacity. The Cabrio version of course has less space to offer 245-litres - but that’s not bad for a car of this kind.

So what’s it like to drive? Well, you get in and settle into a sculpted seat that’s set sporty and low. Ahead of you, the compact steering wheel feels just right and all the vital dials are set in a deeply-cowled, chrome-edged triple pod. Turn the key and both speedo and rev counter zip around their dials and return to zero. You’re ready to go.

Under the bonnet, the key changes with this revised model centre on the introduction of a more efficient EAT6 automatic gearbox and a pokier 130bhp three cylinder 1.2-litre PureTech petrol powerplant. In all, seven engines are on offer, including an entry-level 110bhp PureTech petrol unit. There are also two THP four-cylinder petrol units, with the top

‘Performance’ model putting out 208bhp.

Plus, as before, there are two 1.6-litre BlueHDi diesels.

On the move, it’s hard to believe that all the underpinnings of this car are basically borrowed from a conventional Citroen C3 supermini. The lower body and stiffer suspension set-up give this model a very different feel, as does the preciselyweighted electric power steering, offering assistance when you need it and plenty of road feel when you don’t. The damping also offers the best of both worlds, making you aware of bumpy surfaces, but spiriting away the aftershock you could do without.

It makes a MINI feel about as subtly sprung as a go-kart. Only the rather longthrow gearchange could be slicker.

And in summary? Well, the DS3 has always embodied everything that’s good about its brand - and still does in this improved guise. Full of original ideas and delightful details, it’s a design icon for the modern world.

The sporty looks are backed up by an involving drive and, best of all, it’s a car you don’t have to shed the family to enjoy.

It’s very individual, very chic and very fashionable: a car of its time.

For more information visit www.bassettsgroup.co.uk or call 01792 310900

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DRIVEN. BY STYLE. New DS 3 FROM ONLY £165 -£255 PER MONTH ON ON PERSONAL LEASE

°

We’ve given New DS 3 a look that’s unmistakeably DS. It still has the features that created an icon and made its name synonymous with style. Unashamedly modern, it remains true to our inimitable spirit of the avant-garde.

BASSETTS SWANSEA CALL US NOWSWANSEA ON 01792 310900 BASSETTS ATLANTIC CLOSE, SWANSEA ENTERPRISE PARK, SWANSEA, WEST GLAMORGAN, SA7 9FJ CALL US NOW ON 01792 310900 www.bassettsswansea.citroen.co.uk

ATLANTIC CLOSE, SWANSEA ENTERPRISE PARK, SWANSEA, SA7 9FJ www.bassettsgroup.co.uk

DSAUTOMOBILES.CO.UK

DSAUTOMOBILES.CO.UK

°Prices & offers apply to retail sales of qualifying models ordered & delivered 04/01-31/03/16 or until such time as offers/prices may be withdrawn by Citroën at its complete discretion & include VAT, delivery to dealer & number plates, Government Registration Fee & 12 months’ graduated vehicle excise duty. Optional paint available at extra cost. Elect 4 Personal Lease rentals shown apply to New DS 3 PureTech 82 manual Chic - New DS 3 THP 210 S&S 6-speed manual Performance respectively. Model shown New DS 3 PureTech 130 S&S 6-speed manual Prestige with Polar White paint from £249 per month. One significant advance rental will be required, which varies by model, followed by 34 monthly rentals at the rates shown & a significant optional final rental. Excess mileage charges may apply if the agreed annual mileage is exceeded. Payment of the optional final rental extends the rental term (this does not transfer title of the vehicle) & requires an annual rental equivalent to one months’ rental. Finance subject to status. Finance provided by and written quotations available on request from PSA Finance UK Limited (company registration number 01024322) t/a Citroën Financial Services, Quadrant House, Princess Way, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QA, UK. Citroën Financial Services is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Over 18s only. A guarantee may be required. Arthur Bassett & Co Ltd is acting as a credit broker and is not a lender. To finance your lease we may introduce you to °Prices & offers apply to retail sales of qualifying models &Offers delivered 04/01-30/04/16 untilto such timeparticipating as offers/prices withdrawn

by Please Citroën its details. complete discretion & include VAT, delivery to dealer & number plates, a limited numberordered of lenders. & specifi cation correct at time oforgoing press from Dealers. may Termsbe & conditions apply. ask at us for Subject to stock availability.

Government Registration Fee & 12 months’ graduated vehicle excise duty. Optional paint available at extra cost. Elect 4 Personal Lease rentals shown apply to New DS 3 PureTech 82 manual Chic - New DS 3 THP 210 S&S 6-speed manual Performance respectively. shown Newfigures DS 3 PureTech S&Scycle, 6-speed manual Prestige with Polar(litres Whiteper paint from £249 per&month.

One signifcant advance rental will be DS required, which by model, followed by 347.1/39.8, monthly Offi cial Government fuelModel consumption (Range):130 Urban Extra urban, Combined 100km/mpg) CO2 emissions (g/km); Highest: New 3 THP 165varies 6-speed manual Prestige rentals at the rates shown & a129. signi Lowest: cant optional Excess mileage charges may apply if the agreed3.2/88.3, annual mileage is exceeded. of the are optional nal rental extends theEU rental (this doesintended not transfer of the for vehicle) 4.6/61.4, 5.6/50.4, Newnal DSrental.

3 BlueHDi 100 S&S manual Chic 3.8/74.3, 3.4/83.1, 87. Payment MPG figures achieved under official testterm conditions, astitle a guide & requires an annual rental equivalent to one months’ rental. Financecomparative subject to status.

Finance provided by and written quotations available on request from PSA Finance UK Limited (company registration number 01024322) t/a Citroën purposes only, and may not reflect actual on-the-road driving conditions.

Financial Services, Quadrant House, Princess Way, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1QA, UK. Citroën Financial Services is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Over 18s only. A guarantee may be required. Arthur Bassett & Co Ltd is acting as a credit broker and is not a lender. To nance your lease we may introduce you to a limited number of lenders. Offers & speci cation correct at time of going to press from participating Dealers. Terms & conditions apply. Please ask us for details. Subject to stock availability.

Offcial Government fuel consumption figures (Range): Urban cycle, Extra urban, Combined (litres per 100km/mpg) & CO 2 emissions (g/km); Highest: New DS 3 THP 165 6-speed manual Prestige 7.1/39.8, 4.6/61.4, 5.6/50.4, 129. Lowest: New DS 3 BlueHDi 100 S&S manual Chic 3.8/74.3, 3.2/88.3, 3.4/83.1, 87. MPG figures are achieved under of cial EU test conditions, intended as a guide for comparative purposes only, and may not reflect actual on-the-road driving conditions.

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ELECTRIC DREAMS. THE BMW i3 AT TRAINER.

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Motoring

BMW i3

The BMW i3 at Trainer BMW’s long-awaited electric vehicle, the i3, promises much. Can it deliver?

Jonathan Crouch reports...

If you’re of the old school and BMW means shark nosed, six-cylinder, ultimate driving machines to you, the Munich company’s i3 electric vehicle is going to appear a wholly alien concept. It’s a squat little city car riding on 155mm wide tyres.

Yet delve a little deeper and it doesn’t take long to find a strand of proper BMW DNA. It’s revealed in the thinking behind the engineering, the logic that went into making the various decisions. Wherever BMW’s engineers could have developed a more focused, technically correct solution, they appear to have done so, allowing for certain cost controls of course.

You might well be part of the 99.98 per cent of British car buying customers that chooses an internal combustion engine over an electric motor. Your next car and the next one after that will probably be powered by fossil fuels. Even if that is

the case, have a look at what the BMW i3 offers. It’s building a case for electric vehicles that is becoming ever more convincing.

Driving Experience As you might expect from a BMW product, the i3 doesn’t want for go. The electric motor is mounted low down within the rear axle which helps to keep a low centre of gravity and also to improve crashworthiness. The power unit weighs just 130kg and produces a nominal 168bhp, which means that the i3’s power to weight ration of 141bhp per tonne is just 5bhp per tonne shy of a Honda Civic Type R hot hatch. As with all electric vehicles though, the decisive advantage comes in its amount of torque. In a typical city scoot such as, say, a 1.2-litre Fiat 500, you can count on 102Nm of torque but the BMW i3 generates a hefty 250Nm of

muscle. That’s about what you’d expect from a Lotus Elise S and the i3 generates instant urge with all that torque available from idle. It’s sent to the rear wheels via a single-ratio gearbox that offers the choice of three driving modes: Comfort, Eco Pro and Eco Pro+.

This translates to a car that’s certainly not slow off the mark. It’ll get from standstill to 37mph in 3.8sec and to 62mph in 7.2sec, so any Toyota GT-86 sportscar drivers will have a very hard time keeping pace with the i3. The top speed is limited to 93mph. Extremely direct steering, a low centre of gravity, a clever DSC stability control system and lightweight body structures add up to very focused driving characteristics. BMW has engineered in a little body roll, largely to clue drivers in to where the limits of those narrow tyres are, but this remains a car you can enjoy hustling along.

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3/29/2016 10:25:23 AM

Design and Build Think of the i3 as a car in two halves.

The bottom half is almost all aluminium, the upper half almost all carbon fibre.

Armed with this information, you can rightly surmise that it doesn’t weigh very much. Even with the weight of all those batteries - some 230kg comprised of 96 individual cells kept at an optimum 20deg Centigrade by their own air conditioning unit - the i3 only tips the scales at 1,195kg.

Compare that to the 1,395kg of the entrylevel petrol-powered Mercedes-Benz B Class and you’ll appreciate the lengths BMW have gone to keep weight low and efficiency high.

The styling is determinedly modern, with the kidney grille being the key BMW styling signature. The black hood, roof and glazed hatch are set to become characteristic features for the “i” cars.

Adaptive LEDs headlights and floating LED tail lights are standard. The lowered belt line in the rear and absence of a “B” pillar improves visibility while the rear “coach” doors make entry easier. It’s not a big car, measuring just 3,999mm long, which is only a tad longer than a Ford Fiesta. With the flat floor, thin seats and low window line, the cabin feels surprisingly roomy. The instrument cluster and Control Display comprise two screens, one behind the steering wheel and the other at the top of the centre console.

Interior materials aren’t all as racy as carbon fibre. BMW has gone large on recycled, natural and renewable sources it dubs “next premium.” The dashboard

and door cards are made from dried grass fibres from the kenaf plant. Eucalyptus wood is optional. The boot measures 260-litres, but fold the rear seats and you get up to 1,100-litres. Expect that capacity to drop if you choose the range-extender motor. This is a modified version of the 650cc two-cylinder petrol engine used in the company’s CT650 GT maxi-scooter, with a nine-litre fuel tank ahead of the front seats.

Market and Model Value. That’s a really tough one to assess in the context of the i3. Yes, BMW will sell you one for around £26,000, which is a lot for a city car. But is it really that exorbitant when compared to something like an Audi A1 Sportback, where you’d need to spend £23,000 to get a car that’s as quick as the BMW i3 and which would never feel anything like as exotic. A car built from aluminium and carbon or a mass-production special that shares most of its underpinnings with a humble Skoda Fabia? Your call. There’s a premium of just under £3,000 if you want the Range Extender version.

The i3 represents the first time carbonfibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) have been used in a mass-production electric car.

Combined with injected thermoplastics, the i3’s body will never rust and will be largely dent resistant.

Cost of Ownership If you were running the car for three years covering typical city car mileages

(circa 7500 miles per year), you’d could minimise your running costs by buying a cheap city car with a 1.0-litre engine.

However, factor in something like the London congestion charge, which could run you over £8,000 for that period, couple it with the minimal fuel bills and likely strong residual values of the i3 and the BMW comes into its own. Put it up against premium rivals like the Audi A1 and the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and they don’t enjoy a massive price advantage, thus making the i3 look increasingly attractive.

The i3 offers a range of up to 118 miles on the European test cycle, although BMW’s own projections are less optimistic at 81 miles in wintry conditions and 100 miles in the summer. Choose the range extender version and the tiny combustion engine acts purely as a generator to feed electricity to the battery, with range of up to 186 miles. On a longish journey, you’d likely be stopping to refuel every 80 miles or so.

Recharging times vary, but BMW will sell you a wall box charger that provides a full charge in six hours, otherwise the battery can be charged from 20 per cent to 80 per cent capacity within 30 minutes when plugged into a 40kW fast-charge station. That’ll be enough to cover most typical commutes.

To discuss the BMW i3 available at Trainer, or to arrange a test drive, please call 01792 651474 swanseabaybusiness.com 139

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3/29/2016 10:25:45 AM

BMW i

The Ultimate Driving Machine

BMW i3.

THE ELECTRIC CAR THAT DRIVES LIKE A BMW. For more information or to arrange a test drive*, contact us on 01792 828589.

Trainer

375 Carmarthen Road Cwmbwrla Swansea West Glamorgan SA5 8LW www.trainerbmw.co.uk Official fuel economy figures for the BMW i3: mpg N/A, CO2 emissions 0g/km, nominal power output (electric motor) 75/102 kW/hp at 4,800 rpm; peak power output (electric motor) 125/170 kW/hp, total average energy consumption per 62 miles/100 km (combined cycle) 12.9 kWh. Total range: 118 miles (combined cycle). Customer orientated range: up to 100 miles. Official fuel economy figures for the BMW i3 with Range Extender: 470.8mpg, CO2 emissions 13 g/km, total average energy consumption per 62 miles/100 km (weighted combined cycle) 11.5 kWh. Range without use of Range Extender: 106 miles (weighted combined cycle). Customer orientated total range: up to 186 miles. Customer orientated range without use of Range Extender: up to 93 miles. Figures may vary depending on different factors, including but not limited to individual driving style, climatic conditions, route characteristics and preconditioning. *Test drive subject to applicant status and availability.

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3/28/2016 3:28:27 PM

GO WITH YOUR GUT. GO WITH WITH YOUR YOURGUT. GUT. GO WITH YOUR GUT.

Fully loaded with MINI Navigation System, MINI Connected and distinctive looks as standard.

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Official Fuel Economy Figures for the new MINI Clubman Range: Urban 35.3-60.1 mpg (8-4.7 l/100km). Extra Urban 52.3-76.3 mpg (5.4-3.7 l/100km). Combined 44.8-68.9 mpg (6.3-4.1 l/100km). CO2 Emissions 147-109 g/km. Figures may vary depending on Official Fuel Economy the new MINI Clubman Range: Urban 35.3-60.1 Extra Urban 52.3-76.3 m * Figures Fuel Economy Figures for the newfor MINI Clubman Range: Urban mpg (8-4.7 l/100km).

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08/10/2015 11 03/11/2015 14:59

08/10/2015 11:20

3/29/2016 10:30:15 AM

Motoring

MINI Convertible

New MINI Convertible Open up and say ahhhh!

by Jonatham Crouch...

The third generation MINI Cooper Convertible gets a fresher face and a smarter roof and more space. The experts at Car & Driving check it out.

It’s pretty hard to take exception to MINI’s MK3 model Convertible. It brings more space for passengers and luggage, a larger presence on the road and, for the first time, a customisable fabric roof. The new design retains the unmistakable character of this popular soft top and buyers can pick petrol, diesel and performance versions.

The Convertible MINI has a slightly different remit from the hatchback being all about style - but the fact that it invokes the Cooper name across all three variants hints at the potential for driving thrills. The base 136bhp MINI Cooper Convertible will accelerate from 0-62mph in 8.8 seconds and hit 129mph. There’s also a 116bhp Cooper D diesel model and a pokier 192bhp Cooper S petrol model.

High performance though, hardly seems relevant in a four seat soft-top: what is important is the operation of the newlydesigned roof. At speeds of up to 18mph, this fabric top can be lowered or raised in 18 seconds, so when the British weather does what it does, you’ll not be left out in the rain for too long. If you just want to open the small portion over the front seats, it can slide back 40cm, automatically, at any speed.

This MINI has been engineered for a comfortable drive, but with pin-sharp responsiveness. The Convertible body has been reinforced to make it rigid enough to cope with the demands of sporty driving which normally would cause the shell to flex. The speed-sensitive steering is designed to make maneuvering at low speeds easier, while at higher speeds the car should respond less nervously to small amounts of steering.

The third generation MINI Cooper Convertible retains the basic overall body shape that we all know and love, but each of the dimensions are just a little larger. This car is 98mm longer than its predecessor and 44mm wider too, plus there’s 28mm more in the wheelbase. This addresses the main criticisms of the older models in two key areas: the back seats and the boot. Rear passengers get more legroom, making access the second row easier. When the folded fabric roof is down it forms a wrap-around collar around the back seats, rather than disappearing completely. It encroaches slightly into the boot area but despite this, the luggage capacity has grown by around 25% this time round. This allows for up to three typical airline cabin cases, so everyday practicality is much improved.

The roof is customisable, with a woven Union Flag option available for the first

time on a MINI. The rival DS 3 Cabriolet model can also be specified with a patterned roof, but the Union Flag has been so long associated with the MINI roof, it’s a wonder why it hasn’t been done before on the Convertible version. The fresh family front end includes a much cleaner, circular headlight design and a large grille area.

So, this third generation MINI Convertible looks great, is brilliantly designed, cheap to run and holds its value. It’s even a bit more practical than you might be expecting.

OK, you could perhaps complain about the premium pricing but in truth, there’s not really much more than that to put off would-be Convertible purchasers who need a more involving drive than one of those hairdessers’ cabriolets but don’t want a sports roadster either.

This car has so much more street-cred than obvious rivals and is far-less genderspecific (all right, female-orientated), which will matter to male buyers nearly as much as the fast that it’s huge fun to drive.

A MINI adventure then, that could see you living happily ever after.

For more information visit www.trainermini.co.uk or call 01792 651505

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STAY OPEN.

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With the electric roof down, nothing will get in the way of your 360o view – not even parking or the weather, thanks to the parking camera coming as standard and the optional rain warner app.

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*

THE NEW MINI CONVERTIBLE. ARRIVES 5MINI MARCH. THE NEW CONVERTIBLE. EW MINI CONVERTIBLE. THE NEW MINI CLUBMAN. THE NEW MINI CONVERTIBLE. AVAILABLE NOW AT TRAINER. ARRIVES 5 5 MARCH. ARRIVES MARCH. ES 5 MARCH.

Tel: 01792 651505 Official Fuel Economy Figures for the new MINI Convertible range: Urban 35.8-64.2 mpg (7.9-4.4 l/100km). Extra Urban 55.4-80.7 mpg (5.1-3.5 l/100km). Combined 46.3-4.3 mpg (6.1-3.8 l/100km). CO2 Emissions 100-142 g/km. Figures may vary depending on driving style and conditions. *Test drive is subject to status and availability.

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17/02/2016 11:04

Official Fuel Economy Figures for the new MINI Convertible range: Urban 35.8-64.2 mpg (7.9-4.4 l/100km). Extra Urban 55.4-80.7 mpg (5.1-3.5Fuel l/100km).

Combined 46.3-4.3 mpg (6.1-3.8 l/100km).

Emissions 100-142 g/km.Extra Figures vary depending onmpg driving style Official Economy Figures for the Convertible range: Range: UrbanCO 35.8-64.2 mpg (7.9-4.4 l/100km).

Urbanmay 55.4-80.7 mpg52.3-76.3 2 Official Fuel Economy Figures fornew theMINI new MINI Clubman Urban 35.3-60.1 mpg (8-4.7 l/100km).

Extra Urban * MINI Official Fuel Economy Figures for the new MINI Convertible range: Urban 35.8-64.2 mpg (7.9-4.4 l/100km).

Extra Urban 55.4-80.7 mpg Economy Figures for the new Convertible range: Urban 35.8-64.2 mpg (7.9-4.4 l/100km).

Extra Urban 55.4-80.7 mpg Test drive is subject to status and availability. and conditions.

(5.1-3.5 l/100km).

Combined 46.3-4.3 mpg (6.1-3.8 CO2 Emissions g/km. Figures may vary depending on driving style (5.4-3.7 l/100km).

Combined 44.8-68.9 mpgl/100km).

(6.3-4.1 l/100km).

CO100-142 2 Emissions 147-109 g/km. Figures may vary depending on *mpg Combined (5.1-3.5 l/100km).

46.3-4.3 mpg (6.1-3.8 l/100km).

CO Emissions 100-142 g/km.

Figures may vary depending on driving style 0km). Combined 46.3-4.3 (6.1-3.8 l/100km).

CO Emissions 100-142 g/km.

Figures may vary depending on driving style and conditions.

Test drive is subject to status and availability.

2 driving style and* conditions. *Test drive is2 subject to status and availability. andisconditions.

Test drive is subject to status and availability. ons. *Test drive subject to status and availability.

33820_112457_TRAINER_CONVERTIBLE_PRESS_AQUA_340x270.indd 1 33820_112457_TRAINER_CONVERTIBLE_PRESS_AQUA_340x270.indd 1

33590_bs197099 MINI Clubman 33820_112457_TRAINER_CONVERTIBLE_PRESS_AQUA_340x270.indd 1 1 CONVERTIBLE_PRESS_AQUA_340x270.indd 1 Press Ad_300x210mm_Trainer.indd

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03/11/2015 14:59 17/02/2016 11:04

3/29/2016 10:30:35 AM

IT and Telcoms Business Supplies

Copiers and Document Solutions Office Interiors

Carmarthenshire - 01269 842242 | Swansea - 01792 345678 sales@morganoffice.co.uk | www.morganoffice.co.uk Untitled-1 1

3/29/2016 10:07:14 AM

Networking Upcoming events Business Life rounds up some of the hottest business events of the season

RSA Engage: Swansea Date: April 5 Venue: Institute for Sustainable Design, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, ALEX Design Exchange, Alexandra Road, Swansea, SA1 5DU Time: 6pm What: A platform for Fellows to connect with each other and explore how they can support the RSA

Llanelli Rugby Business Network Date: April 12 Venue: Parc y Scarlets, Parc Pemberton, Llanelli SA14 9UX Time: 6pm What: Opportunity to introduce your business and to network. A £10 fee

Superfast Business Wales Inspiring Action Workshop Date: April 12 Venue: Towers Hotel, Jersey Marine, Swansea, SA10 6JL Time: 10am What: How firms can reduce costs and increase profits with digital technology

CBI Wales/Swansea Assembly Election Breakfast Date: April 13 Venue: The Pavilion, Llandarcy Academy of Sport, Llandarcy, Neath, SA10 6JD Time: 8am What: Question Time format with leading party figures

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ION leadership Trade Show Date: April 19 Venue: Liberty Stadium, Landore, Swansea, SA1 2FA Time: 10am What: Masterclasses throughout the day with business leaders

Legal Aspect of Employing Temporary Workers Date: April 19 Venue: University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Swansea Business Campus, Swansea, SA1 1NE Time: 5.30pm What: CIPD event with experienced employer adviser Kevin Elliott

WordPress SEO workshop Date: May 9 Venue: TechHub Swansea, 11 Wind Street, Swansea, SA1 1DP Time: 9.30am What: Jargon-free WordPress training with an expert who will be on hand to answer questions

Professional Amazon seller training Date: May 18 Venue: Urban Village, 1st Floor 220 High Street, Swansea, SA1 1NW Time: 1pm What: Workshop for start-ups and growing online businesses aimed at bringing new sales opportunities

Swansea Bay Business Club’s upcoming events...

April 2016 Lunch Location: Village Hotel, Swansea With: Rain Newton Smith, director of Economics for the CBI When: Friday, April 22 Time: 12.15 arrival for 1pm lunch Member tickets: £25 Non-member tickets: £30.50 Bookings close: Friday, April 15

May 2016 Summer Lunch Location: Liberty Stadium, Swansea With: Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP When: Friday, May 20 Time: 12.15 arrival for 1pm lunch Member tickets: £42 Non-member tickets: £47.50 Bookings close: Friday, May 13

Rioja Launch Members-only event Location: Cru 42, Mumbles When: Wednesday, June 1 Time: TBC Tickets: TBC Bookings close: Friday, May 27 *For more information, visit: www.swanseabaybusinessclub.com

3/29/2016 4:00:02 PM

swanseabaybusinessclub.com

ARE YOU A BUSINESS OWNER OR MANAGER IN THE SWANSEA BAY REGION? JOIN SWANSEA BAY BUSINESS CLUB Swansea Bay Business Club has one simple objective: to stimulate prosperity in Swansea Bay by encouraging the business community to support each other and grow.

We hold monthly networking events for business owners and managers throughout the entire Swansea Bay region. There are many varied industries and business types throughout the region and Swansea Bay Business Club acts as a forum to bring business people together and promote a collaborative community.

Our events feature top class guest speakers and have become a must attend as an opportunity to engage with fellow business people and make connections in a friendly and relaxed environment.

Thank you for supporting the Club through your membership. We look forward to seeing you at an event soon.

REGISTER FOR AN EVENT The Business Club is always keen to welcome members and non-members to our events. Please browse upcoming events below and book your places for the 2016 season online now.

BECOME A MEMBER...

Exclusive opportunities to promote your business, access to ‘Membersonly’ events and promotions Individual membership £30.00 Corporate Members £125

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3/29/2016 10:07:35 AM

Birthday celebration

Networking

Swansea Bay Futures celebrates its 10th birthday Tell me more: The event took place at the Great Hall, Swansea University’s Bay Campus on March 21

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3/29/2016 1:31:57 PM

Advertisement Feature

New Talent Joins Ospreys Commercial Team and spills of match day action alongside colleagues or potential clients – it can be a real bonding experience, which is why I’d recommend hospitality with Ospreys Rugby to businesses across the region.

Using hospitality has helped many of our commercial partners get their name out there and the exciting atmosphere of live sport makes for a much less corporate feel to the day. I’d definitely encourage the use of Ospreys hospitality options to anyone looking for fresh and unique ways to support their business objectives and network with like-minded businesses.”

The Ospreys have added some fresh talent to their Hospitality team, which seems to be striking the chord with businesses in the region after the appointment of a new sales executive.

For tickets to the upcoming Ladies day event or to enquire about other hospitality options, Ceri can be contacted on 01792 616488 or via email hospitality@ospreysrugby.com

Ceri Jones, aged 22, has brought some innovative ideas and precision to the hospitality team that are well beyond her years and local businesses are responding well to the exciting hospitality offerings at the Liberty Stadium.

A lifelong Ospreys fan as well as a kickboxing enthusiast, Ceri joins the Ospreys at an exciting time for its Hospitality stream. She will use her talents to promote the various hospitality options available, including the VIP lounges and eye-catching new Black & White lounge, as well as launching the first ever ladies day, and a host of networking events for box holders and local businesses.

Ceri says: “I am delighted to be part of the Ospreys hospitality team at a time when so much is happening for the club. There are so many opportunities for people to become part of the Ospreys community and to help spur the team on to greater success, both on and off the pitch.

“I am fanatical about rugby and I’m a longterm Osprey fan so promoting the brand and its fantastic offerings hardly feels like a job at all – it is a real pleasure.

Ceri’s enthusiasm and creativity has led to the first ladies-only event to take place at Liberty, ahead of the Treviso match (Friday

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

April 15th). Ceri tells us, “Ospreys Rugby have collaborated with Stephen Hughes Fine Diamonds to offer the ladies of Swansea an evening of bubbles and bling alongside the best rugby in town. With elite Osprey players showcasing our photo booth and exclusive goody bags to leave you shining like a diamond, where else would you rather be on a Friday evening?”

The first of many planned events, Ceri’s passion for hospitality and networking is clear. “So many businesses here in Swansea are feeling the benefits of strong and seasonlong links with the Ospreys – Hospitality is such a valuable way of entertaining or enticing potential clients, or of rewarding current clients who have been loyal to you.

It is also a great way of rewarding staff for their dedication and hard work. There is something exciting about sharing the thrills

Hospitality boxes at Ospreys Rugby can be used for: • A platform for Client Engagement • Staff Rewards and Benefits • Consumer / Retail Activation and Competitions • Visibility and Association as an

Official Partner of Ospreys

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3/29/2016 10:11:31 AM

Advertisement Feature

Euro Commercials become OITC Programme partner Euro Commercials, one of Wales’ leading commercial vehicle dealerships, has become an official programme partner of Ospreys in the Community.

Ospreys and Dezrezlegal team up Dezrezlegal, the fast growing Swansea based conveyancing specialist, have teamed up with the Ospreys in a partnership that will see the company feature on the back of the region’s 2016/17 home shirt.

A long term commercial supporter of Ospreys Rugby, under the new agreement Euro Commercials have signed up to assist the Foundation, that works in communities across the region, in all its sports related activity. The two-year agreement will see Euro Commercials providing two vehicles to be used by Foundation staff, enabling them to transport kit to school and club visits, large events and community festivals.

Paul Whapham, Foundation Manager, Ospreys in the Community said: “Since our formal launch at the Liberty Stadium in November 2015 we have made huge strides as a Foundation already, with increased community engagement, sold out rugby camps and a successful re-launch of the Schools Programme.

“We have already grown our team to give us a far greater community presence and that is where the support of a community-minded company like Euro Commercials is invaluable and we are delighted to welcome them as an official sports programme partner.”

Jeff Carne, Managing Director, Euro Commercials added:

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“Euro Commercials takes pride in supporting the local community wherever possible. We are delighted that the Citan Crew van and the Citan Panel van provided will be able to facilitate such an innovative initiative. Long may we continue to transport the Ospreys’ kit and equipment to the heart of the Welsh communities and beyond.’’

While sharing a strong relationship and forming a key part of the Ospreys’ long-term business strategy, Ospreys in the Community operates on an entirely independent basis to the professional rugby organisation.

The commercial agreement was formally launched at the big Ospreys v Scarlets derby clash, where Dezrezlegal featuring extensively on the Liberty Stadium’s state of the art digital advertising facilities.

Having grown from two to 35 members of staff since its inception in 2009, Dezrezlegal offers an alternative to impersonal conveyancing warehouses and expensive solicitors. It combines personal service with technological innovation so that customers enjoy quick and pain-free completion.

All Ospreys season members can benefit from the new partnership, with Dezrezlegal offering 10% discount on conveyancing fees, reducing the expense of buying a new home.

Working in conjunction with commercial partners, public sector bodies and third sector agencies to generate financial support and resources, the aim of Ospreys in the Community is to create a vibrant and sustainable Foundation that utilises the undoubted power of the Ospreys brand, and players, in a positive fashion, to harness social good and make an impact in communities.

Laura Burkinshaw, Legal Director, Dezrezlegal:

An ideal opportunity for businesses to meet their Corporate Social Responsibility objectives, more information about opportunities to support the foundation can be obtained by contacting Paul Whapham paul.whapham@ospreysrugby.com or calling 01792 616500

“Dezrezlegal is a young, innovative, vibrant and local business, with a community focus, much like Ospreys Rugby. As such, we are a perfect fit in terms of a commercial partnership, and we are delighted to be teaming up with them as a kit sponsor and commercial partner for next season.”

“We are thrilled to become a premium partner of the Ospreys. As one of South Wales’ fastest growing companies, many of our employees are from the local community and are Ospreys fans. We see this as a way to support our staffs’ passion as well as help the local economy flourish.”

Yarnie Guthrie, Commercial Manager, Ospreys Rugby, said:

3/29/2016 10:11:38 AM

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Networking

Ospreys unveil aspiring ambassadors Tell me more: Ospreys in the Community reveals its first Aspire2Be ambassadors, supported by business, at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea on March 23

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3/29/2016 11:20:59 AM

Find your purpose with joy

Networking

Find your purpose with joy Where? The Village Hotel, Swansea Tell me more: Transformation coach Joy Ogeh-Hutfield held an all-woman soiree about how to discover and fulfil your purpose and fulfilment in life. Speakers at the event included Anna Bastek, multi-award winning co-founder of Wolfestone and VoiceBox, Helen Bowden, Director at Swansea Sound and The Wave, Lisa Cameron, Publisher at SWW Media, and Karen Hutchings, Manager of Goose Island. Half of the money from the soiree raised money for Women’s Aid.

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3/29/2016 1:36:49 PM

Are you looking for the perfect place to hold your next business meeting?

The National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthenshire is the ideal venue in a great location.

With excellent facilities for large or small scale events, we can provide an individual service to cater for a wide range of needs. The National Botanic Garden of Wales is conveniently situated near Carmarthen on the A48 from Cross Hands to Carmarthen and just minutes from the M4.

Please contact us on 01558 667147 / 01558 667114 or email cellan.williams@ gardenofwales.org.uk should you require any further information, have any specific requests, or wish to make a provisional booking. All facilities are fully accessible.

Conference facilities are available during the day and in the evening. Seating within the rooms can be tailored to your particular needs.

Our Corporate Brochure, which is available at www.botanicgarden.wales provides details of prices, menus, room sizes and venues that we can offer you.

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3/29/2016 11:20:24 AM

Find your purpose with joy

Networking

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3/29/2016 1:37:23 PM

Bridging the gap between women and science A selection of inspirational speakers joined Technocamps at the Marriott hotel for an event in March.

Technocamps, with the support of Swansea University, hosted a memorable event on Tuesday 8th March to celebrate International Women’s Day, an event held annually which sees thousands of celebrations held across the globe.

The ITWales International Women’s Day Celebration has been organised every year since 2000 by Beti Williams MBE, founder and emeritus Director of ITWales: the outreach and engagement unit of the Department of Computer Science at Swansea University. The event aims to provide an insight into the diverse range of career opportunities open to women. The speakers hoped to encourage young women to pursue their ambitions within scientific and technological fields, and narrow the gender gaps in the industry.

This year’s event was hosted by Technocamps, ITWales’ schools outreach programme, and was themed “Education and Achievement”. It aimed to showcase a number of challenges and achievements in Wales by providing talks from a number of prolific keynote speakers.

With a sharp focus on closing the gender gap in science, engineering and technology industries, the event also coincided with the release of a new report entitled Talented Women for a Successful Wales.

According to new data, there is a critical shortage of women working in science, technology and engineering industries. An increase in the number of women working in these sectors could be worth £2bn to the British economy.

The event commenced with a drinks reception that allowed students, academics and businesswomen to network and recount experiences in an informal setting. Its goal was to provide a platform to discuss gender imbalance and share opportunities and best practice for women in the industries.

Featured speakers of the event included Janet Hayward OBE - Chair of the National Digital Learning Council, Kate Jenkins - MD of Gower Cottage Brownies Ltd, Pippa Davies - Author and Web Editor and Elin Rhys - MD of Teledu Telesgop.

Professor Faron Moller opened the event by introducing Technocamps and its successes. He explained how Technocamps helps inspire young girls to work in scientific industries, and that within IT there is strong evidence that women write as good if not better computer code than men; yet they represent rather less than 20% of the technical staff within all of the major software companies.

He claimed that, “Since October 2014, Technocamps have delivered an average of 8 hours of workshops at all but 10 secondary schools across Wales.”

Janet Hayward OBE began the showcase of speakers by recounting her own story in the IT industry, and explained how her involvement with industry had led to her travelling the globe. She claimed that the IT industry revolutionised schools, saying that “Crucially, it changed the nature in the way learning happened.”

She discussed how other European countries such as Estonia are looking at how we are using IT in Wales. She is travelling next week to Dubai as one of 50 finalists worldside of the $1M Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize, and concluded her presentation by saying, “When I’m in Dubai next week, I will be very proud to represent Wales.”

Elin Rhys, managing director of Teledu Telesgop, claimed that “We need to inspire girls in Wales and say that we need scientists, and we need engineers.”

“The difficulty that I get with gender balance in science programs is tough.

We need to help women overcome obstacles. We need mentors, parents, teachers and friends who see more in us.”

She encouraged women everywhere that “If you want to see your name on the map, publish your own map.”

Phillipa Davies, author and web editor, began her speech with one basic philosophy “I think that looks like a bit of fun, shall we give it a go?”

When discussing her introduction into the digital environment with a job in tech, she claimed that “I knew no one would take me seriously unless I did something to gain credibility. So I went and learned HTML. They thought I was a mad old bat, but I was a mad old bat with respect.”

She told the audience how a professor helped her to think like a scientist, and explained how people are so motivated to find how to use the internet well.

“The web enables you to show how great you are, rather than tell. Be forensic in your art.”

Since 2003, Technocamps – ITWales’ schools outreach programme, has been providing practical computing workshops to inspire, motivate and engage young people. Since 2011 it has engaged with over 25,000 young people.

Department of Computer Science, College of Science, Swansea University Singleton Park SA2 8PP

Tel: 01792 606894 Untitled-2 1

3/29/2016 11:21:42 AM

Business club’s St David’s Day lunch

Networking

Business club’s St David’s Day lunch Tell me more: Swansea Bay Business Club held its St David’s Day lunch at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli with rugby legend Ryan Jones as guest speaker

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3/29/2016 5:24:36 PM

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3/29/2016 11:22:55 AM

Business club’s St David’s Day lunch

Networking

swanseabaybusiness.com 159

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3/29/2016 2:26:18 PM

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3/29/2016 11:23:52 AM

Networking

International Women’s Day Tell me more: The event was organised by Barclays and was held at Norton House, Swansea on March 8

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3/29/2016 2:18:37 PM

South Wales Busniess Club

advertising feature

The members of the South Wales Business Club

Networking with a difference With a friendly, welcoming atmosphere and a high success rate at generating business for its members, the South Wales Business Club is going from strength to strength, writes Jenny White.

The South Wales Business Club has come a long way since financial advisor John Bowen and accountant Dan Perrin set it up two and a half years ago.

Their mission was to create an affordable, friendly, not-for-profit networking group for small businesses in South Wales, and that’s exactly what they’ve achieved. Now 27 members strong, the group meets at Sandfields Young Business Centre, Port Talbot, from 7am to 8:30 am every Thursday to give talks, pass on referrals and chat about their business challenges and successes.

While it’s well organised, the atmosphere is not overly formal or rigid: the group have all become friends and there is a relaxed camaraderie to their meetings.

“Dan and I decided to form the group after attending lots of different networking groups. We wanted to create something more friendly, relaxed and not-forprofit,” says John. “We charge a nominal membership fee of £150 per year, and a £5 fee for each meeting, and that goes towards teas, coffees and breakfast rolls and towards our monthly social nights out.

We also give some of the money to charities such as the Alzheimer’s Society and the Mr X Christmas appeal.”

The main purpose of the meetings is to share referrals, and the club is highly effective at this: it has generated £160,000 of business for its members since August last year. It’s quite common for referral customers to end up using the services of several members of the group as a result of the trust the club has generated.

“In this group we know that the trust and commitment is there, so we can

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John Bowen and Dan Perrin- The founding members of the South Wales Business Club

refer business in full confidence that our members will do a good job,”says John.“We always get feedback from the customers and it’s always been very positive.”

Besides the successful referrals system, the club is a great sounding board for anyone experiencing problems in their business.

“We usually find that someone else in the club has been through something similar and can offer advice,” says John.

“It really helps our members – some of whom are sole traders – to feel connected

with other businesses. Running your own business can be a lonely road, but with this club there is always a wealth of experience in the room.”

Many of the club’s members say that the meetings have also helped them gain confidence, particularly as a result of the short introductions they make at the start of the meetings and the presentations they are required to make on a rota basis.

“Every week one of our members will give a short presentation, which is taken very seriously,” says John. “People ask questions and bring their own experiences to the discussion.”

The result of this, and of the subsequent chance to circulate and chat, is that the members truly get to know about each other and their businesses.

“At some business networking events you can come away with a handful of business cards yet not knowing anyone’s name – here it’s different; it’s friendly and sociable.”

While only one person from each type of business is allowed to join the club, it currently has vacancies for people from a wide number of different professions, including an insurance broker, a solicitor, a chiropractor and other various trades or professions. Anyone interested is invited to get in touch. There is no pressure to pay an annual membership fee until after your third visit.

You can register at www.southwalesbusinessclub.co.uk or email mark@markadamsestates.co.uk.

You can also call the club on 01792 341289

3/29/2016 10:21:23 AM

Awards evening

Networking

Starship student entrepreneurship awards evening Where? Creative Bubble, Cradock Street, Swansea city centre Tell me more: University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) held its inaugural Starship student entrepreneurship awards evening on February 4.

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3/29/2016 1:44:39 PM

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3/29/2016 10:22:09 AM

Launch event

Networking

Launch of Swansea Bay City Region’s new marketing suite Tell me more: Sir Terry Matthews launches the new marketing suite for Swansea Bay City Region in the Great Hall, Swansea University Bay Campus on March 16

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3/29/2016 5:14:23 PM

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3/29/2016 10:22:29 AM

Networking

The annual Swansea Bay Food Tourism Conference Tell me more: The event took place at Sketty Hall, Swansea on March 14

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3/29/2016 1:46:37 PM

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3/29/2016 10:22:47 AM

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3/29/2016 10:23:01 AM

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3/29/2016 4:30:27 PM

Caravans

Computers

Document Management

Computer Problems?

NEED EXTRA SPACE?

DIGITISE YOUR DOCUMENTS

Inexpensive Repair with Care!

Freephone:

0800 9551 122 2 BED £43,995 2 BED £32,995

2 BED £17,995

(8.30am – 8.00pm.

7 days a week)

No call-out charge No fix, no fee Quick response We travel to you 9am-9pm Mon-Sun Homes & Businesses

• Documents & Drawings • Microfilm & Slides • Books & Delicate Items • Archiving & Storage • Document Management • Data Conversion

01792 346109 info@thecomputerchap.com www.thecomputerchap.com 2 BED

£9,995

Check out our deals online at

©LW

www.valecaravansales.com

For each referral that we see...

Tel: 01792 581441 www.tmt.co.uk

You will receive £10 for free! ©LW

Funeral Directors

Dry Cleaners

City Dry Cleaners

live your life now

Professional Laundry & Ironing Services

and plan ahead with us Pre-pay for your funeral today and make life easier for your loved ones

City Dry Cleaners 16 Nelson Street, Swansea SA1 3QE

you want and pay for your funeral director’s services at today’s prices, relieving your family of any worries or uncertainty at a distressing time.

Tel: 01792 466422 www.citydrycleanersswansea.co.uk

2 SUITS FOR THE PRICE OF

01792 771232 www.john-edwards-funerals.co.uk Email: alan@john-edwards-funeral.co.uk

©LW

Phone Alan or Sian for a free no obligation quote, or for just a chat about your options.

1

VALID UNTIL END OF FEBRUARY

©LW

The Independent Way funeral plan provides complete peace of mind for you and your family – and could save you money.

You choose the funeral

01792 545570 or email services@swwmedia.co.uk

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Everything your event needs...

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•

Versatile meeting spaces across two unique beachfront locations

•

Excellent event catering

•

700-seat auditorium, fine dining for up to 400 guests and breakout spaces to suit all your event needs

•

On-site accommodation and a range of on-site facilities including bars, gyms, cafés, a bank, libraries and supermarkets

•

Event support delivered by a team of experienced event professionals

For your next event in Swansea Bay get in touch now: events@swansea.ac.uk Tel: 01792 295665 eventsandhospitality.wales

www.swanseabaybusiness.com

SWANSEA BAY

BUSINESS LIFE

swansea bay

2016

Principal sponsor

SPECIAL 20 - PAGE SUPPLEMENT

Category sponsors

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YOUNG BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR

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Future events...

Swansea Bay Business Life Top 100 Awards September 16 Women in Business Awards October 7 Welcome drinks were kindly sponsored by UWTSD

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