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www.bristolpost.co.uk

CALL THE EXPERTS

Outsourcing special report:When to and when not to – p8&9

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

What Bristol’s open data projectcould mean for you – page 2

TOAST TO OUR FINALISTS

Women in Business finalistsenjoy a warm reception – p10

MITIE ROLE MODELOur outgoing Bristol and Bath Woman of the Yeartalks about business growth, workplace diversityand learning to sing in Latin – see pages 6&7

THE BIG INTERVIEW

112015MAR

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2 We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 3We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

Fu n d ra i se r SMEs

Land Rover thetop sponsor forcity gala dinner� FUNDRAISING for a Bristolc h i l d re n ’s charity has gone up agear, with the announcement of anew platinum sponsor for The LordMayor’s Charity Gala Dinner.

Guy Salmon Land Rover Bristol,based in Brislington, has agreed tobe the event’s top sponsor.

Money raised at the charity galadinner, which is supported by theBristol Post, is going to The LordMayor of Bristol’s Children Appeal.

The volunteer-led charity helpsthe city’s most disadvantagedchildren, giving them vouchers forfood, clothing and gifts atChristmas.

The car dealership is the latestcompany to offer its support,following the announcement of‘M i l l i o n a i re s ’ Mentor’ Bev James asthe first gold sponsor. Legal firmAshfords LLP agreed to becomegold sponsor for the gala dinner,

Te c h n o l o g y

Smarter city Broadband link thataims to improve our urban lives

BRISTOL is about to becomean open laboratory for busi-nesses to find new ways tomake the city smarter anddevelop technology and soft-

ware to solve urban problems.The Bristol is Open project, a joint

venture between the University ofBristol and the city council, has cre-ated a sophisticated digital researchinfrastructure across the city.

The network is made up of a ring ofsuper-fast fibre broadband connect-ing At-Bristol, the Watershed and En-gine Shed, and a so-called “mesh”network across a wider area using1,500 lampposts.

It is only possible because morethan 10 years ago the council bought anetwork of redundant ducts from aTV cable company.

Now the fibre in them has beenupgraded along the Brunel Mile fromTemple Meads station to the ss GreatBritain and into the Harbourside andMillennium Square.

It all links to the university’sBlueCrystal 2 super computer,housed in Park Row, to allowhigh-speed processing of the data.

Partners in the project will be ableto experiment and develop new solu-tions for the challenges of modernlife. These could involve ma-chine-to-machine communications –the so-called internet of things,driverless cars, sensors to monitorthe health of citizens and very largedata transfers that will make it pos-sible for global collaboration on re-search projects.

Bristol Mayor George Fergusonsaid: “Cities across the globe have toface up to the looming challengesposed by increased population,scarcer resources and a changing cli-m at e.

“Bristol is Open is a project thatwill improve our understanding of

what technology can do to overcomethe challenges faced by cities aroundthe world.”

He added: “Our year as EuropeanGreen Capital is the perfect time totake these first steps towards build-ing the model of the cleaner, greenercity of the future.”

University Vice Chancellor Sir EricThomas said the city was renownedas a centre for digital innovation.

“It is no surprise that this city leadsthe way in developing solutions to themajor issues facing urban life today,”he said.

The project aims to create an openprogrammable city, open because thecode and methodology is shared, andprogrammable as it collects datagathered from a range of sensorequipment around Bristol which will

be used to develop new applications tomake the city work better. That couldbe a way of turning out the lights in abuilding or controlling complextraffic signals.

The first partners have been namedwith a memorandum of understand-ing signed with Japanese IT servicesfirm NEC Corporation. A partner-ship is also developing with Bristol’stwin city of Guangzhou in China.

NEC director of strategy and solu-tions Dejan Bojic said: “This is a trulygroundbreaking smart city project.”

The aim is to also involve small andmedium sized enterprises. Blu Wire-less, based at the Engine Shed, hasalready played a part in developingthe wireless technology.

The infrastructure has been in-stalled and the network will be tested

and developed from April to Junewith a goal of opening it up to otherpartners before the end of this year.

The project has been funded withsupport from the Government’sSuper Connected Cities programmeand Innovate UK.

Stephen Hilton, director of BristolFutures at Bristol City Council andBristol Is Open board member, said:“The creation of this innovative di-gital research infrastructure hasalready raised Bristol’s profile in theinternational debate about how andwhy to create liveable smart cities.

“Over the coming months andyears, as results emerge from theresearch and experimentation, I amcertain there will be many positivebenefits and opportunities for every-one involved.”

Ae ros pa ce

US firm confirms order for 55 Airbus planes

Engineering firm one of the best in BritainWo r k p l a ces

Shining lights Th edynamic city firmsleading the way

AN American leasing company hasfirmed up an order for 55 new Airbusaircraft worth millions for theplane-maker which employs 4,000people at Filton near Bristol.

Air Lease Corporation is buying 25A330-900 neo (new engine option) and30 A321LR, two of the latest fuel-ef-ficient models.

ALC was the first to sign up for thenewest member of Airbus’ w i d e - b o dy

family, the A330neo, announcing acommitment for 25 A330-900neo dur-ing the launch at the 2014 Farnbor-ough International Airshow.

It was also the first to commit to theA321LR, the newest variant of theA321neo, after signing a Memor-andum of Understanding for 30 at thelaunch in January 2015.

Chairman and chief executiveSteven F. Udvar-Házy explained why

the firm, which will lease the planeson to carriers that don’t want theoverheads of owning their planes,was so keen to support new aircraft.

“We are proud to be adding thesenewest generation Airbus aircraft toour portfolio and to have played apart in launching these latest gen-eration, efficient aircraft,” he said.“We see significant market appetitefor Airbus’ A321LR and A330neo

models, offering operators exactlywhat they want - even more range,even better economics and superiorlevel of passenger comfort.”

Airbus chief operating officer, cus-tomers, John Leahy said: “ALC isalways ahead of the game and we arehappy to have them on board from thestart with our latest models.”

The wings of all Airbus’ commer-cial planes are designed in Filton.

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

� A NUMBER of local firms have beencelebrated as among the best places to work.

Engineering firm Hydrock, based inAlmondsbury, was ranked 13th in theSunday Times Best 100 Companiesto Work For list.

Managing director Dr BrianMcConnell, pictur ed, said: “Weare thrilled. It’s a recognition ofthe importance we attach toinvesting in the wellbeing andmotivation of our most valuableasset – our people.

“We are now a 400-strongcompany and we aim to offer ouremployees a challenging and interesting workagenda focused on shaping the future of thebuilt environment, and in addition we look to

provide a family-oriented, healthy work/lifebalance. Our commitments range from simple

things such as the provision of fresh fruit inthe office and encouraging our people

to compete in various sports andcharitable ventures, through tohosting a Challenge Day thatbrings together all our staff forteam-focused activities andbriefings on the strategic directionof the business.”

Software consultancy Softwire,based in Colston Tower, was rated

20th in the list. Business West, basedin Abbots Leigh, was ranked 80th in the

best not-for-profit companies list andaccountancy firm EY, which has a major officein Bristol, was 14th the ‘big companies’ list.

A RECRUITMENT firm, McDonald’sfranchise, pension provider and aconstruction machinery hire busi-ness from Bristol have all beenhailed as among the country’s most

inspiring small and medium-sized enter-p r i s e s.

Ten companies based in the city are listedin the London Stock Exchange’s 1,000 Com-panies to Inspire Britain list, which iden-tifies the fastest growing and most dynamicSMEs in the UK.

Among them was People Source, an ITrecruitment company which recently movedto new offices in city centre off VictoriaS t re e t .

The firm has doubled its revenue from £10million to £20 million in the last year andcontinues to grow.

Chairman and founder Jason Baker said:“It is an honour to be identified as one of theLondon Stock Exchange 1,000 Companies toInspire Britain – a testament to how ourunique culture influences the growth of thebu s i n e s s.

“People Source is a company defined anddifferentiated by its people centricethos, which puts us on the map asan agency that stands out fromthe crowd. This recognitiondemonstrates that taking awholesome approach to re-cruitment and balancing itwith a great work culturemakes for a highly successfulbu s i n e s s. ”

The company’s culture andworking environment is one of thethings that makes it stand out. It’s newoffices include a pool table and arcade ma-chines, where Jason can be found taking onall comers at lunchtimes.

The other Bristol-based firms to featurea re :� Caspian Networks, the McDonald’s fran-

chise network based in the Horsefair inBristol but with fast food restaurants acrossthe area, headed up by entrepreneur MikeGuerin� Curtis Banks, a self-invested pensionscheme provider based in Temple Quay� Dancourt Plant Hire, which provides ma-chinery to the construction industry from itsSouth Liberty Lane base in South Bristol� Gas World, a central heating, renewableand fireplace installer based in St Anne’s� Nasa Umbrella, an umbrella company thathandles payroll and employee services forcontractors, based in Fairfax Street in thecity centre� Rowan Dartington Holdings, investmentmanagement and stockbroker based in Col-ston Tower but with offices spread across theUK� Safe House Holdings, trading from theoffice of Bishop Fleming in Queen Square, itmanages other holding companies� Simplify Digital, the UK’s largest freedigital TV, broadband and home phoneswitching service based in Temple Quay� Vetasi, an Aztec West-based enterpriseasset management, IT service managementand property portfolio management com-pany, which has offices around the world.

Xavier Rolet, chief executive, LondonStock Exchange Group said compiling thereport is a part of the organisation’s broader

campaign to support UK high growthcompanies in their journeys from

start-up to stardom and to “c re at ean entrepreneurship revolu-tion”.

“I’m delighted that a strongalliance between UK Govern-ment, financial market parti-cipants, investors,

entrepreneurs and companieshas been created to support these

inspiring businesses,” he added.Commenting on the report, Chan-

cellor George Osborne, p i c t u re d , said: “T hisis a remarkable list of outstanding com-panies. These businesses have been built bythe drive, commitment and vision of Bri-t a i n’s entrepreneurs and business leaders. Itis my privilege to congratulate them all.”

The Bristol MBAFind out moreOpen Evening 25 March, Watershed, Bristol City Centrewww.uwe.ac.uk/bristolmba

due to be held on April 30 at theBristol Marriott Royal Hotel.

Tickets for the event have soldout, and the charity’s events teammembers are encouraging peopleinterested in attending to add theirnames to the waiting list.

The charity gala dinner is targetedat the city’s leading businesspeople, and ‘movers and shakers’.

The charity has also appealed forraffle prizes as well as high-valueand money-can’t-buy auctionprizes. Head of business AmandaBinner-Vaughan for Guy SalmonLand Rover Bristol said: “The teamis delighted to be supporting thisevent. It will be a great evening forthe city’s business community andmost importantly we will be strivingto raise as much money as possiblefor this worthwhile local charity.”

Companies interested insponsorship packages or indonating prizes should emailinfo@galadinner2015.com. Go tohttps://galadinner2015.eventbrite.co.uk for the waiting list.

� People Source chairman Jason Baker and MD Tim Allen

� From left, Amanda Binner-Vaughn(Guy Salmon, Head of Business),Bruce Simmonds (Chairman of theLord Mayor of Bristol’s childrenappeal), Sebastian Morgan-Giles(Guy Salmon, Marketing Manager)

� Engineers upgradethe fibre cables alongthe Brunel Mile

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2 We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 3We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

Fu n d ra i se r SMEs

Land Rover thetop sponsor forcity gala dinner� FUNDRAISING for a Bristolc h i l d re n ’s charity has gone up agear, with the announcement of anew platinum sponsor for The LordMayor’s Charity Gala Dinner.

Guy Salmon Land Rover Bristol,based in Brislington, has agreed tobe the event’s top sponsor.

Money raised at the charity galadinner, which is supported by theBristol Post, is going to The LordMayor of Bristol’s Children Appeal.

The volunteer-led charity helpsthe city’s most disadvantagedchildren, giving them vouchers forfood, clothing and gifts atChristmas.

The car dealership is the latestcompany to offer its support,following the announcement of‘M i l l i o n a i re s ’ Mentor’ Bev James asthe first gold sponsor. Legal firmAshfords LLP agreed to becomegold sponsor for the gala dinner,

Te c h n o l o g y

Smarter city Broadband link thataims to improve our urban lives

BRISTOL is about to becomean open laboratory for busi-nesses to find new ways tomake the city smarter anddevelop technology and soft-

ware to solve urban problems.The Bristol is Open project, a joint

venture between the University ofBristol and the city council, has cre-ated a sophisticated digital researchinfrastructure across the city.

The network is made up of a ring ofsuper-fast fibre broadband connect-ing At-Bristol, the Watershed and En-gine Shed, and a so-called “mesh”network across a wider area using1,500 lampposts.

It is only possible because morethan 10 years ago the council bought anetwork of redundant ducts from aTV cable company.

Now the fibre in them has beenupgraded along the Brunel Mile fromTemple Meads station to the ss GreatBritain and into the Harbourside andMillennium Square.

It all links to the university’sBlueCrystal 2 super computer,housed in Park Row, to allowhigh-speed processing of the data.

Partners in the project will be ableto experiment and develop new solu-tions for the challenges of modernlife. These could involve ma-chine-to-machine communications –the so-called internet of things,driverless cars, sensors to monitorthe health of citizens and very largedata transfers that will make it pos-sible for global collaboration on re-search projects.

Bristol Mayor George Fergusonsaid: “Cities across the globe have toface up to the looming challengesposed by increased population,scarcer resources and a changing cli-m at e.

“Bristol is Open is a project thatwill improve our understanding of

what technology can do to overcomethe challenges faced by cities aroundthe world.”

He added: “Our year as EuropeanGreen Capital is the perfect time totake these first steps towards build-ing the model of the cleaner, greenercity of the future.”

University Vice Chancellor Sir EricThomas said the city was renownedas a centre for digital innovation.

“It is no surprise that this city leadsthe way in developing solutions to themajor issues facing urban life today,”he said.

The project aims to create an openprogrammable city, open because thecode and methodology is shared, andprogrammable as it collects datagathered from a range of sensorequipment around Bristol which will

be used to develop new applications tomake the city work better. That couldbe a way of turning out the lights in abuilding or controlling complextraffic signals.

The first partners have been namedwith a memorandum of understand-ing signed with Japanese IT servicesfirm NEC Corporation. A partner-ship is also developing with Bristol’stwin city of Guangzhou in China.

NEC director of strategy and solu-tions Dejan Bojic said: “This is a trulygroundbreaking smart city project.”

The aim is to also involve small andmedium sized enterprises. Blu Wire-less, based at the Engine Shed, hasalready played a part in developingthe wireless technology.

The infrastructure has been in-stalled and the network will be tested

and developed from April to Junewith a goal of opening it up to otherpartners before the end of this year.

The project has been funded withsupport from the Government’sSuper Connected Cities programmeand Innovate UK.

Stephen Hilton, director of BristolFutures at Bristol City Council andBristol Is Open board member, said:“The creation of this innovative di-gital research infrastructure hasalready raised Bristol’s profile in theinternational debate about how andwhy to create liveable smart cities.

“Over the coming months andyears, as results emerge from theresearch and experimentation, I amcertain there will be many positivebenefits and opportunities for every-one involved.”

Ae ros pa ce

US firm confirms order for 55 Airbus planes

Engineering firm one of the best in BritainWo r k p l a ces

Shining lights Th edynamic city firmsleading the way

AN American leasing company hasfirmed up an order for 55 new Airbusaircraft worth millions for theplane-maker which employs 4,000people at Filton near Bristol.

Air Lease Corporation is buying 25A330-900 neo (new engine option) and30 A321LR, two of the latest fuel-ef-ficient models.

ALC was the first to sign up for thenewest member of Airbus’ w i d e - b o dy

family, the A330neo, announcing acommitment for 25 A330-900neo dur-ing the launch at the 2014 Farnbor-ough International Airshow.

It was also the first to commit to theA321LR, the newest variant of theA321neo, after signing a Memor-andum of Understanding for 30 at thelaunch in January 2015.

Chairman and chief executiveSteven F. Udvar-Házy explained why

the firm, which will lease the planeson to carriers that don’t want theoverheads of owning their planes,was so keen to support new aircraft.

“We are proud to be adding thesenewest generation Airbus aircraft toour portfolio and to have played apart in launching these latest gen-eration, efficient aircraft,” he said.“We see significant market appetitefor Airbus’ A321LR and A330neo

models, offering operators exactlywhat they want - even more range,even better economics and superiorlevel of passenger comfort.”

Airbus chief operating officer, cus-tomers, John Leahy said: “ALC isalways ahead of the game and we arehappy to have them on board from thestart with our latest models.”

The wings of all Airbus’ commer-cial planes are designed in Filton.

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

� A NUMBER of local firms have beencelebrated as among the best places to work.

Engineering firm Hydrock, based inAlmondsbury, was ranked 13th in theSunday Times Best 100 Companiesto Work For list.

Managing director Dr BrianMcConnell, pictur ed, said: “Weare thrilled. It’s a recognition ofthe importance we attach toinvesting in the wellbeing andmotivation of our most valuableasset – our people.

“We are now a 400-strongcompany and we aim to offer ouremployees a challenging and interesting workagenda focused on shaping the future of thebuilt environment, and in addition we look to

provide a family-oriented, healthy work/lifebalance. Our commitments range from simple

things such as the provision of fresh fruit inthe office and encouraging our people

to compete in various sports andcharitable ventures, through tohosting a Challenge Day thatbrings together all our staff forteam-focused activities andbriefings on the strategic directionof the business.”

Software consultancy Softwire,based in Colston Tower, was rated

20th in the list. Business West, basedin Abbots Leigh, was ranked 80th in the

best not-for-profit companies list andaccountancy firm EY, which has a major officein Bristol, was 14th the ‘big companies’ list.

A RECRUITMENT firm, McDonald’sfranchise, pension provider and aconstruction machinery hire busi-ness from Bristol have all beenhailed as among the country’s most

inspiring small and medium-sized enter-p r i s e s.

Ten companies based in the city are listedin the London Stock Exchange’s 1,000 Com-panies to Inspire Britain list, which iden-tifies the fastest growing and most dynamicSMEs in the UK.

Among them was People Source, an ITrecruitment company which recently movedto new offices in city centre off VictoriaS t re e t .

The firm has doubled its revenue from £10million to £20 million in the last year andcontinues to grow.

Chairman and founder Jason Baker said:“It is an honour to be identified as one of theLondon Stock Exchange 1,000 Companies toInspire Britain – a testament to how ourunique culture influences the growth of thebu s i n e s s.

“People Source is a company defined anddifferentiated by its people centricethos, which puts us on the map asan agency that stands out fromthe crowd. This recognitiondemonstrates that taking awholesome approach to re-cruitment and balancing itwith a great work culturemakes for a highly successfulbu s i n e s s. ”

The company’s culture andworking environment is one of thethings that makes it stand out. It’s newoffices include a pool table and arcade ma-chines, where Jason can be found taking onall comers at lunchtimes.

The other Bristol-based firms to featurea re :� Caspian Networks, the McDonald’s fran-

chise network based in the Horsefair inBristol but with fast food restaurants acrossthe area, headed up by entrepreneur MikeGuerin� Curtis Banks, a self-invested pensionscheme provider based in Temple Quay� Dancourt Plant Hire, which provides ma-chinery to the construction industry from itsSouth Liberty Lane base in South Bristol� Gas World, a central heating, renewableand fireplace installer based in St Anne’s� Nasa Umbrella, an umbrella company thathandles payroll and employee services forcontractors, based in Fairfax Street in thecity centre� Rowan Dartington Holdings, investmentmanagement and stockbroker based in Col-ston Tower but with offices spread across theUK� Safe House Holdings, trading from theoffice of Bishop Fleming in Queen Square, itmanages other holding companies� Simplify Digital, the UK’s largest freedigital TV, broadband and home phoneswitching service based in Temple Quay� Vetasi, an Aztec West-based enterpriseasset management, IT service managementand property portfolio management com-pany, which has offices around the world.

Xavier Rolet, chief executive, LondonStock Exchange Group said compiling thereport is a part of the organisation’s broader

campaign to support UK high growthcompanies in their journeys from

start-up to stardom and to “c re at ean entrepreneurship revolu-tion”.

“I’m delighted that a strongalliance between UK Govern-ment, financial market parti-cipants, investors,

entrepreneurs and companieshas been created to support these

inspiring businesses,” he added.Commenting on the report, Chan-

cellor George Osborne, p i c t u re d , said: “T hisis a remarkable list of outstanding com-panies. These businesses have been built bythe drive, commitment and vision of Bri-t a i n’s entrepreneurs and business leaders. Itis my privilege to congratulate them all.”

The Bristol MBAFind out moreOpen Evening 25 March, Watershed, Bristol City Centrewww.uwe.ac.uk/bristolmba

due to be held on April 30 at theBristol Marriott Royal Hotel.

Tickets for the event have soldout, and the charity’s events teammembers are encouraging peopleinterested in attending to add theirnames to the waiting list.

The charity gala dinner is targetedat the city’s leading businesspeople, and ‘movers and shakers’.

The charity has also appealed forraffle prizes as well as high-valueand money-can’t-buy auctionprizes. Head of business AmandaBinner-Vaughan for Guy SalmonLand Rover Bristol said: “The teamis delighted to be supporting thisevent. It will be a great evening forthe city’s business community andmost importantly we will be strivingto raise as much money as possiblefor this worthwhile local charity.”

Companies interested insponsorship packages or indonating prizes should emailinfo@galadinner2015.com. Go tohttps://galadinner2015.eventbrite.co.uk for the waiting list.

� People Source chairman Jason Baker and MD Tim Allen

� From left, Amanda Binner-Vaughn(Guy Salmon, Head of Business),Bruce Simmonds (Chairman of theLord Mayor of Bristol’s childrenappeal), Sebastian Morgan-Giles(Guy Salmon, Marketing Manager)

� Engineers upgradethe fibre cables alongthe Brunel Mile

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4 We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 5We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

Making sure the lightswill stay on at No 10

Selling space Growing events firmexpands to offer storage services

A GROWING events businesswhich recently expanded itsheadquarters has come upwith a way to profit from allthe extra space – by launch-

ing a storage company.Clunk Storage, Support and Studio

is a new arm of SXS Events, whichwas set up in Bristol 16 years ago.

The new business will offer ser-vices including storage, asset man-

agement, logistics, safety inspectionand maintenance to its mainly Lon-don client base of marketing, publicrelations and events-related compan-i e s.

Founder Johnny Palmer said: “Fo l -lowing the purchase of our freeholdwarehouses in 2014 we are now in aposition to offer our clients a newrange of services.

“We have had a fantastic uptakefrom several of our London clients –I think there is a real demand forthose services.

“Our location in Bristol is ac-cessible for our London clients butalso allows us to offer these services

at a competitive rate.“I really see Bristol as perfectly

positioned to service the affluentLondon market and that is whatClunk is doing a great job ofdoing.”

SXS Events has worked on a sim-ilar philosophy for some time, withmost of its clients in the capital buttaking advantage of relatively lowerproperty costs and overheads beingbased in Bristol.

Johnny also believes the city beinga great place to live and relativelyaffordable helps with staff retentionand recruitment too.

The events business was founded

A FINANCE technology company hasmoved its 40-strong team to a newoffice in central Bristol.

Momentum Financial Technology,formerly known as Blue Speck Fin-ancial, has moved to 10 Templeback.

The Bristol-born financial firm,which announced plans to open a new120-person site in November, hasmoved to the top floor of the build-ing.

The 13,000 sq ft office space hasbeen designed to offer a quirky, flex-ible working environment which in-cludes creative breakout zones, acommunal canteen and up-to-datemeeting spaces.

The concept of workplace trans-formation is a rapidly growing trend

in Bristol as businesses look for waysto change how their staff work andinteract with their office environ-ment.

Jonathan Lawes, director of CubeReal Estate, which asset manages theproperty on behalf of owner BensonElliot, said: “The way people spendtheir working day is changing and weknew that to meet these demands, weneed to offer flexible terms and givebusinesses the opportunity to maketheir mark on the building.

“This trend is particularly preval-ent amongst tech businesses as theylook to fall in line with sustainabilitymeasures as well as the ‘smart work-ing’ conce pt.

“In Bristol, there are rising de-

mands for office space with a realfocus on innovative design.

“The way Momentum has adaptedthe space in response to this is out-standing and we hope it will become abenchmark for future tenants at thebu i l d i n g . ”

Toby Hughes, chief executive at Mo-mentum Financial Technology, said:“We were amazed at how quickly thefit out was completed and even moreamazed when we saw the finishedproduct in the flesh.

“The space offers us with all weneed and more, including capacity tofurther expand our growing teamwhich we hope to have in place byearly 2016.”

The office was designed by Area Sq

Finance firm moves into new base

Brickies in demandin the South West� THE building trades most indemand in the South West overthe next five years have beenrevealed by the ConstructionIndustry Training Board (CITB),as new research shows thenumber of construction firmstaking on apprentices is up by athird in the past year.

The highest demand over thenext five years in the region willbe for bricklayers, with 470needed each year, andplasterers, with 420 needed.Other in-demand trades includelabourers and glaziers.

These jobs figures, released inNational Apprenticeship Week,are backed by a CITB survey of1,500 employers, which reveals:� The percentage of firmstaking on apprentices is up 30per cent, with one in four (26 percent) firms taking on apprenticesin 2014 compared with one infive (20 per cent) in 2013.�25 per cent of companies saythey are likely to take onapprentices in 2015 - downslightly from 27 per cent in 2013,but significantly higher than 15per cent back in 2011.

And 75 per cent of firmsreported that they are eithersatisfied or very satisfied withtheir apprentices.

Gillian Cain, sector strategymanager for the South West atCITB, said: “These figures revealthat as our industry returns togrowth, more apprentices arebeing recruited and are makinga real difference to businesses.

“But the skills gap remains athreat. During NationalApprenticeship Week we wanttalented young people toconsider a rewarding career inconstruction – as our figuresshow, brilliant opportunities areout there.”

Tricky job nears end� HELM Construction iswrapping up a tricky year-longbuild on Horfield Road at theback of the Bristol RoyalInfirmary providing nine newapartments, eight of which havebeen sold off plan.

Paul Evans, MD of the Austfirm, said: “The build presenteda multitude of obstacles fromaccess difficulties to aparticularly narrow frontage.”

Triodos showsall-round growth� ETHICAL bank Triodos hasgrown its lending, deposits andcustomers over the past year.

The Bristol-based business nowhas 46,000 UK customers, up bynine per cent according its 2014 fullyear results.

Savings grew by £102 million to£754 million with just over half thegrowth from business bankingdeposits and the bank’s lending,aimed at sustainable organisations,rose by nine per cent to £565million. Hydro energy, socialhousing and faith group projectswere the main drivers.

UK managing director CharlesMiddleton said: “Sustainablebanking means using money withconscious thought about itsenvironmental, cultural and socialimpacts, with the support of saversand investors who want to make ad i ff e re n c e .

“We use their deposits to lend tosustainable entrepreneurs workingin the real economy, so they candeliver real impact.

“And we are 100 per centtransparent; we give everyone thechance to see every loan we makeand the impact being achievedthanks to our customers’ savings -from the solar panels on the roof atYeo Valley’s Holt Farm to acommunity shop in the Cotswolds.”

in a garage in 1998 as a sound andlighting provider.

Now based in a large warehouse inBrislington it has staged more than5,000 events to date and has grown 50per cent year on year for the last fourye a r s.

It has recently developed in housegraphics and video production fa-cilities to add to its offering forcl i e n t s.

Johnny added: “We are so proud ofour growth.

“Keeping established clients andalways looking for new ways of im-proving the quality and scope of ouroffering has been key.”

Businesses in darkon energy savings� BUSINESSES in Bristol are inthe dark on energy purchasing asnew research shows nearly half(49 per cent) have never switchedsuppliers or tariffs.

Three-quarters of SMEs inBristol believe they pay too muchfor their utilities.

Energy consultancy Utilitywisespoke to 169 Bristol firms andfound that although almost one infive (18 per cent) switched in thelast year, many avoided moving tonew suppliers and tariffs due tothe belief it is not worth the hassle(33 per cent) and the return wouldnot outweigh the time it takes toorganise (23 per cent).

Deputy CEO Andrew Richardsonsaid: “There has been much in thenews about domestic customersswitching to get better energydeals. Businesses in Bristol can dothe same and there are realsavings to be made.”

Matrix meets appetitefor food industry jobs

E n e rg y C o n st r u c t i o n

C o n st r u c t i o n

Te c h n o l o g y

U t i l i t i es

BankingWa re h o u s i n g

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Hannah has worked at City of BristolCollege for 4 years, helping employersin the creativeand leisureindustries recruitapprentices andprovide trainingfor existing staff.

Q Which business sectors have youbeen working closely with?

A City of Bristol College has excellent,long standing relationships within thecatering and hospitality, hairdressing,barbering and beauty industries inBristol and the surrounding areas.

Local employers regularly ‘giveback’ to our learners, many beingex-students themselves, through offer-ing apprenticeship opportunities, workexperience placements or by comingback into the college to provide in-spiring sessions for our learners.

As a college we work closely withindustry groups including The ChefsForum and Style Forum to understandwhere there are local skill gaps andcreate opportunities for apprentices.

We invite employers to a variety ofevents which give our students theopportunity to display their skills, meetthe employers and learn more abouttheir businesses.

Q Which business sectors arerecruiting right now?

A We have many amazingapprenticeship opportunities within allsectors of creative and leisure who arelooking for enthusiastic people to startnow. We have noticed a great increasein our vacancies for ProfessionalCookery and HospitalityApprenticeships, covering the diverserange of different employers andcuisine that Bristol has to offer. Wealso have some excellent vacanciesavailable for Beauty TherapyApprenticeships and withinHairdressing and Barbering.

Q Tell us about the new CreativeArts Apprenticeships available atthe college?

A The Creative industries areexpanding rapidly in Bristol and City ofBristol College is excited to now offera range of Creative Apprenticeshipsincluding Design, Creative and DigitalMedia, Photo Imaging and Live Eventsand Promotion. The DesignApprenticeships have already provedpopular with employers and learners,we have also just had our firstapprentice start on the new PhotoImaging Apprenticeship and we areadvertising now for an apprenticeshipopportunity within Live Events. Wehave seen a shift in this industry withemployers who traditionally recruitgraduates realising the benefits ofinvesting in growing their own talent.The creative industry is increasinglypopular with our students andapprenticeships provide students witha great opportunity to get a foot in thedoor and step into an inspiringi n d u s t r y.

The new creative apprenticeships atCity of Bristol College provide trainingfor wide range of job roles including:� Web coordinator� Trainee/ assistant photographer� Junior Graphic Designer� Venue and Stage Crew Support� Event Promotion Support Staff� Junior digital imaging technician� For more information on recruitingapprentices or training opportunitiesfor your employees contact ourEmployer Advice team at City ofBristol College on 0117 312 5020 oremail employers@cityofbristol.ac.uk.

A RECRUITMENT firm is planningmajor growth by meeting demandfor staff from the food manufac-turing industry.

Matrix, based in Clifton, has spe-cialised in IT programme and pro-ject management recruitment forthe past 19 years but has spotted thegrowing demand for fresh talent inthe food manufacturing industryand has set up a new division.

A major recruitment drive of itsown is now under way to increasethe original six-strong team to ateam of 50 consultants by the end of2015.

The move is driven by demandfor staff in areas such as engin-eering, technical, operations, HRand new product developmentwhich has grown significantlyacross the food industry over thelast few years.

Nathan Arter, managing directorat Matrix, said: “It was too good anopportunity to miss, there was anoticeable gap in the market andwe have been able to recruit con-sultants into the team with spe-cialist knowledge of that industry.

“The food manufacturing in-dustry is growing rapidly and yet

the recruitment market in this areais still relatively untouched. Withan increasing skills shortage and astatic ageing workforce, this is theperfect time to broaden our offerand help fill these jobs with fresh,young talent.”

The company has recently movedto a larger workspace within its

current offices on Queens Road,Clifton, to accommodate its growthstrate g y.

As well as its move into the foodmanufacturing market, Matrix willlook to expand in other industriesover the coming years with new,specialist divisions being createdin line with industry demand.

Re c r u i t m e n t

MANY politicians havetalked about the import-ance of keeping thelights on, regarding thefragile nature of the

UK’s energy supply.But one Weston-super-Mare busi-

ness is keeping the lights on for thep o l i t i c i a n s.

Powervamp designs and manu-factures a range of power solutions,including emergency lighting bat-tery systems – known as its ‘Ef fektarang e’ – that ensure the lights andpower stay on in public buildingsand workspaces, should mains elec-tricity fail.

And the advanced manufacturerhas supplied and installed a largequantity of its innovative EF5 ELIemergency lights inverters to Num-

ber 10 Downing Street.So as Prime Minister David

Cameron stays up all night watch-ing the General Election results rollin, or during a national emergency,he can be sure the lights willstay on regardless.

The company manu-facture a range of ad-vanced powersolutions exported tomore than 40 coun-tries around thewo rl d .

No. 10 DowningStreet is one of manybuildings it helps to keeprunning; others includeDublin Airport and Molineux Sta-dium.

Richard Roller, who started thecompany 21 years ago following acareer in engineering, said: “It’s re-warding to see Powervampproducts chosen by No. 10 to helpkeep the lights on at one of the mostimportant buildings, especially in

election year.”The Effekta range of emergency

lighting power is used across the UKand overseas, in high-risk areaswhere loss of light can endanger

people’s lives or pose a securityt h re at .

The company alsodesigns and supplies arange of otherproducts and recentlyachieved a UK manu-facturing first withthe supply of bespoke

ground power units(GPUs) to London City

Air port.Director Ken Walker said:

“We are unique as a company be-cause we often build our products tofit bespoke environments – n o b o dyelse in the UK is agile enough or hasthe skill base to deliver these ad-vanced power solutions.

“Powervamp is a real successstory for UK manufacturing andBrand Britain.”

Hannah MaddocksBusiness Development Managerfor Creative and LeisureCity of Bristol College

APPRENTICESHIPS

� Staff at recruitment firm Matrix, based in Clifton

and fitted by Sketch Studios, bothpart of the FourFront Group. Fea-tures include a table-tennis and foos-ball area, an event space and bar,

sound-proof work pods and a finan-cial wellness wall, which representsthe complexity of navigating finan-cially through your life.

� Toby Hughes, CEO at Momentum Financial Technology and JonathanLawes, director of Cube

� The Powervamp management team

� Clunk Storage in Brislington, a new business offshoot of SXS Events; inset, founder Johnny Palmer

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4 We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 5We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

Making sure the lightswill stay on at No 10

Selling space Growing events firmexpands to offer storage services

A GROWING events businesswhich recently expanded itsheadquarters has come upwith a way to profit from allthe extra space – by launch-

ing a storage company.Clunk Storage, Support and Studio

is a new arm of SXS Events, whichwas set up in Bristol 16 years ago.

The new business will offer ser-vices including storage, asset man-

agement, logistics, safety inspectionand maintenance to its mainly Lon-don client base of marketing, publicrelations and events-related compan-i e s.

Founder Johnny Palmer said: “Fo l -lowing the purchase of our freeholdwarehouses in 2014 we are now in aposition to offer our clients a newrange of services.

“We have had a fantastic uptakefrom several of our London clients –I think there is a real demand forthose services.

“Our location in Bristol is ac-cessible for our London clients butalso allows us to offer these services

at a competitive rate.“I really see Bristol as perfectly

positioned to service the affluentLondon market and that is whatClunk is doing a great job ofdoing.”

SXS Events has worked on a sim-ilar philosophy for some time, withmost of its clients in the capital buttaking advantage of relatively lowerproperty costs and overheads beingbased in Bristol.

Johnny also believes the city beinga great place to live and relativelyaffordable helps with staff retentionand recruitment too.

The events business was founded

A FINANCE technology company hasmoved its 40-strong team to a newoffice in central Bristol.

Momentum Financial Technology,formerly known as Blue Speck Fin-ancial, has moved to 10 Templeback.

The Bristol-born financial firm,which announced plans to open a new120-person site in November, hasmoved to the top floor of the build-ing.

The 13,000 sq ft office space hasbeen designed to offer a quirky, flex-ible working environment which in-cludes creative breakout zones, acommunal canteen and up-to-datemeeting spaces.

The concept of workplace trans-formation is a rapidly growing trend

in Bristol as businesses look for waysto change how their staff work andinteract with their office environ-ment.

Jonathan Lawes, director of CubeReal Estate, which asset manages theproperty on behalf of owner BensonElliot, said: “The way people spendtheir working day is changing and weknew that to meet these demands, weneed to offer flexible terms and givebusinesses the opportunity to maketheir mark on the building.

“This trend is particularly preval-ent amongst tech businesses as theylook to fall in line with sustainabilitymeasures as well as the ‘smart work-ing’ conce pt.

“In Bristol, there are rising de-

mands for office space with a realfocus on innovative design.

“The way Momentum has adaptedthe space in response to this is out-standing and we hope it will become abenchmark for future tenants at thebu i l d i n g . ”

Toby Hughes, chief executive at Mo-mentum Financial Technology, said:“We were amazed at how quickly thefit out was completed and even moreamazed when we saw the finishedproduct in the flesh.

“The space offers us with all weneed and more, including capacity tofurther expand our growing teamwhich we hope to have in place byearly 2016.”

The office was designed by Area Sq

Finance firm moves into new base

Brickies in demandin the South West� THE building trades most indemand in the South West overthe next five years have beenrevealed by the ConstructionIndustry Training Board (CITB),as new research shows thenumber of construction firmstaking on apprentices is up by athird in the past year.

The highest demand over thenext five years in the region willbe for bricklayers, with 470needed each year, andplasterers, with 420 needed.Other in-demand trades includelabourers and glaziers.

These jobs figures, released inNational Apprenticeship Week,are backed by a CITB survey of1,500 employers, which reveals:� The percentage of firmstaking on apprentices is up 30per cent, with one in four (26 percent) firms taking on apprenticesin 2014 compared with one infive (20 per cent) in 2013.�25 per cent of companies saythey are likely to take onapprentices in 2015 - downslightly from 27 per cent in 2013,but significantly higher than 15per cent back in 2011.

And 75 per cent of firmsreported that they are eithersatisfied or very satisfied withtheir apprentices.

Gillian Cain, sector strategymanager for the South West atCITB, said: “These figures revealthat as our industry returns togrowth, more apprentices arebeing recruited and are makinga real difference to businesses.

“But the skills gap remains athreat. During NationalApprenticeship Week we wanttalented young people toconsider a rewarding career inconstruction – as our figuresshow, brilliant opportunities areout there.”

Tricky job nears end� HELM Construction iswrapping up a tricky year-longbuild on Horfield Road at theback of the Bristol RoyalInfirmary providing nine newapartments, eight of which havebeen sold off plan.

Paul Evans, MD of the Austfirm, said: “The build presenteda multitude of obstacles fromaccess difficulties to aparticularly narrow frontage.”

Triodos showsall-round growth� ETHICAL bank Triodos hasgrown its lending, deposits andcustomers over the past year.

The Bristol-based business nowhas 46,000 UK customers, up bynine per cent according its 2014 fullyear results.

Savings grew by £102 million to£754 million with just over half thegrowth from business bankingdeposits and the bank’s lending,aimed at sustainable organisations,rose by nine per cent to £565million. Hydro energy, socialhousing and faith group projectswere the main drivers.

UK managing director CharlesMiddleton said: “Sustainablebanking means using money withconscious thought about itsenvironmental, cultural and socialimpacts, with the support of saversand investors who want to make ad i ff e re n c e .

“We use their deposits to lend tosustainable entrepreneurs workingin the real economy, so they candeliver real impact.

“And we are 100 per centtransparent; we give everyone thechance to see every loan we makeand the impact being achievedthanks to our customers’ savings -from the solar panels on the roof atYeo Valley’s Holt Farm to acommunity shop in the Cotswolds.”

in a garage in 1998 as a sound andlighting provider.

Now based in a large warehouse inBrislington it has staged more than5,000 events to date and has grown 50per cent year on year for the last fourye a r s.

It has recently developed in housegraphics and video production fa-cilities to add to its offering forcl i e n t s.

Johnny added: “We are so proud ofour growth.

“Keeping established clients andalways looking for new ways of im-proving the quality and scope of ouroffering has been key.”

Businesses in darkon energy savings� BUSINESSES in Bristol are inthe dark on energy purchasing asnew research shows nearly half(49 per cent) have never switchedsuppliers or tariffs.

Three-quarters of SMEs inBristol believe they pay too muchfor their utilities.

Energy consultancy Utilitywisespoke to 169 Bristol firms andfound that although almost one infive (18 per cent) switched in thelast year, many avoided moving tonew suppliers and tariffs due tothe belief it is not worth the hassle(33 per cent) and the return wouldnot outweigh the time it takes toorganise (23 per cent).

Deputy CEO Andrew Richardsonsaid: “There has been much in thenews about domestic customersswitching to get better energydeals. Businesses in Bristol can dothe same and there are realsavings to be made.”

Matrix meets appetitefor food industry jobs

E n e rg y C o n st r u c t i o n

C o n st r u c t i o n

Te c h n o l o g y

U t i l i t i es

BankingWa re h o u s i n g

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Hannah has worked at City of BristolCollege for 4 years, helping employersin the creativeand leisureindustries recruitapprentices andprovide trainingfor existing staff.

Q Which business sectors have youbeen working closely with?

A City of Bristol College has excellent,long standing relationships within thecatering and hospitality, hairdressing,barbering and beauty industries inBristol and the surrounding areas.

Local employers regularly ‘giveback’ to our learners, many beingex-students themselves, through offer-ing apprenticeship opportunities, workexperience placements or by comingback into the college to provide in-spiring sessions for our learners.

As a college we work closely withindustry groups including The ChefsForum and Style Forum to understandwhere there are local skill gaps andcreate opportunities for apprentices.

We invite employers to a variety ofevents which give our students theopportunity to display their skills, meetthe employers and learn more abouttheir businesses.

Q Which business sectors arerecruiting right now?

A We have many amazingapprenticeship opportunities within allsectors of creative and leisure who arelooking for enthusiastic people to startnow. We have noticed a great increasein our vacancies for ProfessionalCookery and HospitalityApprenticeships, covering the diverserange of different employers andcuisine that Bristol has to offer. Wealso have some excellent vacanciesavailable for Beauty TherapyApprenticeships and withinHairdressing and Barbering.

Q Tell us about the new CreativeArts Apprenticeships available atthe college?

A The Creative industries areexpanding rapidly in Bristol and City ofBristol College is excited to now offera range of Creative Apprenticeshipsincluding Design, Creative and DigitalMedia, Photo Imaging and Live Eventsand Promotion. The DesignApprenticeships have already provedpopular with employers and learners,we have also just had our firstapprentice start on the new PhotoImaging Apprenticeship and we areadvertising now for an apprenticeshipopportunity within Live Events. Wehave seen a shift in this industry withemployers who traditionally recruitgraduates realising the benefits ofinvesting in growing their own talent.The creative industry is increasinglypopular with our students andapprenticeships provide students witha great opportunity to get a foot in thedoor and step into an inspiringi n d u s t r y.

The new creative apprenticeships atCity of Bristol College provide trainingfor wide range of job roles including:� Web coordinator� Trainee/ assistant photographer� Junior Graphic Designer� Venue and Stage Crew Support� Event Promotion Support Staff� Junior digital imaging technician� For more information on recruitingapprentices or training opportunitiesfor your employees contact ourEmployer Advice team at City ofBristol College on 0117 312 5020 oremail employers@cityofbristol.ac.uk.

A RECRUITMENT firm is planningmajor growth by meeting demandfor staff from the food manufac-turing industry.

Matrix, based in Clifton, has spe-cialised in IT programme and pro-ject management recruitment forthe past 19 years but has spotted thegrowing demand for fresh talent inthe food manufacturing industryand has set up a new division.

A major recruitment drive of itsown is now under way to increasethe original six-strong team to ateam of 50 consultants by the end of2015.

The move is driven by demandfor staff in areas such as engin-eering, technical, operations, HRand new product developmentwhich has grown significantlyacross the food industry over thelast few years.

Nathan Arter, managing directorat Matrix, said: “It was too good anopportunity to miss, there was anoticeable gap in the market andwe have been able to recruit con-sultants into the team with spe-cialist knowledge of that industry.

“The food manufacturing in-dustry is growing rapidly and yet

the recruitment market in this areais still relatively untouched. Withan increasing skills shortage and astatic ageing workforce, this is theperfect time to broaden our offerand help fill these jobs with fresh,young talent.”

The company has recently movedto a larger workspace within its

current offices on Queens Road,Clifton, to accommodate its growthstrate g y.

As well as its move into the foodmanufacturing market, Matrix willlook to expand in other industriesover the coming years with new,specialist divisions being createdin line with industry demand.

Re c r u i t m e n t

MANY politicians havetalked about the import-ance of keeping thelights on, regarding thefragile nature of the

UK’s energy supply.But one Weston-super-Mare busi-

ness is keeping the lights on for thep o l i t i c i a n s.

Powervamp designs and manu-factures a range of power solutions,including emergency lighting bat-tery systems – known as its ‘Ef fektarang e’ – that ensure the lights andpower stay on in public buildingsand workspaces, should mains elec-tricity fail.

And the advanced manufacturerhas supplied and installed a largequantity of its innovative EF5 ELIemergency lights inverters to Num-

ber 10 Downing Street.So as Prime Minister David

Cameron stays up all night watch-ing the General Election results rollin, or during a national emergency,he can be sure the lights willstay on regardless.

The company manu-facture a range of ad-vanced powersolutions exported tomore than 40 coun-tries around thewo rl d .

No. 10 DowningStreet is one of manybuildings it helps to keeprunning; others includeDublin Airport and Molineux Sta-dium.

Richard Roller, who started thecompany 21 years ago following acareer in engineering, said: “It’s re-warding to see Powervampproducts chosen by No. 10 to helpkeep the lights on at one of the mostimportant buildings, especially in

election year.”The Effekta range of emergency

lighting power is used across the UKand overseas, in high-risk areaswhere loss of light can endanger

people’s lives or pose a securityt h re at .

The company alsodesigns and supplies arange of otherproducts and recentlyachieved a UK manu-facturing first withthe supply of bespoke

ground power units(GPUs) to London City

Air port.Director Ken Walker said:

“We are unique as a company be-cause we often build our products tofit bespoke environments – n o b o dyelse in the UK is agile enough or hasthe skill base to deliver these ad-vanced power solutions.

“Powervamp is a real successstory for UK manufacturing andBrand Britain.”

Hannah MaddocksBusiness Development Managerfor Creative and LeisureCity of Bristol College

APPRENTICESHIPS

� Staff at recruitment firm Matrix, based in Clifton

and fitted by Sketch Studios, bothpart of the FourFront Group. Fea-tures include a table-tennis and foos-ball area, an event space and bar,

sound-proof work pods and a finan-cial wellness wall, which representsthe complexity of navigating finan-cially through your life.

� Toby Hughes, CEO at Momentum Financial Technology and JonathanLawes, director of Cube

� The Powervamp management team

� Clunk Storage in Brislington, a new business offshoot of SXS Events; inset, founder Johnny Palmer

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The Big Interview

SUZANNE Baxter is theWoman of the Year. At least foranother eight days anyway.The winner of the 2014 Bristoland Bath Women in Business

Awards says being a role modeld o e s n’t sit comfortably but it issomething she takes seriously.

“When I was at school I was theonly girl in my year to go off tou n ive r s i t y, ” says Suzanne. “My ca-reers adviser was appalling. BecauseI was good at maths it was suggested Ishould work in the local bank.

“My career has been life-changingfor me, it has taken me to places andallowed me to meet people I wouldhave never dreamed of as a child.

“For those of us lucky enough to bein jobs such as mine it’s incumbentupon us to give the visibility to youngpeople to see how they get to thoseroles. I have two daughters and I wantthem to have those opportunities.”

As group financial director, at mostFTSE 250 companies Suzanne wouldbe the poster girl for diversity but atoutsourcing giant Mitie, chief exec-utive Ruby McGregor captures mostof the headlines. Not that Suzanneminds, to her and her colleagues theyd o n’t see what all the fuss is about.

“Mitie is in unusual position hav-ing a female CEO and a female CFOwhich I think is unique in the FTSE250, but it’s something we see ascompletely normal,” she says.

“I remember starting work in myfirst job and being told I wasn’t al-lowed to wear trousers. That seemscompletely impossible now.

“There is a still long way to go. Theworkplace has fundamentallychanged but we do still hear horrorstories. The pay gap remains an issueso clearly that’s a focus but I think theshift is generational. We see an im-provement as the generations movethrough and as ‘nor mal’ chang es.”

She adds: “We don’t feel we needquotas to drive our behaviour here atMitie because diversity is importantfor us anyway. Our organisation is amixed bag of people and that makes itmore interesting. If we were all thesame it would be pretty dull.”

Suzanne, now 46, joined Mitie nineyears ago as chief financial officer. Inthat time the company has doubled insize. There’s more that’s strikingabout the business than just it’s bet-ter gender balanced board, however.

“It’s a very entrepreneurial organ-i s at i o n , ” says Suzanne. “Mitie standsfor Management Incentive ThroughInvestment Equity. Our founding dir-ector David Telling had the view thatvalue was created by the guys andgirls out in the field creating busi-nesses and generating wealth andthey should share in that.”

David developed the Mitie Model,which allows entrepreneurs to come

PEOPLE ARE ALWAYSAT THE HEART OFEVERYTHING WE DOOne of Bristol’s top businesswomen, Suzanne Baxter, talks to Gavin Thompsonabout role models, entrepreneurial spirit and how to get spark in your business

My working dayStart work at: I tend to be herein Bristol, Reading or London. Ifit’s London I’m leaving thehouse at 6.30am, if I’m in BristolI leave at 8.30am so I can havebreakfast with my family.Take work home? I try not totake work home because I’m agreat believer in the fact youneed to have a clear head. Youneed to get enough sleep andhave a degree of downtime. Itend to get home most daysbetween 6pm and 7pm but itcan be a lot later.Typical day: I don’t have anaverage working day but Ialways have a full on day, I don’tstop.

Name: Suzanne BaxterAge: 46Bor n: We l l i n g b o ro u g h ,N o r t h a m p t o n s h i reLives: BathEducation: University of EastAnglia, NorwichFirst job: First professional job atPwC in SouthamptonCurrent job: Group financialdirector at Mitie, based inEmersons Green

Vital statistics

have been part of those start-up busi-nesses are now part of the seniormanagement team or the core ser-vices. It’s what Mitie’s all about, thatspark and entrepreneurship.”

Mitie has grown profitably in eachof its 27 years in existence. It employsmore than 70,000 people across theUK, including hundreds at its Emer-s o n’s Green HQ. Despite that success,it isn’t a household name. Perhapst h at ’s because it’s not a consumerfacing business, and also becausepeople don’t quite understand what itd o e s.

“We are a support services organ-i s at i o n , ” says Suzanne. “We aim totake the non-core services from ourclients and run their building-relatedinfrastructure for them or people ser-vices. For example, we run the estatesfor large organisations such as Voda-fone and Lloyds. We take the non-coreservices around infrastructure,where we are expert and they justneed it doing really well. They don’tneed to question that their buildingruns properly, that they are safe andthey comply with regulations and

to Mitie with a business plan but keepup to 49 per cent of the equity thenafter five years they can ask Mitie tobuy the shares from them.

“We have a number of businesses inthat model at the moment and wewould love more start-up busi-n e s s e s, ” says Suzanne. “We ’ve prob-ably had fewer over the last five yearsbecause the economy has been de-pressed but we are very keen to bringin more businesses and particularlyinterested in businesses that can addsomething to our niche operations.”

In recent years Mitie has grown itscatering business this way and has afledgling events company too. Thebenefit to Mitie, however, is oftenwider than simply the profits thosebusinesses bring.

“It brings entrepreneurs into thebusiness it keeps the organisationfresh and they are great fun,” ex-plains Suzanne. “A lot of people who

ENTREPRENEURS are being sought for a newbusiness accelerator programme which hasopened in Bristol.

Entrepreneurial Spark, backed by NatWest,will open a hub – or “h at ch e r y ” – for start-upbusinesses in the city this summer, and ap-plications are now open.

It will be based in the Natwest offices atTrinity Quay with room for up to 80new businesses.

Entrepreneurs will be able tojoin the programme for up to sixmonths with the most promisingoffered an extra year.

Members will get free physicaloffice space and super-fast inter-net access along with mentoring,workshops and training as well as astart-up boot camp. There will also becompetitions with prizes of up to £50,000i nve s t m e n t .

The hub sees Natwest positioning itself asbacking entrepreneurs and looking to follow onfrom the successes of seed camps more syn-onymous with technology businesses from Sil-icon Valley.

But applications are invited from any sector,not just technology, from idea and early-stagebusinesses to those who have been tradingfor up to four years and have a turnover of£1 million or less.

Haydn Thomas, p i c t u re d , NatWest’s man-aging director of business banking for SouthWest, said: “This is a superb opportunity forbudding entrepreneurs and those who have juststarted on their journey in Bristol and theSouth West to access some first-class support.

“The successful applicants will get to work ina collaborative atmosphere in our offices

in Trinity Quay and will have plenty ofaccess to the local team from NatWest

as well as our wider networks.“We hope to receive lots of ex-

citing applications from across thecity and across the South West.The local economy is experiencingsolid growth and this is reflected in

the increasing confidence we areseeing among our business custom-

ers. These are the ideal conditions inwhich to launch this new hatchery and I’m

confident we’ll see some great South West suc-cess stories emerge from it.”

Jim Duffy, chief executive of EntrepreneurialSpark, said the firm had launched three similarprojects in Scotland which had supported 350fledgling firms and created 1,000 jobs.

“Launching in the South West is very ex-citing,” he said. “Bristol is a city with a growingentrepreneurial culture, and we want to helpnurture that and allow start-up businesses toreach their full potential.”

‘Superb opportunity’ offered by‘hatchery’ for start-up businesses

My downtime

also increasingly that they are pro-ductive working places and they areinspirational spaces.”

Clients are looking for more fromservice providers such as Mitie, now.Something that goes beyond func-tional.

“We ’ll help clients develop a work-space that reflects their branding andthe demands that their employees puton them that means they can attractthe best talent,” she says. “If you’vegot a really dull office environmentwhich isn’t inspirational, isn’t litproperty, doesn’t have the rightcanteen facility you’re unlikely to beable to easily attract the best can-didates if your competitors are of-fering that, so the workingenvironment is very important.”

Changes in the economy and tech-nology mean changing demands too.Suzanne believes the challenging en-vironment first led people to look formore efficiencies.

“But I think also it has made themlook differently about the kind ofspace that they really need,” she says.“Property real estate is expensive soperhaps we don’t need the rafts ofspace that we did previously, peopleare increasingly working from homeand they need a different style ofspace. It’s more about drop-in spaceand creating good communicationwith staff. All of that talks to brand. Ac o m p a ny ’s brand and style of officewill be linked and we want to supportour clients with that and work closelywith their property teams and man-agement teams to achieve that.”

Will the improving economy meanmore change? “It will mean poten-tially people will have a bit moremoney to spend,” says Suzanne. “ButI think they will continue to be farmore discerning about the environ-ment they operate in.”

Mitie is growing into new areas too,such as healthcare as it sees the chan-ging demographics in society.

“We want to operate in marketsthat show growth and the potentialfor clients to outsource,” says Su-zanne. “The healthcare market haspotential. We see the ability for Mitieto add value. We have a great trackrecord managing large numbers ofpeople working remotely. There willbe more people who will need care intheir own home and we will look toresponding to that by providing qual-ity services.”

With plenty of potential new mar-kets, Suzanne believes Mitie will con-tinue its success story. “We don’t seeany reason that profitable growthshould stop,” she says. “We ’ve gotsome fantastic people so we see greatopportunity to grow over the mediumter m.”

What about her own role? In a smallmanagement team, Suzanne is in-

volved in most key decisions.“My role is broad in its remit,” she

says. “It is very much a support roleto the MD and a liaison with regionaland divisional managers to makesure the business works and that thefinance aspects of the business workalongside that. In terms of scale andscope it’s everything from looking atthe regulatory aspects of the listing ofa public company to new bid activityto acquisitions, systems implement-ation and our corporate responsib-ility and sustainability programmes.I’m a trustee of our foundation whichis our charity that looks at employ-ability and skills, bringing peopleinto the workplace and creating em-p l oy m e n t . ”

Suzanne credits charity work suchas this with helping her to climb thecareer ladder. Before joining Mitieshe took a role on the board of Op-portunity Now, the Business in theCommunity gender diversity cam-paign.

“I was the youngest most inexper-ienced of all the people around thet abl e, ” she says. “They were runningmajor investment banks and plcs butI was working on something I waspassionate about. It was fantasticfrom a development angle too be-cause it made me work in a differentenvironment with a different set ofpeople and it made me push myself.

“You realise you can sit around atable and be amongst equals and it’sfantastic for your confidence and wasone of the most instrumental parts ofmy personal development, makingme realise I could do other thingsoutside of my normal trajectory. Itook on Opportunity Now 18 monthsbefore I came to Mitie and it gave methe confidence I can do this job.”

After nearly a decide in the topfinance role, Suzanne could be seenas an obvious future chief executive,at Mitie or elsewhere. But if shewants to take a step up, she’s notletting on. “I’ve just taken on the roleas chair Business in the Communityin the South West and I’m chair of theBusiness Services Organisation, ourtrade body so that’s keeping me busy,”she says.

Suzanne is clearer when it comes toher beliefs about the role of business –creating jobs.

“Creating stable employment is ahuge responsibility,” she says. “Itgives people huge opportunity and itmassively enhances families in termsof stability and is one of the mostimportant things you can do as abusiness. That’s at the heart of whatwe do. If we can create wealth for allour people and give them stable em-ployment, that generates growth forthe economy but most importantly itgives people choices and the ability torun their life independently. That’sreally important.”

Choices that many of her peers atschool may not have had.� Outsourcing focus – pages 8&9� Women in Business Awardsfinalists reception – page 10

Hobbies and interests: I have twodaughters, 12 and 15 and a husband somost time outside work is spent withfamily. I enjoy tennis and just joined achoir, learning to sing Mozart’s Requiem. Iwill be performing March 14 at Royal High

School in Bath withcommunity choir. I’venever done anything like itbefore in my life, it’sincredible difficult but I nowtravel to work singing as Igo, trying to learn it. I can

read music from playing clarinetat school. It’s all in Latin whichI’ve never studied.Favourite film: Breakfast atT i ff a n y ’s - I love Audrey

Hepburn. Sofa time for me wouldbe watching Audrey Hepburn.

Suzanne Baxter

“My career has beenlife-changing for me, ithas taken me to placesand allowed me to meetpeople I would havenever dreamed of as achild.

Accelerator programme

� BUSINESS growth is slowing across theregion, according to new purchasing managers’index data.

The seasonally adjusted Lloyds BankCommercial Banking South West BusinessActivity Index lost the ground gained at the start

of the year in February, falling to 54.8 from 58.0in January. That signalled the weakest rate ofexpansion since last October, driven by aslower increase in new business. That said, theIndex remained above its long-run average of54.1, and signalled a solid overall rate of growth.

Business growth stays solid, but slowing down

in association with

Part of the Local World group

We supply a glossy setting worthy of any awardwinner. From staging and set design, to an assortmentof lighting from LED’s to gobos. We provide all thenecessary services and equipment you would needto make your awards evening the one to remember.

Staging your Awards doesn’thave to cost a fortune...

Presentation Production

Live Camera Relay

Pyrotechnics

Call us on: 01684 575832Email us at: enquiries@aneventservices.co.ukVisit us at : www.aneventservices.co.uk

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6 7EPB-E01-S3

The Big Interview

SUZANNE Baxter is theWoman of the Year. At least foranother eight days anyway.The winner of the 2014 Bristoland Bath Women in Business

Awards says being a role modeld o e s n’t sit comfortably but it issomething she takes seriously.

“When I was at school I was theonly girl in my year to go off tou n ive r s i t y, ” says Suzanne. “My ca-reers adviser was appalling. BecauseI was good at maths it was suggested Ishould work in the local bank.

“My career has been life-changingfor me, it has taken me to places andallowed me to meet people I wouldhave never dreamed of as a child.

“For those of us lucky enough to bein jobs such as mine it’s incumbentupon us to give the visibility to youngpeople to see how they get to thoseroles. I have two daughters and I wantthem to have those opportunities.”

As group financial director, at mostFTSE 250 companies Suzanne wouldbe the poster girl for diversity but atoutsourcing giant Mitie, chief exec-utive Ruby McGregor captures mostof the headlines. Not that Suzanneminds, to her and her colleagues theyd o n’t see what all the fuss is about.

“Mitie is in unusual position hav-ing a female CEO and a female CFOwhich I think is unique in the FTSE250, but it’s something we see ascompletely normal,” she says.

“I remember starting work in myfirst job and being told I wasn’t al-lowed to wear trousers. That seemscompletely impossible now.

“There is a still long way to go. Theworkplace has fundamentallychanged but we do still hear horrorstories. The pay gap remains an issueso clearly that’s a focus but I think theshift is generational. We see an im-provement as the generations movethrough and as ‘nor mal’ chang es.”

She adds: “We don’t feel we needquotas to drive our behaviour here atMitie because diversity is importantfor us anyway. Our organisation is amixed bag of people and that makes itmore interesting. If we were all thesame it would be pretty dull.”

Suzanne, now 46, joined Mitie nineyears ago as chief financial officer. Inthat time the company has doubled insize. There’s more that’s strikingabout the business than just it’s bet-ter gender balanced board, however.

“It’s a very entrepreneurial organ-i s at i o n , ” says Suzanne. “Mitie standsfor Management Incentive ThroughInvestment Equity. Our founding dir-ector David Telling had the view thatvalue was created by the guys andgirls out in the field creating busi-nesses and generating wealth andthey should share in that.”

David developed the Mitie Model,which allows entrepreneurs to come

PEOPLE ARE ALWAYSAT THE HEART OFEVERYTHING WE DOOne of Bristol’s top businesswomen, Suzanne Baxter, talks to Gavin Thompsonabout role models, entrepreneurial spirit and how to get spark in your business

My working dayStart work at: I tend to be herein Bristol, Reading or London. Ifit’s London I’m leaving thehouse at 6.30am, if I’m in BristolI leave at 8.30am so I can havebreakfast with my family.Take work home? I try not totake work home because I’m agreat believer in the fact youneed to have a clear head. Youneed to get enough sleep andhave a degree of downtime. Itend to get home most daysbetween 6pm and 7pm but itcan be a lot later.Typical day: I don’t have anaverage working day but Ialways have a full on day, I don’tstop.

Name: Suzanne BaxterAge: 46Bor n: We l l i n g b o ro u g h ,N o r t h a m p t o n s h i reLives: BathEducation: University of EastAnglia, NorwichFirst job: First professional job atPwC in SouthamptonCurrent job: Group financialdirector at Mitie, based inEmersons Green

Vital statistics

have been part of those start-up busi-nesses are now part of the seniormanagement team or the core ser-vices. It’s what Mitie’s all about, thatspark and entrepreneurship.”

Mitie has grown profitably in eachof its 27 years in existence. It employsmore than 70,000 people across theUK, including hundreds at its Emer-s o n’s Green HQ. Despite that success,it isn’t a household name. Perhapst h at ’s because it’s not a consumerfacing business, and also becausepeople don’t quite understand what itd o e s.

“We are a support services organ-i s at i o n , ” says Suzanne. “We aim totake the non-core services from ourclients and run their building-relatedinfrastructure for them or people ser-vices. For example, we run the estatesfor large organisations such as Voda-fone and Lloyds. We take the non-coreservices around infrastructure,where we are expert and they justneed it doing really well. They don’tneed to question that their buildingruns properly, that they are safe andthey comply with regulations and

to Mitie with a business plan but keepup to 49 per cent of the equity thenafter five years they can ask Mitie tobuy the shares from them.

“We have a number of businesses inthat model at the moment and wewould love more start-up busi-n e s s e s, ” says Suzanne. “We ’ve prob-ably had fewer over the last five yearsbecause the economy has been de-pressed but we are very keen to bringin more businesses and particularlyinterested in businesses that can addsomething to our niche operations.”

In recent years Mitie has grown itscatering business this way and has afledgling events company too. Thebenefit to Mitie, however, is oftenwider than simply the profits thosebusinesses bring.

“It brings entrepreneurs into thebusiness it keeps the organisationfresh and they are great fun,” ex-plains Suzanne. “A lot of people who

ENTREPRENEURS are being sought for a newbusiness accelerator programme which hasopened in Bristol.

Entrepreneurial Spark, backed by NatWest,will open a hub – or “h at ch e r y ” – for start-upbusinesses in the city this summer, and ap-plications are now open.

It will be based in the Natwest offices atTrinity Quay with room for up to 80new businesses.

Entrepreneurs will be able tojoin the programme for up to sixmonths with the most promisingoffered an extra year.

Members will get free physicaloffice space and super-fast inter-net access along with mentoring,workshops and training as well as astart-up boot camp. There will also becompetitions with prizes of up to £50,000i nve s t m e n t .

The hub sees Natwest positioning itself asbacking entrepreneurs and looking to follow onfrom the successes of seed camps more syn-onymous with technology businesses from Sil-icon Valley.

But applications are invited from any sector,not just technology, from idea and early-stagebusinesses to those who have been tradingfor up to four years and have a turnover of£1 million or less.

Haydn Thomas, p i c t u re d , NatWest’s man-aging director of business banking for SouthWest, said: “This is a superb opportunity forbudding entrepreneurs and those who have juststarted on their journey in Bristol and theSouth West to access some first-class support.

“The successful applicants will get to work ina collaborative atmosphere in our offices

in Trinity Quay and will have plenty ofaccess to the local team from NatWest

as well as our wider networks.“We hope to receive lots of ex-

citing applications from across thecity and across the South West.The local economy is experiencingsolid growth and this is reflected in

the increasing confidence we areseeing among our business custom-

ers. These are the ideal conditions inwhich to launch this new hatchery and I’m

confident we’ll see some great South West suc-cess stories emerge from it.”

Jim Duffy, chief executive of EntrepreneurialSpark, said the firm had launched three similarprojects in Scotland which had supported 350fledgling firms and created 1,000 jobs.

“Launching in the South West is very ex-citing,” he said. “Bristol is a city with a growingentrepreneurial culture, and we want to helpnurture that and allow start-up businesses toreach their full potential.”

‘Superb opportunity’ offered by‘hatchery’ for start-up businesses

My downtime

also increasingly that they are pro-ductive working places and they areinspirational spaces.”

Clients are looking for more fromservice providers such as Mitie, now.Something that goes beyond func-tional.

“We ’ll help clients develop a work-space that reflects their branding andthe demands that their employees puton them that means they can attractthe best talent,” she says. “If you’vegot a really dull office environmentwhich isn’t inspirational, isn’t litproperty, doesn’t have the rightcanteen facility you’re unlikely to beable to easily attract the best can-didates if your competitors are of-fering that, so the workingenvironment is very important.”

Changes in the economy and tech-nology mean changing demands too.Suzanne believes the challenging en-vironment first led people to look formore efficiencies.

“But I think also it has made themlook differently about the kind ofspace that they really need,” she says.“Property real estate is expensive soperhaps we don’t need the rafts ofspace that we did previously, peopleare increasingly working from homeand they need a different style ofspace. It’s more about drop-in spaceand creating good communicationwith staff. All of that talks to brand. Ac o m p a ny ’s brand and style of officewill be linked and we want to supportour clients with that and work closelywith their property teams and man-agement teams to achieve that.”

Will the improving economy meanmore change? “It will mean poten-tially people will have a bit moremoney to spend,” says Suzanne. “ButI think they will continue to be farmore discerning about the environ-ment they operate in.”

Mitie is growing into new areas too,such as healthcare as it sees the chan-ging demographics in society.

“We want to operate in marketsthat show growth and the potentialfor clients to outsource,” says Su-zanne. “The healthcare market haspotential. We see the ability for Mitieto add value. We have a great trackrecord managing large numbers ofpeople working remotely. There willbe more people who will need care intheir own home and we will look toresponding to that by providing qual-ity services.”

With plenty of potential new mar-kets, Suzanne believes Mitie will con-tinue its success story. “We don’t seeany reason that profitable growthshould stop,” she says. “We ’ve gotsome fantastic people so we see greatopportunity to grow over the mediumter m.”

What about her own role? In a smallmanagement team, Suzanne is in-

volved in most key decisions.“My role is broad in its remit,” she

says. “It is very much a support roleto the MD and a liaison with regionaland divisional managers to makesure the business works and that thefinance aspects of the business workalongside that. In terms of scale andscope it’s everything from looking atthe regulatory aspects of the listing ofa public company to new bid activityto acquisitions, systems implement-ation and our corporate responsib-ility and sustainability programmes.I’m a trustee of our foundation whichis our charity that looks at employ-ability and skills, bringing peopleinto the workplace and creating em-p l oy m e n t . ”

Suzanne credits charity work suchas this with helping her to climb thecareer ladder. Before joining Mitieshe took a role on the board of Op-portunity Now, the Business in theCommunity gender diversity cam-paign.

“I was the youngest most inexper-ienced of all the people around thet abl e, ” she says. “They were runningmajor investment banks and plcs butI was working on something I waspassionate about. It was fantasticfrom a development angle too be-cause it made me work in a differentenvironment with a different set ofpeople and it made me push myself.

“You realise you can sit around atable and be amongst equals and it’sfantastic for your confidence and wasone of the most instrumental parts ofmy personal development, makingme realise I could do other thingsoutside of my normal trajectory. Itook on Opportunity Now 18 monthsbefore I came to Mitie and it gave methe confidence I can do this job.”

After nearly a decide in the topfinance role, Suzanne could be seenas an obvious future chief executive,at Mitie or elsewhere. But if shewants to take a step up, she’s notletting on. “I’ve just taken on the roleas chair Business in the Communityin the South West and I’m chair of theBusiness Services Organisation, ourtrade body so that’s keeping me busy,”she says.

Suzanne is clearer when it comes toher beliefs about the role of business –creating jobs.

“Creating stable employment is ahuge responsibility,” she says. “Itgives people huge opportunity and itmassively enhances families in termsof stability and is one of the mostimportant things you can do as abusiness. That’s at the heart of whatwe do. If we can create wealth for allour people and give them stable em-ployment, that generates growth forthe economy but most importantly itgives people choices and the ability torun their life independently. That’sreally important.”

Choices that many of her peers atschool may not have had.� Outsourcing focus – pages 8&9� Women in Business Awardsfinalists reception – page 10

Hobbies and interests: I have twodaughters, 12 and 15 and a husband somost time outside work is spent withfamily. I enjoy tennis and just joined achoir, learning to sing Mozart’s Requiem. Iwill be performing March 14 at Royal High

School in Bath withcommunity choir. I’venever done anything like itbefore in my life, it’sincredible difficult but I nowtravel to work singing as Igo, trying to learn it. I can

read music from playing clarinetat school. It’s all in Latin whichI’ve never studied.Favourite film: Breakfast atT i ff a n y ’s - I love Audrey

Hepburn. Sofa time for me wouldbe watching Audrey Hepburn.

Suzanne Baxter

“My career has beenlife-changing for me, ithas taken me to placesand allowed me to meetpeople I would havenever dreamed of as achild.

Accelerator programme

� BUSINESS growth is slowing across theregion, according to new purchasing managers’index data.

The seasonally adjusted Lloyds BankCommercial Banking South West BusinessActivity Index lost the ground gained at the start

of the year in February, falling to 54.8 from 58.0in January. That signalled the weakest rate ofexpansion since last October, driven by aslower increase in new business. That said, theIndex remained above its long-run average of54.1, and signalled a solid overall rate of growth.

Business growth stays solid, but slowing down

in association with

Part of the Local World group

We supply a glossy setting worthy of any awardwinner. From staging and set design, to an assortmentof lighting from LED’s to gobos. We provide all thenecessary services and equipment you would needto make your awards evening the one to remember.

Staging your Awards doesn’thave to cost a fortune...

Presentation Production

Live Camera Relay

Pyrotechnics

Call us on: 01684 575832Email us at: enquiries@aneventservices.co.ukVisit us at : www.aneventservices.co.uk

EPB-E01-S3

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8 We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 9We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

THE vast majority of busi-nesses will start outsourcingwork as soon as they becomeincorporated. Most, if not all,would start off recognising

the benefits that a bookkeeper oraccountant can bring, realising thatsuch tasks are best done by someonewho knows what they’re doing. It’s aninvestment worth making.

And this principle carries forwardthroughout the growth of a business,to the other end of the spectrumwhere multinationals outsourcewhole functions to a large externalc o m p a ny.

Most people in business work forsmall companies, for whomlarge-scale outsourcing is not a re-quirement but for whom handingover certain key functions enablesthem to focus on what the businessdoes best for its customers or clients.But even this first step can be achallenge for owners who have builtup a company from scratch. It can behard to let things go.

Chris Budd, below, is a Bris-tol-based member of South West busi-ness coaching firm QuiverMana g ement.

He said business leaders he workswith, to help them achieve growth,can struggle to delegate responsib-ility, especially when it involves giv-ing work outside the business. Trustis usually the barrier.

He said: “A really good example isdelicatessen I know, who books histime out as a chef at a good rate butspent every Wednesday morningdoing his books. He could easily pay abookkeeper £100 to do the work andhire himself out at £500 but he wantedto keep his hands on it, rather thaninvesting in setting up the processp ro p e rly.

“Most businesses that fail to growdo so because the business owner isstopping it. It’s a trust issue and acharacter trait of many businessowners, who find it hard to giveresponsibility to other people.

“Business owners shouldaim to make themselvesthe least important per-son in their business.That way they get otherpeople far cleverer thanthem to do lots of thework, they can stick towhat they enjoy and even-tually, if they want, sell thebu s i n e s s.

sourcing division in Bristol and therest of the south of England for ac-countancy firm Mazars, said the riskis that by taking functions outside thebusiness, you sacrifice the hard-wonexpertise inside your company.

He said: “You can outsource a spe-cific function, but remember that theperson might do other importanttasks around the office, such as deal-ing with administration, or opening

the post. So companies need to thinkabout that, too. Outsource companiesmight struggle to fill all the gaps.”

However he said that web andcloud-based innovations were mak-ing it easier for SMEs, not just biggercompanies, to have the best of bothwo rl d s.

He said: “Technology is making itmuch easier to collaborate with out-source companies now – cloud based

solutions mean that a client and aprovider can both use the same dataset.

“You can also share roles muchmore effectively, so whereas beforeyou might have outsourced everypart of a business function, you cannow be much more selective.

“So in finance, for example, youmight just outsource payroll or thepurchaser pay process. Or if there’s a

LAST year Mazars published a study intothe SME market which analysed SMEsacross the EU for the period. In a crowdedand competitive market place, there were6 key themes that the best SMEs demon-

s t r at e d :� Maintain a Sharp Focus� Bring More to the Party� Build Resilience and Financial Discipline� Right Size Your Company� Increase International Outlook and Extend theGeographical Footprint� Manage for Today and Lead for Tomorrow

So why build resilience and financial dis-cipline?

If you have financial resilience the company isbetter placed to weather a financial storm. In-vesting in the key areas of the business ensuresthat returns are maximised for shareholders andprovides sustainability for the future.

With good financial discipline you have theprocesses and procedures to enable the receipt oftimely management information, thus helpingmanagement to navigate the business envir-onment and highlight potential risks.

With key risks highlighted, planning for alleventualities is easier and supports provision ofsuitable finance at an early stage, whether for anincrease in working capital as the businessgrows, the opportunity to acquire a competitoror the demise of a key supplier.

So how can you build resilience and fin-ancial discipline?

Good financial discipline starts with a goodfoundation. Transactional data forms the base ofyour management information. This may derivefrom purchase or sales invoices, bank trans-actions or payroll journals. With the right pro-cess in place, time is saved and many steps can bea u t o m at e d .

In today’s 24/7 society a lack of informationcan be costly. We expect instant access to in-formation through e-mail, web portals andon-line banking, but many business owners stillwait weeks or months to find out how theirbusiness is performing.

Often SMEs do not have the expertise or thefunds to introduce systems that can provide theright information on a timely basis. This is whymany choose to outsource their accounting func-tion. This can take away the administrativeburden and ensure a sound foundation layer ofdata upon which solid management reportingand analysis can be carried out. It will also freeup manager’s time to focus on using the in-formation rather than preparing it.

By working in partnership with an out-sourcing company, you can leverage their systemand process knowledge to either support orreplace your existing finance team. Typically, anoutsourcing company will have access to varioussolutions allowing increased collaborationthrough cloud services, technology that canautomate processes and sector specific solutionsthat can help develop your business.

Outsourcing gives time back to managementand can add real value to the business. TheMazars Outsourcing Team help many busi-nesses build financial resilience; enabling busi-ness leaders to focus on what they do best.

How to be a stand outSME? – Build resilienceand financial discipline

Focus on start-ups | Sponsored by THEME SPONSOR’S NAME HERE.

Rupert Janisch investigateswhen is the right time tobring in outside experts andfree yourself and your teamto focus on the core tasks

� THE smooth running of acompany’s computer systems isoften taken for granted. It’s onlywhen something breaks down thatyou realise how dependent on ITwe all are.

But for many SMEs, employing afull-time IT department in house issurplus to requirements. Propertyconsultancy Maggs and Allen,which has offices in Henleaze andClifton and employs 25 staff, isone such company.

Established for more than 25

years, the company has beenoutsourcing its IT to BristolComputer Support for many years,with demand increasing as thefirm has grown.

Director Toby Fisher said: “IThas not been something we wouldtry and do ourselves as we realiseit wouldn’t be the most efficientway of doing it.

“We outsource our website and

print too. Initially those are thingswe might have tried to do in-housebut rather than us spending ourtime designing and printing it, wecan get them commissioned andproduced for us by the next day.”

Matt Clark, managing director ofBristol Computer Support, said:“We can either offer companies anentire IT department or supportwhoever a company has in-housewith advice and support. This canbe looking after server andnetworking issues, when onsite

Outsourcing IT allows us to focus on businessCase study

We take onthe HR burdenCase study

Legal advicea call awayCase study

Outsourcing special

‘GET CLEVERER PEOPLE TO DO LOTS OF THE BUSINESS’ WORK’

“T hat’s not just out-sourcing – it’s also em-

ployment of people – bu toutsourcing can playan important part.”

This is not to say thatoutsourcing is univer-

sally the right ap-p ro a ch .James Smalley, fa r

right, who heads up the out-

staff maintain the PCs.“We can also add resources to

corporate firms who have officesin the region, but have theirsupport staff elsewhere.

“System failures in an office cancost your business money in losttime, or even lost profits. Sowhether it’s hardware or softwaresupport, it makes sense thesedays to leave it in the hands ofsomeone who knows what they’redoing and who can act quickly torepair any faults.”

bookkeeper in house then youmight just need the month-endmanagement accounting doing,rather than outsourcing all youraccounting needs.

“We have also seen more andmore processes becoming auto-mated – t h at ’s happening as soft-ware becomes cloud-based andsystems can link together to cap-ture data. And whereas it’s been

driven by the big multi-nationalcompanies it’s becoming more andmore popular in the SME markett o o. ”

For bigger companies the crux ofsuccessful outsourcing, said MrSmalley, is efficient use of data:“Companies might want to makesure that they have the right teamstructure in place, so that the rolespeople are performing could be

done more efficiently.“A lot of that centres around the

automation of processes and mak-ing sure that they are building theinformation up from the right baselayer. As long as it’s structuredcorrectly, it should flow throughbut what often happens as busi-nesses evolve is that no one looks atthe whole structure and that’swhen efficiency can be lost.”

In association with

� MattClarkand TobyFisherf ro mMaggs &Allen

� Based in Staple Hill, carecompany Aspirations Supporthas grown considerably since itwas established in 2007, nowrunning 13 supported livinghouses in east Bristol andemploying 94 staff.

Outsource HR firm The HRDept has been with thecompany since the beginning,helping deal with itsemployment issues as it hascontinued to grow.

Joe Imber, AspirationsSupport’s director and owner,said: “We offer a diverse rangeof services including communityoutreach, day services,supported living, personal careand supported holidays.

“We care for, support andenable adults with learning

difficulties and mental healthneeds to live rewarding andfulfilling lives. The HR Dept iswell established and works witha number of providers likeourselves, so we benefit fromexperience and a great wealthof knowledge.

“We find it helpful to haveimpartial advice from anexternal agency and our staffalso find this beneficial. It’s acomfortable set-up and I thinkwe’ll continue to outsource ourHR work as we grow further,rather than employing anyone

in-house.” Ryan Gay from TheHR Dept said: “AspirationsSupport has been working withThe HR Dept since 2009 and Ihave been the onsite HRManager for the company sincelate 2013, working at the officesfor a day per week and beingpermanently available outside ofthis to help with any unforeseenissues.

“It’s a great solution for thecompany – all the expertise andservice offerings from a highlyqualified and experienced HRadvisory company, without anyof the costs associated withrecruiting and employing a teamin-house.

“They can come to me withfor anything they need, fromdrafting employee contracts todealing with disciplinary issues,and everything in between. I’mhere to take that burden awayfrom them, giving them peaceof mind to focus on what theydo best, as a partner in thedevelopment of the company asit continues to grow.”

� Joe Imber and Ryan Gay from the HR Dept at Aspiratuins Support

� BASED in Hengrove, LatchamDirect Limited employs 80people and delivers digital print,tailored marketing andcustomer communicationsolutions to the private andpublic sector.

It is one of many second andthird tier businesses whichsubscribe to the In-HouseLawyer, the outsourced legalpackage from city centre lawfirm Gregg Latchams, havingdone so for nearly two years.

Latcham Direct is anaward-winning firm which hasseen solid growth and hasmade significant investmentsinto the business over the pastfour years.

Clients include the NationalTrust, Time Europe and TheRoyal College of Midwives. Ithas built a reputation fordelivery of complex qualitysolutions and for its attitude to

corporate social responsibility.In outsourcing the company’s

legal function Mike Hughes, themanaging director of LatchamDirect, values the ability to pickup the telephone to a “p ro p e r ”

lawyer, who speaks commercialsense in plain English withoutthe clock ticking.

He said: “The service hasenabled me to make sure all mylegal documentation andgeneral corporate governance isin good order, ensuring I amable to conduct the business ofthe day with increasedconfidence and minimaldisruption to growing thebusiness from a secureplatform. There are times whenall business owners need toseek expert legal advice beforemaking key decisions tosafeguard the development andgrowth of their business.

“I trust the team at GreggLatchams to support me andunderstand my requirements,giving me important legaltechnical advice onemployment, strategy,commercial property,commercial and corporateaspects.”

� From left,MikeHughes(MD -LatchamD i re c t ) ,JudithHeale (headof In-HouseLawyer)andE d w a rdBoal(solicitor -G re g gLatchams)

Jon MarchantDir ectorMazarsJon.marchant@mazars.co.uk

Expert eye

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THE vast majority of busi-nesses will start outsourcingwork as soon as they becomeincorporated. Most, if not all,would start off recognising

the benefits that a bookkeeper oraccountant can bring, realising thatsuch tasks are best done by someonewho knows what they’re doing. It’s aninvestment worth making.

And this principle carries forwardthroughout the growth of a business,to the other end of the spectrumwhere multinationals outsourcewhole functions to a large externalc o m p a ny.

Most people in business work forsmall companies, for whomlarge-scale outsourcing is not a re-quirement but for whom handingover certain key functions enablesthem to focus on what the businessdoes best for its customers or clients.But even this first step can be achallenge for owners who have builtup a company from scratch. It can behard to let things go.

Chris Budd, below, is a Bris-tol-based member of South West busi-ness coaching firm QuiverMana g ement.

He said business leaders he workswith, to help them achieve growth,can struggle to delegate responsib-ility, especially when it involves giv-ing work outside the business. Trustis usually the barrier.

He said: “A really good example isdelicatessen I know, who books histime out as a chef at a good rate butspent every Wednesday morningdoing his books. He could easily pay abookkeeper £100 to do the work andhire himself out at £500 but he wantedto keep his hands on it, rather thaninvesting in setting up the processp ro p e rly.

“Most businesses that fail to growdo so because the business owner isstopping it. It’s a trust issue and acharacter trait of many businessowners, who find it hard to giveresponsibility to other people.

“Business owners shouldaim to make themselvesthe least important per-son in their business.That way they get otherpeople far cleverer thanthem to do lots of thework, they can stick towhat they enjoy and even-tually, if they want, sell thebu s i n e s s.

sourcing division in Bristol and therest of the south of England for ac-countancy firm Mazars, said the riskis that by taking functions outside thebusiness, you sacrifice the hard-wonexpertise inside your company.

He said: “You can outsource a spe-cific function, but remember that theperson might do other importanttasks around the office, such as deal-ing with administration, or opening

the post. So companies need to thinkabout that, too. Outsource companiesmight struggle to fill all the gaps.”

However he said that web andcloud-based innovations were mak-ing it easier for SMEs, not just biggercompanies, to have the best of bothwo rl d s.

He said: “Technology is making itmuch easier to collaborate with out-source companies now – cloud based

solutions mean that a client and aprovider can both use the same dataset.

“You can also share roles muchmore effectively, so whereas beforeyou might have outsourced everypart of a business function, you cannow be much more selective.

“So in finance, for example, youmight just outsource payroll or thepurchaser pay process. Or if there’s a

LAST year Mazars published a study intothe SME market which analysed SMEsacross the EU for the period. In a crowdedand competitive market place, there were6 key themes that the best SMEs demon-

s t r at e d :� Maintain a Sharp Focus� Bring More to the Party� Build Resilience and Financial Discipline� Right Size Your Company� Increase International Outlook and Extend theGeographical Footprint� Manage for Today and Lead for Tomorrow

So why build resilience and financial dis-cipline?

If you have financial resilience the company isbetter placed to weather a financial storm. In-vesting in the key areas of the business ensuresthat returns are maximised for shareholders andprovides sustainability for the future.

With good financial discipline you have theprocesses and procedures to enable the receipt oftimely management information, thus helpingmanagement to navigate the business envir-onment and highlight potential risks.

With key risks highlighted, planning for alleventualities is easier and supports provision ofsuitable finance at an early stage, whether for anincrease in working capital as the businessgrows, the opportunity to acquire a competitoror the demise of a key supplier.

So how can you build resilience and fin-ancial discipline?

Good financial discipline starts with a goodfoundation. Transactional data forms the base ofyour management information. This may derivefrom purchase or sales invoices, bank trans-actions or payroll journals. With the right pro-cess in place, time is saved and many steps can bea u t o m at e d .

In today’s 24/7 society a lack of informationcan be costly. We expect instant access to in-formation through e-mail, web portals andon-line banking, but many business owners stillwait weeks or months to find out how theirbusiness is performing.

Often SMEs do not have the expertise or thefunds to introduce systems that can provide theright information on a timely basis. This is whymany choose to outsource their accounting func-tion. This can take away the administrativeburden and ensure a sound foundation layer ofdata upon which solid management reportingand analysis can be carried out. It will also freeup manager’s time to focus on using the in-formation rather than preparing it.

By working in partnership with an out-sourcing company, you can leverage their systemand process knowledge to either support orreplace your existing finance team. Typically, anoutsourcing company will have access to varioussolutions allowing increased collaborationthrough cloud services, technology that canautomate processes and sector specific solutionsthat can help develop your business.

Outsourcing gives time back to managementand can add real value to the business. TheMazars Outsourcing Team help many busi-nesses build financial resilience; enabling busi-ness leaders to focus on what they do best.

How to be a stand outSME? – Build resilienceand financial discipline

Focus on start-ups | Sponsored by THEME SPONSOR’S NAME HERE.

Rupert Janisch investigateswhen is the right time tobring in outside experts andfree yourself and your teamto focus on the core tasks

� THE smooth running of acompany’s computer systems isoften taken for granted. It’s onlywhen something breaks down thatyou realise how dependent on ITwe all are.

But for many SMEs, employing afull-time IT department in house issurplus to requirements. Propertyconsultancy Maggs and Allen,which has offices in Henleaze andClifton and employs 25 staff, isone such company.

Established for more than 25

years, the company has beenoutsourcing its IT to BristolComputer Support for many years,with demand increasing as thefirm has grown.

Director Toby Fisher said: “IThas not been something we wouldtry and do ourselves as we realiseit wouldn’t be the most efficientway of doing it.

“We outsource our website and

print too. Initially those are thingswe might have tried to do in-housebut rather than us spending ourtime designing and printing it, wecan get them commissioned andproduced for us by the next day.”

Matt Clark, managing director ofBristol Computer Support, said:“We can either offer companies anentire IT department or supportwhoever a company has in-housewith advice and support. This canbe looking after server andnetworking issues, when onsite

Outsourcing IT allows us to focus on businessCase study

We take onthe HR burdenCase study

Legal advicea call awayCase study

Outsourcing special

‘GET CLEVERER PEOPLE TO DO LOTS OF THE BUSINESS’ WORK’

“T hat’s not just out-sourcing – it’s also em-

ployment of people – bu toutsourcing can playan important part.”

This is not to say thatoutsourcing is univer-

sally the right ap-p ro a ch .James Smalley, fa r

right, who heads up the out-

staff maintain the PCs.“We can also add resources to

corporate firms who have officesin the region, but have theirsupport staff elsewhere.

“System failures in an office cancost your business money in losttime, or even lost profits. Sowhether it’s hardware or softwaresupport, it makes sense thesedays to leave it in the hands ofsomeone who knows what they’redoing and who can act quickly torepair any faults.”

bookkeeper in house then youmight just need the month-endmanagement accounting doing,rather than outsourcing all youraccounting needs.

“We have also seen more andmore processes becoming auto-mated – t h at ’s happening as soft-ware becomes cloud-based andsystems can link together to cap-ture data. And whereas it’s been

driven by the big multi-nationalcompanies it’s becoming more andmore popular in the SME markett o o. ”

For bigger companies the crux ofsuccessful outsourcing, said MrSmalley, is efficient use of data:“Companies might want to makesure that they have the right teamstructure in place, so that the rolespeople are performing could be

done more efficiently.“A lot of that centres around the

automation of processes and mak-ing sure that they are building theinformation up from the right baselayer. As long as it’s structuredcorrectly, it should flow throughbut what often happens as busi-nesses evolve is that no one looks atthe whole structure and that’swhen efficiency can be lost.”

In association with

� MattClarkand TobyFisherf ro mMaggs &Allen

� Based in Staple Hill, carecompany Aspirations Supporthas grown considerably since itwas established in 2007, nowrunning 13 supported livinghouses in east Bristol andemploying 94 staff.

Outsource HR firm The HRDept has been with thecompany since the beginning,helping deal with itsemployment issues as it hascontinued to grow.

Joe Imber, AspirationsSupport’s director and owner,said: “We offer a diverse rangeof services including communityoutreach, day services,supported living, personal careand supported holidays.

“We care for, support andenable adults with learning

difficulties and mental healthneeds to live rewarding andfulfilling lives. The HR Dept iswell established and works witha number of providers likeourselves, so we benefit fromexperience and a great wealthof knowledge.

“We find it helpful to haveimpartial advice from anexternal agency and our staffalso find this beneficial. It’s acomfortable set-up and I thinkwe’ll continue to outsource ourHR work as we grow further,rather than employing anyone

in-house.” Ryan Gay from TheHR Dept said: “AspirationsSupport has been working withThe HR Dept since 2009 and Ihave been the onsite HRManager for the company sincelate 2013, working at the officesfor a day per week and beingpermanently available outside ofthis to help with any unforeseenissues.

“It’s a great solution for thecompany – all the expertise andservice offerings from a highlyqualified and experienced HRadvisory company, without anyof the costs associated withrecruiting and employing a teamin-house.

“They can come to me withfor anything they need, fromdrafting employee contracts todealing with disciplinary issues,and everything in between. I’mhere to take that burden awayfrom them, giving them peaceof mind to focus on what theydo best, as a partner in thedevelopment of the company asit continues to grow.”

� Joe Imber and Ryan Gay from the HR Dept at Aspiratuins Support

� BASED in Hengrove, LatchamDirect Limited employs 80people and delivers digital print,tailored marketing andcustomer communicationsolutions to the private andpublic sector.

It is one of many second andthird tier businesses whichsubscribe to the In-HouseLawyer, the outsourced legalpackage from city centre lawfirm Gregg Latchams, havingdone so for nearly two years.

Latcham Direct is anaward-winning firm which hasseen solid growth and hasmade significant investmentsinto the business over the pastfour years.

Clients include the NationalTrust, Time Europe and TheRoyal College of Midwives. Ithas built a reputation fordelivery of complex qualitysolutions and for its attitude to

corporate social responsibility.In outsourcing the company’s

legal function Mike Hughes, themanaging director of LatchamDirect, values the ability to pickup the telephone to a “p ro p e r ”

lawyer, who speaks commercialsense in plain English withoutthe clock ticking.

He said: “The service hasenabled me to make sure all mylegal documentation andgeneral corporate governance isin good order, ensuring I amable to conduct the business ofthe day with increasedconfidence and minimaldisruption to growing thebusiness from a secureplatform. There are times whenall business owners need toseek expert legal advice beforemaking key decisions tosafeguard the development andgrowth of their business.

“I trust the team at GreggLatchams to support me andunderstand my requirements,giving me important legaltechnical advice onemployment, strategy,commercial property,commercial and corporateaspects.”

� From left,MikeHughes(MD -LatchamD i re c t ) ,JudithHeale (headof In-HouseLawyer)andE d w a rdBoal(solicitor -G re g gLatchams)

Jon MarchantDir ectorMazarsJon.marchant@mazars.co.uk

Expert eye

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10 We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 11We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

In pictures Women in Business Awards reception

I n s p i ra t i o n Awards finalistsgather ahead of the big night

Business diary

Email your business events togavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk.Events are sometimescancelled without us beingnotified so please check withorganisers before travelling.

Smart Cities - tech solutionsto urban transportchallenges: Panel event hostedby Bond Dickinson at itsTemple Quay offices about howconnected technology and datacould help traffic problems.From 11.30am, March 16. Emailbonddickinsonevents@dickinson-dees.com

Bristol Business Exhibition:Sponsored by Bristol CityCouncil and Destination Bristol,this event attracts more than500 delegates, typicallybusiness owners and decisionmakers from the SME sector.Tuesday, March 17 at M shed.See w w w. b r i s t o l b u s i n e s sexhibition.co.uk.

Driving Results ThroughSocial Media Marketing:Business West-run freeworkshop March 179:30am-3:30pm, MercureHolland Hotel, Redcliffe Hill,Bristol.

Walk & Swim Netwalk forWomen in Business: Meet atthe Lido for coffee then walktowards the Gorge, along thePromenade to Clifton Downsand returning to the Lidoaround 10.30am for coffee.Then a swim and sauna passand stay for a couple of hours.March 19. Book via Eventbrite.

Digital Marketing That WillGive Your Business the Edge:Free Business West workshop9:30am-3.30pm on March 19,Aztec Hotel, Almondsbury,BS32 4TS.

Bristol Post and BathChronicle Women In BusinessAwards 2015: The winners willbe revealed at a gala awardsdinner at the Bristol City CentreMarriott on March 19. To booktickets for the night, visitwww.bristolpost.co.uk/ wiba. Ifyou’re talking about the awardson social medial, use #wiba.

Tweet Up Bristol: Social andbusiness informal networkingevent where you can meet whoyou tweet. At Revolution Bar,Bristol, 6-9pm, March 24.@tweetupbristol

Digital Challenge Final andAw a rd s : Finalists from the hackweekend in February willcompete for a £50,000 cashprize to develop a softwareapplication or game addressingone of five environmentalchallenges, energy, transport,food, resources and nature.Colston Hall, April 20.w w w. b r i s t o l 2 0 1 5 . c o . u k

The Lord Mayor’s CharityDinner: Enjoy a drinksreception followed by asumptuous three-course dinner,world-class live entertainmentand auction, in aid of The LordMayor of Bristol’s ChildrenAppeal on April 30 at theBristol Marriott Royal Hotel.Book tickets through Eventbriteand help raise money for thecity’s most disadvantagedchildren. Emailinfo@galadinner2015.com forsponsorship opportunities.

IT WAS a night when they wereall winners. The finalists in thisye a r ’s Bristol and Bath Womenin Business Awards gathered fora reception in their honour hos-

ted by new restaurant Aquila.The evening gave all the finalists

the chance to toast their success andnetwork with other inspiring busi-nesswomen ahead of the presentationnight next week.

The awards, in association withUWE Bristol, are run by the BristolPost and sister title the Bath Chron-i cl e.

Dr Fiona Jordan, UWE’s associatedean for external engagement, whogive a short speech on the evening,said afterwards: “It was great to meetso many inspirational women.”

A number of the finalists took tosocial media to talk about the event,using the hashtag #wiba.

Sophie Hibbert, from Bath-baseddesign consultancy Hibbert Har-wood, who is in the running for theyoung entrepreneur prize as well asthe new business award, Tweeted:“Privileged that @HibbertHarwoodare finalists twice in a room full of somany fantastic finalists.”

Alison Howell, founder of walkingtours business Foot Trails and a nom-inee for Woman of the Year, said:“Great evening last night @aquili-abristol with lots of inspirational

Spreading the message – the West is the best

In pictures West of England LEP map launch

THE Bristol area is the home of know-ledge, innovation and quality of life.

T hat’s the message the West of Eng-land Local Enterprise Partnershiptook to Westminster this week as itseeks to promote the area for businessand government investment.

The organisation produced a maphighlighting some of the region’s suc-cesses and showed it off at the EngineShed before taking it to Westminster.

LEP chairman Colin Skellett said:“The West of England contributesmore to the UK’s GDP than any regionoutside of London and the South East.As an LEP we’ve broken new groundin the way industry, the public sector

and academia work together and wehave created a dynamic partnershipwith solid governance in place to de-liver sustainable economic growth.This new map is a clear, visual rep-resentation of just what makes theWest of England such a great place tolive and work and the future oppor-tunities the region offers for UK plc.”

Deputy chair Councillor PaulCrossley added: “This sets out justwhat a compelling case we have herein the West of England. We have aworkforce educated way above the na-tional average, leading universities,world-leading industry sectors, excel-lent connectivity in every sense and

an un-paralleled quality of life.”Kingswood MP Chris Skidmore hos-ted the Westminster event. He said:“Within my own constituency ofKingswood, the Bristol & Bath SciencePark stands as a shining example ofthe great things that are beingachieved through collaboration, withthree leading universities coming to-gether with public and private sectorsto deliver a facility that showcases thestrength and potential of the West ofEngland’s knowledge economy.”

Nick Davies, who runs Neighbourlyfrom the SETsquared business centreat the Engine Shed shared some of hisc o m p a ny ’s success story. The social

network helps connected businessesand community projects.

It has already overseen the raisingof £760,502, 6,905 days pledged andmore than 200 projects backed.

Nick said: “For business growth toflourish, the positive atmosphere ofpartnership and connectivitybetween the public and private sectorsand also between industry sectors is akey part of our success.

“Neighbourly is delighted to be ableto support the LEP with the launch ofits new map and we like to think we area real example of an SME success storyin the West of England, which can setan example to the rest of the UK.”

business women.”And fellow Woman of the Year fi-

nalist Ellen Green, founder of theBristol-based Blue Badge Companywhich makes attractive wallets fordisability badges, added: “Had a greattime @aquilabristol for the #Bristol& #Bath #WIBA finalist event. Can'twait for the 19th! #YoungEntrepren-e u r. ”

Sammy Payne, from robot handmaker Open Bionics, who is up for theyoung entrepreneur award, said:“Brilliant evening with the Women inBusiness nominees.”

Sarah Fox-Clinch, of Bristol mort-gage broker Fox Davidson, a finalistin the new business category,Tweeted: “Great night. Great people.Great venue. Roll on the #wiba laterthis month.”

The awards will be handed out at ablack tie gala dinner on Thursday,March 19 at the Bristol City CentreMarriott Hotel. To find out moreabout the awards, visit w w w. b r i s t o l -p o s t . c o. u k / w i b a .

� Above left, Dr Fiona Jordan ofUWE speaks during the Women InBusiness event at Aquila; left, BristolPost managing director SarahPullen; other pictures show guestsat the event Pictures: Dan Regan

in association with

WOMEN INBUSINESSAWARDS

SPONSOREDBY

in association with

� LEP chairman Colin Skellett, far left, with guests at the unveiling of the map Pics: Freia Turland

� Above left, Chris Skidmore MP; above right, Neighbourly chief executiveNick Davies; below front, James Durie from Business West

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10 We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 11We d n e s d a y, M a rc h 11, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

In pictures Women in Business Awards reception

I n s p i ra t i o n Awards finalistsgather ahead of the big night

Business diary

Email your business events togavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk.Events are sometimescancelled without us beingnotified so please check withorganisers before travelling.

Smart Cities - tech solutionsto urban transportchallenges: Panel event hostedby Bond Dickinson at itsTemple Quay offices about howconnected technology and datacould help traffic problems.From 11.30am, March 16. Emailbonddickinsonevents@dickinson-dees.com

Bristol Business Exhibition:Sponsored by Bristol CityCouncil and Destination Bristol,this event attracts more than500 delegates, typicallybusiness owners and decisionmakers from the SME sector.Tuesday, March 17 at M shed.See w w w. b r i s t o l b u s i n e s sexhibition.co.uk.

Driving Results ThroughSocial Media Marketing:Business West-run freeworkshop March 179:30am-3:30pm, MercureHolland Hotel, Redcliffe Hill,Bristol.

Walk & Swim Netwalk forWomen in Business: Meet atthe Lido for coffee then walktowards the Gorge, along thePromenade to Clifton Downsand returning to the Lidoaround 10.30am for coffee.Then a swim and sauna passand stay for a couple of hours.March 19. Book via Eventbrite.

Digital Marketing That WillGive Your Business the Edge:Free Business West workshop9:30am-3.30pm on March 19,Aztec Hotel, Almondsbury,BS32 4TS.

Bristol Post and BathChronicle Women In BusinessAwards 2015: The winners willbe revealed at a gala awardsdinner at the Bristol City CentreMarriott on March 19. To booktickets for the night, visitwww.bristolpost.co.uk/ wiba. Ifyou’re talking about the awardson social medial, use #wiba.

Tweet Up Bristol: Social andbusiness informal networkingevent where you can meet whoyou tweet. At Revolution Bar,Bristol, 6-9pm, March 24.@tweetupbristol

Digital Challenge Final andAw a rd s : Finalists from the hackweekend in February willcompete for a £50,000 cashprize to develop a softwareapplication or game addressingone of five environmentalchallenges, energy, transport,food, resources and nature.Colston Hall, April 20.w w w. b r i s t o l 2 0 1 5 . c o . u k

The Lord Mayor’s CharityDinner: Enjoy a drinksreception followed by asumptuous three-course dinner,world-class live entertainmentand auction, in aid of The LordMayor of Bristol’s ChildrenAppeal on April 30 at theBristol Marriott Royal Hotel.Book tickets through Eventbriteand help raise money for thecity’s most disadvantagedchildren. Emailinfo@galadinner2015.com forsponsorship opportunities.

IT WAS a night when they wereall winners. The finalists in thisye a r ’s Bristol and Bath Womenin Business Awards gathered fora reception in their honour hos-

ted by new restaurant Aquila.The evening gave all the finalists

the chance to toast their success andnetwork with other inspiring busi-nesswomen ahead of the presentationnight next week.

The awards, in association withUWE Bristol, are run by the BristolPost and sister title the Bath Chron-i cl e.

Dr Fiona Jordan, UWE’s associatedean for external engagement, whogive a short speech on the evening,said afterwards: “It was great to meetso many inspirational women.”

A number of the finalists took tosocial media to talk about the event,using the hashtag #wiba.

Sophie Hibbert, from Bath-baseddesign consultancy Hibbert Har-wood, who is in the running for theyoung entrepreneur prize as well asthe new business award, Tweeted:“Privileged that @HibbertHarwoodare finalists twice in a room full of somany fantastic finalists.”

Alison Howell, founder of walkingtours business Foot Trails and a nom-inee for Woman of the Year, said:“Great evening last night @aquili-abristol with lots of inspirational

Spreading the message – the West is the best

In pictures West of England LEP map launch

THE Bristol area is the home of know-ledge, innovation and quality of life.

T hat’s the message the West of Eng-land Local Enterprise Partnershiptook to Westminster this week as itseeks to promote the area for businessand government investment.

The organisation produced a maphighlighting some of the region’s suc-cesses and showed it off at the EngineShed before taking it to Westminster.

LEP chairman Colin Skellett said:“The West of England contributesmore to the UK’s GDP than any regionoutside of London and the South East.As an LEP we’ve broken new groundin the way industry, the public sector

and academia work together and wehave created a dynamic partnershipwith solid governance in place to de-liver sustainable economic growth.This new map is a clear, visual rep-resentation of just what makes theWest of England such a great place tolive and work and the future oppor-tunities the region offers for UK plc.”

Deputy chair Councillor PaulCrossley added: “This sets out justwhat a compelling case we have herein the West of England. We have aworkforce educated way above the na-tional average, leading universities,world-leading industry sectors, excel-lent connectivity in every sense and

an un-paralleled quality of life.”Kingswood MP Chris Skidmore hos-ted the Westminster event. He said:“Within my own constituency ofKingswood, the Bristol & Bath SciencePark stands as a shining example ofthe great things that are beingachieved through collaboration, withthree leading universities coming to-gether with public and private sectorsto deliver a facility that showcases thestrength and potential of the West ofEngland’s knowledge economy.”

Nick Davies, who runs Neighbourlyfrom the SETsquared business centreat the Engine Shed shared some of hisc o m p a ny ’s success story. The social

network helps connected businessesand community projects.

It has already overseen the raisingof £760,502, 6,905 days pledged andmore than 200 projects backed.

Nick said: “For business growth toflourish, the positive atmosphere ofpartnership and connectivitybetween the public and private sectorsand also between industry sectors is akey part of our success.

“Neighbourly is delighted to be ableto support the LEP with the launch ofits new map and we like to think we area real example of an SME success storyin the West of England, which can setan example to the rest of the UK.”

business women.”And fellow Woman of the Year fi-

nalist Ellen Green, founder of theBristol-based Blue Badge Companywhich makes attractive wallets fordisability badges, added: “Had a greattime @aquilabristol for the #Bristol& #Bath #WIBA finalist event. Can'twait for the 19th! #YoungEntrepren-e u r. ”

Sammy Payne, from robot handmaker Open Bionics, who is up for theyoung entrepreneur award, said:“Brilliant evening with the Women inBusiness nominees.”

Sarah Fox-Clinch, of Bristol mort-gage broker Fox Davidson, a finalistin the new business category,Tweeted: “Great night. Great people.Great venue. Roll on the #wiba laterthis month.”

The awards will be handed out at ablack tie gala dinner on Thursday,March 19 at the Bristol City CentreMarriott Hotel. To find out moreabout the awards, visit w w w. b r i s t o l -p o s t . c o. u k / w i b a .

� Above left, Dr Fiona Jordan ofUWE speaks during the Women InBusiness event at Aquila; left, BristolPost managing director SarahPullen; other pictures show guestsat the event Pictures: Dan Regan

in association with

WOMEN INBUSINESSAWARDS

SPONSOREDBY

in association with

� LEP chairman Colin Skellett, far left, with guests at the unveiling of the map Pics: Freia Turland

� Above left, Chris Skidmore MP; above right, Neighbourly chief executiveNick Davies; below front, James Durie from Business West

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The back page

Quick decision on rail franchise is crucial

� NewLaw Solicitors recruits, from left, Ben Jones, Charlotte Tracy,Daniel Thomas, Rhys Williams, Catherine Dally and Ashleigh Hill

Picture: Huw John, Cardiff

Opinion

Your digest of the week in business

SOUTH Gloucestershire and Stroud (SGS)College is one of the newest in the countryand was formed by the merger of Filton andStroud Colleges in February 2012.

The College had its first Ofsted inspectionin November 2014, which judged that SGShad an overall ‘Good’ status with ‘Outstand-ing’ Leadership and Management, LearnerSupport services, and Employability Pro-grammes. There were further ‘Outstanding’grades in Sport, Business, Performing andVisual Arts.

The report also outlined that a significantand increasing proportion of teaching andlearning is outstanding, and learners benefitfrom the College’s culture of high expect-ations and receive outstanding support intheir studies.

At SGS, there are three main campuses –Stroud, Filton and WISE – as well as manylocal community venues, welcoming around15,500 full-time and part-time students of allages every year. There are also centres in thecentre of Bristol, at the West of EnglandSchool of Art and at the Bristol Zoo & Gar-dens.

Campuses are based in state-of-the-artbuildings in great locations – Filton and WISEare within easy reach of the centre of Bristol,while the Stroud campus is based in thebeautiful five valleys, in the county ofGloucestershire. Each campus provides awarm welcome, and a friendly, dynamic at-mosphere, where learning is fun and studentsare sure to make lasting friendships.

As a merged institution, the College nowoffers an even wider range of vocational andacademic courses, in an even greater rangeof subjects.

What’s more, SGS has an excellent repu-tation for deliveringwork-based programmes,such as apprenticeships,higher apprenticeshipsand professional training.

The thriving enrichmentprogramme offeredacross all campuses, of-fers extra classes, trips,events and activities. TheCollege’s student unionorganises many of the ex-citing enrichment activit-ies, which is run bystudents for students,whose contribution helps shape day-to-daylife at the College.

In addition, the learner services team is onhand to support students during their time atcollege, answering any questions aboutcourses, future careers, travel, money issuesand more. Students can also get help andadvice on personal or health issues from theCollege nurse or counsellor, or via the onlinecounselling service.

SGS College has seen a 15% rise in stu-dent numbers since 2012 while at the sametime student success rates for learners aged16-18 have consistently been in the topdecile when compared with all other similarcolleges in the country. When compared withall further education colleges in the SouthWest, SGS College’s value-added perform-ance ranked highest of all similar colleges forA Levels or Vocational programmes.

With its plans to further improve teachingand learning, SGS has big ambitions to ex-pand its provision through the developmentof a new campus at the former BerkeleyNuclear Laboratories focused on construc-tion and engineering training, which has beensupported by the Gloucestershire Local En-terprise Partnership GFIRST.

Recently, SGS received the green light toestablish a £10m University Technical Collegeat Berkeley specialising in Advanced Man-ufacturing and Digital Technology. SGS hasalso asked to form a Multi-Academy Trust(MAT), which sees the College take respons-ibility or sponsor primary and secondaryschools that are struggling academically.

These initiatives have been chosen to servethe needs of the communities the Collegeserves, which is confident it will be graded‘Outstanding’ when inspected in the near fu-t u re .

Sara-Jane WatkinsVice Principal and Deputy Chief, PartnerSouth Gloucestershire and Stroud (SGS) College

COLLEGE PROFILE

P l a ces� A prominent mixed-usebuilding on Bristol’s BaldwinStreet has been sold toresidential developmentcompany WestcoastDevelopments, aBournemouth-based firmrenowned for its luxury homeson Poole’s world-famousSandbanks Peninsular.

28 Baldwin Street, anine-storey property whichoffers leisure accommodation at

basement, ground, first andsecond floors, and servicedoffices on the upper five floors,will be redeveloped into 50 flatsonce lease agreements withserviced office occupiers havee x p i re d .

The new owners are lookingfor interested parties regardingvacant basement and groundfloor commercial space, whichcould become a restaurant,coffee shop, gym or retail store.

The 39,000 sq ft property,which has a 15-space car parknearby, is the latest in a line ofcity centre office buildings to beallocated for residentialconversion under a temporaryrelaxation of the planning rules.

Property consultancy AlderKing secured the freehold saleof the property off a quotingprice of £2 million on behalf ofthe Lewis Group and KurtWyman.

� Lewis Innovative Investmentshas acquired the Sainsbury’sstore in Bristol’s Broadmead for£2.18 million, reflecting a netinitial yield of 6.2 per cent.

The supermarket has a15-year lease on the site at arent of £150,000 per annum.

Gemma-Jane Ogden ofHartnell Taylor Cook whichadvised Lewis said: “Theproperty is in a strongconvenience location inB ro a d m e a d . ”

� The 66 Queen Square officedevelopment has reached

another milestone, with theremoval of the tower crane.

Developed and funded underthe Workplaces by Skanskabanner, 66 Queen Square ismaking rapid headway.

The removal of the towercrane demonstrates theprogress being made on site,with all construction work on

programme for completion inSeptember 2015.

The development will provide61,000sqft (5,667m²) of Grade Aoffice space in the centre ofBristol city, 85 per cent of whichhas been pre-let to KPMG on a15-year lease.

Pe o p l e� Business West hasstrengthened its governancewith a new non-executivedirector. Mark Mason, right,founder and CEO of appdeveloper Mubaloo will bringexpertise in mobile, digitalmarketing and mentoring toBusiness West.

Chairman Stephen Robertson

said: “Mark’s insight andwisdom in the genesis andgrowth of modern businesseswill have immediate relevance inthe Business West board andin service of ourmembers’ needs too.”

� Lynne Fernandes,right, anoptometrist whoruns threesuccessfulpractices acrossBristol and Nailsea,has been shortlistedfor Optometrist of theYear in the Optician Awards2015.

Lynne said: “It means somuch to me, as it is recognitionof my absolute commitment tomy profession and my patients.Obviously I’m keepingeverything crossed forApril 18, when thewinners will beannounced!”

� SantanderCorporate &Commercial hasappointed JohnSturman as the newrelationship director –renewable energy forThames Valley and South West.

Based in Bristol, John willwork with local renewableenergy businesses and will be

responsible for building newcustomer relationships as thebank looks to expand furtherinto the region and sector.

John previously worked forRPS Renewables and has 15years of experience in thesector as a consultant andproject developer.

� NewLaw Solicitors hasappointed six new trainees toits expanding legal team.

The traineeships, which areakin to legal apprenticeshipsthat any aspiring solicitor has toexperience before they canqualify, have been awarded toDaniel Thomas, Ashleigh Hill,Charlotte Tracey, CatherineDally, Ben Jones and RhysWilliams following a toughinterview process.

Jon Fitzpatrick, head of theBristol office and NewLaw’straining principal, said: “We ’refortunate to be in a position totake on six trainees this year,which has increased by twocompared to last year, reflectingthe growth and success of thebusiness in 2014.

“I would certainly like tocongratulate our new traineeson their success in the face ofsuch tough competition and I

really look forward to watchingtheir careers develop

with NewLaw over thecoming years.”

� Bristol StreetMotors Mazda inBristol hasappointed twonew faces to the

management team.Bringing with them

more than 40 years ofmotor trade experience,

Paul Marsh is the new generalmanager at the dealership withAndrew Semper taking on therole of sales manager.

Paul, 48, from Bath, joins thedealership after beginning

his career as a fleetsales executive. A

keen cricketer, Paulplayed minorcounty cricket forWiltshire beforejoining the trade.

Andrew, 52, fromCheltenham, brings

with him 22 years ofmotor retail

experience.Paul, said: “I am really looking

forward to working with theteam at Bristol Street MotorsMazda in Bristol.”

THE Government mustmake a decision on thefuture of the SouthWe s t ’s rail franchise orrisk the Bristol not being

properly set up to take advantageof electrification.

Reports suggest that operatorFirst Great Western will be awar-ded the rail franchise for theregion for the next four yearssoon, but the bidding process hasalready been postponed by theGovernment once before amid aseries of problems.

There has already been a lot ofconfusion and delay surround-ing the bidding process for theGreat Western franchise but itappears that the Government ison the verge of making an an-nouncement that should hope-fully settle the long-term future

of the railway.Transport ministers need to

settle the issue once and for all sowe can get on with implementingthe investment in our railwaynetwork as soon as possible.

We at CBRE believes an earlydecision is crucial in ensuringthat Bristol is able to capitaliseon the opportunities that will bepresented by the £4 billion elec-trification of the main rail linkbetween London and the SouthWe s t .

Electrification will be vital for

the economic prosperity of Bris-tol and the whole of the sur-rounding region.

We are talking about a directlink straight into the heart of theeconomy, which will bring busi-ness direct from London into theEnterprise Zone situated rightnext to Temple Meads station.

It is critical that we have asound structure in place now sothat electrification can be intro-duced as smoothly as possible,with minimum disruption andd e l ay s.

Philip MortonHead of office agency &developmentCBRE Bristol