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Businesswww.bristolpost.co.uk

Looking for a new job?Don’t miss our 8-pagesupplement – inside

FIND A NEW JOB

The re-elected chairman ofthe FSB sets out his goalsfor the city – page 10

IN THE HOT SEAT

Boardrooms are missingout on huge pool oftalented women – page 3

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

212014JAN

TRI ANDMIGHTYRetail success story the Triathlon Shopgets bigger and better with a move to newpremises as the sport’s popularity soars

ON THE MOVE

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8 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 9We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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

BUILDING a new nuclear re-actor in Somerset – and thenpotentially a second inSouth Gloucestershire –could have the biggest im-

pact on Bristol’s economy since theSecond Severn Crossing opened, ac-cording to a leading property expert.

Ned Cussen, consultant at JonesLang LaSalle, based in BerkeleySquare, Bristol, said the economicbenefits of such major projectsshould not be understated.

“Major infrastructure projects aremajor drivers of the economy,” hesaid. “And the new nuclear reactor atHinkley Point in Somerset is thelargest infrastructure scheme in thewhole of Britain.”

Although the project is 50 milesdown the motorway near Bridgwater,he said the scheme was so big, theripple effect would be felt in Bristoland beyond.

“The implications of major infra-structure development is demon-strated by what has happened on thenorth fringe of Bristol – the M4 andM5 motorway corridor produced anexplosion of activity and growth,”said Mr Cussen.

“The last major infrastructurescheme in this area was the SecondSevern Crossing, which was com-pleted in 1996.”

He said that at Jones Lang LaSallethey were already receiving callsabout office space in Bristol fromtechnical consultants associated

under way at Hinkley Point and thelevel of Government subsidies on theelectricity produced from the planthave been agreed.

It will be the first of the UK’s newgeneration of nuclear power plants,but won’t be the last. Further downthe line is a plan for a new reactor atOldbury, by Horizon, a subsidiary ofJapanese firm Hitachi.

Mr Cussen said the Oldbury sitewas the “best located in the UK” fo rsuch a development. Many suchplants were deliberately out of theway, but Oldbury was relatively closeto the M5.

He said: “The land has been ac-quired, it is well placed on the grid

and access for construction isexcellent. Building another

reactor here would be areal boost for this area.

“It also makes thearea more desirable forthe businesses whichmight be drawn here be-

cause of Hinkley, toknow that once that is

finished there could be an-other major development re-

quiring the same skills just up thero a d . ”

John Gilbert, head of strategy anddevelopment at Horizon, agreed.

“Oldbury will be a multi-billionpound investment, comprising atleast two reactors,” he said. “We be-lieve there is an opportunity for 60per cent of the value of the work onconstruction to go to UK firms and wewill look to prioritise local companieswhere they can demonstrate they can

deliver the work to the right qualityand cost.

“As we explained at a supply chainevent in 2013, the Oldbury develop-ment is still some way down the line.The exact timings are to be decidedfollowing the confirmation of the con-struction timetable for Horizon’s firstpower station, Wylfa Newydd, on theIsle of Anglesey.

“However, this gives us time toassess and develop our supply chain,building on the wider regional ex-pertise that is developing as a resultof the Hinkley Point C nuclear powerstation project in Somerset.

“In the meantime, we’d recommendcompanies register their interestwith us (www.horiz onnuclear-power.com/supplier-re gistration).

“In the longer term, we expect apeak workforce at Oldbury itself of upto 6,000 and a permanent direct work-

force of up to 1,000 once the powerstation is operational.”

Damian Whittard, senior economiclecturer from the University of theWest of England, said the benefits ofboth projects would be felt in a num-ber of ways, including technology,expertise and wages.

On Hinkley, he said: “First, there’sthe construction part. It will see thecreation of 20,000 to 25,000 jobs. Thereis a spiral effect as that worksthrough the economy.”

He said the supply chain would seesome of the investment and jobs filterdown to local companies.

“EDF’s figures suggest £85 millionin wages will be paid over the lifetimeof the construction, of which £32 mil-lion will be in the region,” said MrW h i t t a rd .

Technology developed for the pro-ject could have spin-off benefits later

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

In the second of our featureson what the new generationof nuclear power plants willmean for businesses inBristol, Gavin Thompsonlooks at the impact on thecity’s economy

with the project. It isbeing delivered byFrench power firmEDF with a promise tocreate and use a localsupply chain, and willbring direct benefits interms of jobs in construc-tion as the plant is built.

But the economic benefit willbe wider.

“It’s not just about the obvious jobslinked with building and running anuclear power station, it’s the spendthat comes through that association,”said Mr Cussen. “It’s what is calledthe economic multiplier, whichmeans that for every £1 spent, yougenerate as much as £8 in the eco-n o my. ”

Preparation works are already

Focus: Nuclear opportunities

POWER SURGE FOR CITY ECONOMY

on, although the firms involvedwould not necessarily be in this re-gion. But the region, with Bristol wellplaced as its economic capital, couldsee a cluster effect of expertise.

“If you have a centre of expertiseover time you may see more invest-ment, domestic and foreign, and in-ward investment teams for the Westof England will be targeting that,”said Mr Whittard.

Peter Musgrove, director of com-mercial property consultant LambertSmith Hampton in Bristol, said: “T helong-term prospects for Bristol andthe South West are very promising.”

He said one of the biggest dealswould be EDF taking space in theregion, but felt they might be temptedto move closer to Hinkley Point inSomerset, rather than Bristol.

However, he added: “The greatthing about a nuclear power plant isthat it is a very long-term project anda very large investment. As a result,there will be a lot of investment over aperiod of time coming down the M5 toareas such as Clevedon.

“There will become, along the M5, aspecialist nuclear hub. There will beoffices for the major companies in-volved in the project, from construc-tion firms to suppliers.”

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

Commercial feature

William SanzoDir ectorEurotaxis

Further growth is verymuch achievable for us

Know how

WITH the Government’scontinuing frugality, itmay seem that the trans-port industry has beenregulated an exponential

amount.Rising costs of fuel coupled with in-

creasing traffic congestion mean thatfor many operators profits are beingsqueezed like never before.

Established more than 33 years agoand still a family-run taxi and PCVoperator, Eurotaxis has seen manychanges, the largest of which was am-algamating two sites and moving to apurpose-built transport yard in Yate.

Only last year we were based on asmall, dusty yard in Westerleigh withour maintenance facilities based eightmiles away, and our nearest VOSA Au-thorised Testing Facility 16 miles awayin Avonmouth.

If you think that some PCV vehicleswill only do eight miles per gallon, wewere wasting a small fortune in fuel andwages commuting daily between thes i t e s.

After 13 years, we finally found asuitable location and moved to a pur-pose-built transport yard in Yate withon-site facilities.

However, we still had the 32-mileround trip nearly twice a week for aPCV vehicle to go to the ATF for its MoT.We have invested £150,000 in a new ATFlane at our depot in Yate. The ATF laneis now open to the public and to othero p e r at o r s.

Since its opening day we have seen allkinds of vehicles on site, from horse-boxes to coaches, from HGVs to buses.

Some individuals or operators who donot have maintenance facilities haveeven brought their vehicle to us for itsMoT preparation where we have guar-anteed it will pass its MoT.

Alongside our ATF lane we have in-vested in our vehicle-recovery infra-structure with a Mercedes Actros and aMercedes Atego.

So far there have been numerous HGVand PCV operators who have used ourmaintenance and recovery services as aone-stop shop for their vehicles.

Our other significant investment lastyear was building a classroom and be-coming an authorised centre to give theDriver Certificate of Professional Com-p e t e n c e.

We see that growth – although dif-ficult at the moment – is, with the rightinfrastructure and commitment, verymuch achievable.

AYATE taxi and coach-hirecompany is opening itsdoors to other businessesafter investing in a com-mercial vehicles MoT

l a n e.Eurotaxis has been a phenomenal

success story since it was foundedby Juan Sanzo in 1980.

It has grown from a one-man op-eration, after Juan bought a“battered old” Austin for £200.

Now the firm has 180 vehicles –taxis, buses and coaches – and aturnover of £5 million a year.

It employs 95 people and uses anumber of other self-employed taxid r ive r s.

That growth, however, causedJuan a headache. Every commer-cial vehicle has to be MoT-testedeach year. And unlike with a per-sonal car, you cannot take it to manygarages. There are a select numberof specialised testing lanes in Au-

Hold-ups with MoTs drove us toset up our own vehicle test laneGavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Mini Buses & Coaches Taxis & Weddings ATF - HGV & PSV MOTsRecovery & Repairs

eurotaxis.com 0333 666 66 66

Not Just Taxis

� Eurotaxis directors Keith and William Sanzo

thorised Testing Facilities.Difficulties in getting Juan’s fleet

of vehicles to the nearest centre,and lack of available appointments,prompted Eurotaxis to come upwith a radical solution.

Juan said: “You can never get anappointment – it was a real prob-lem. And when you did it was takingfour hours to take a vehicle fortesting and then bring it back.

“So we decided to invest £150,000in building our own lane to do iti n - h o u s e. ”

It took six months to get throughthe red tape and logistical hurdles.

But the lane finally opened forbusiness in November, just beforethe firm’s 33rd birthday.

The benefits for Eurotaxis are thetime and cost savings in not havingto get its vehicles to the test centre.

And to cover the running costs andeventually recoup the investment,the firm has opened up the lane toother companies.

It has a VOSA tester on site threedays a week, but is hoping to extendthat to Monday to Saturday once ithas enough customers coming in –that could add up to 80 tests eachwe e k .

Juan says the MoT lane will neverbe a big profit-maker for the com-pany, but has mutual benefits for hisbusiness and other firms in the areathat can make use of it, paying just asmall pit fee on top of the VOSAcharg es.

The MoT lane is just one of the

services Eurotaxis offers over andabove a typical taxi firm.

It runs a commercial-vehicle re-covery service for breakdowns, cancarry out repairs and maintenancework, and can collect and returnvehicles for their MoTs.

And its coach hire arm takespeople across the UK and Europe.

Eurotaxis undertakes around8,000 to 10,000 taxi journeys everyweek, and buses about 5,000 chil-dren to and from school.

Juan said: “The key to growingthe business has been hard workand family.”

His wife Anne is the managingdirector, sons Keith and William are

directors and son-in-law Toby runsthe workshop.

Juan said: “It is very importantthat it is a family business. It givesyou trust, and know how, fromlength of service. For example,Keith has been with the business forabout 20 years.”

As to his own involvement ascompany secretary, Juan, 63, has noplans to retire.

He said: “I enjoy this too much.”And he still gets behind the wheelre gularly.

Juan said: “I still drive every day– buses, taxis, whatever. I enjoy thedriving. There is no hassle. There isno stress. Driving is driving.”

Juan Sanzo

“You can never get anappointment – it was areal problem. And whenyou did it was taking fourhours to take a vehiclefor testing and thenbring it back. So wedecided to invest£150,000 in building ourown lane to do itin-house.

� Hinkley Point C will be thefirst in a new generation ofnuclear power stations acrossthe UK� It will be able to generate3,260MW of electricity –around five million homes� It will sit alongside thecurrent Hinkley reactors, onestill active and the other beingdecommissioned� The site will include:– Two UK EPR nuclearreactors units– Two turbine halls– Cooling water infrastructure– Fuel and wastemanagement facilities,including storage– Electricity transmissioni n f r a s t r u c t u re– Service and ancillarybuildings– A sea wall– A public information centre– Landscaping for theconstruction land.

HINKLEY POINT C

Ned Cussen, right

“ It’s not just about theobvious jobs linked withbuilding and running anuclear power station,it’s the spend thatcomes through thatassociation.

� An artist’s impression of how Hinkley will look after the installation of its new reactors; below, the plant as it is now

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8 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 9We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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

BUILDING a new nuclear re-actor in Somerset – and thenpotentially a second inSouth Gloucestershire –could have the biggest im-

pact on Bristol’s economy since theSecond Severn Crossing opened, ac-cording to a leading property expert.

Ned Cussen, consultant at JonesLang LaSalle, based in BerkeleySquare, Bristol, said the economicbenefits of such major projectsshould not be understated.

“Major infrastructure projects aremajor drivers of the economy,” hesaid. “And the new nuclear reactor atHinkley Point in Somerset is thelargest infrastructure scheme in thewhole of Britain.”

Although the project is 50 milesdown the motorway near Bridgwater,he said the scheme was so big, theripple effect would be felt in Bristoland beyond.

“The implications of major infra-structure development is demon-strated by what has happened on thenorth fringe of Bristol – the M4 andM5 motorway corridor produced anexplosion of activity and growth,”said Mr Cussen.

“The last major infrastructurescheme in this area was the SecondSevern Crossing, which was com-pleted in 1996.”

He said that at Jones Lang LaSallethey were already receiving callsabout office space in Bristol fromtechnical consultants associated

under way at Hinkley Point and thelevel of Government subsidies on theelectricity produced from the planthave been agreed.

It will be the first of the UK’s newgeneration of nuclear power plants,but won’t be the last. Further downthe line is a plan for a new reactor atOldbury, by Horizon, a subsidiary ofJapanese firm Hitachi.

Mr Cussen said the Oldbury sitewas the “best located in the UK” fo rsuch a development. Many suchplants were deliberately out of theway, but Oldbury was relatively closeto the M5.

He said: “The land has been ac-quired, it is well placed on the grid

and access for construction isexcellent. Building another

reactor here would be areal boost for this area.

“It also makes thearea more desirable forthe businesses whichmight be drawn here be-

cause of Hinkley, toknow that once that is

finished there could be an-other major development re-

quiring the same skills just up thero a d . ”

John Gilbert, head of strategy anddevelopment at Horizon, agreed.

“Oldbury will be a multi-billionpound investment, comprising atleast two reactors,” he said. “We be-lieve there is an opportunity for 60per cent of the value of the work onconstruction to go to UK firms and wewill look to prioritise local companieswhere they can demonstrate they can

deliver the work to the right qualityand cost.

“As we explained at a supply chainevent in 2013, the Oldbury develop-ment is still some way down the line.The exact timings are to be decidedfollowing the confirmation of the con-struction timetable for Horizon’s firstpower station, Wylfa Newydd, on theIsle of Anglesey.

“However, this gives us time toassess and develop our supply chain,building on the wider regional ex-pertise that is developing as a resultof the Hinkley Point C nuclear powerstation project in Somerset.

“In the meantime, we’d recommendcompanies register their interestwith us (www.horiz onnuclear-power.com/supplier-re gistration).

“In the longer term, we expect apeak workforce at Oldbury itself of upto 6,000 and a permanent direct work-

force of up to 1,000 once the powerstation is operational.”

Damian Whittard, senior economiclecturer from the University of theWest of England, said the benefits ofboth projects would be felt in a num-ber of ways, including technology,expertise and wages.

On Hinkley, he said: “First, there’sthe construction part. It will see thecreation of 20,000 to 25,000 jobs. Thereis a spiral effect as that worksthrough the economy.”

He said the supply chain would seesome of the investment and jobs filterdown to local companies.

“EDF’s figures suggest £85 millionin wages will be paid over the lifetimeof the construction, of which £32 mil-lion will be in the region,” said MrW h i t t a rd .

Technology developed for the pro-ject could have spin-off benefits later

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

In the second of our featureson what the new generationof nuclear power plants willmean for businesses inBristol, Gavin Thompsonlooks at the impact on thecity’s economy

with the project. It isbeing delivered byFrench power firmEDF with a promise tocreate and use a localsupply chain, and willbring direct benefits interms of jobs in construc-tion as the plant is built.

But the economic benefit willbe wider.

“It’s not just about the obvious jobslinked with building and running anuclear power station, it’s the spendthat comes through that association,”said Mr Cussen. “It’s what is calledthe economic multiplier, whichmeans that for every £1 spent, yougenerate as much as £8 in the eco-n o my. ”

Preparation works are already

Focus: Nuclear opportunities

POWER SURGE FOR CITY ECONOMY

on, although the firms involvedwould not necessarily be in this re-gion. But the region, with Bristol wellplaced as its economic capital, couldsee a cluster effect of expertise.

“If you have a centre of expertiseover time you may see more invest-ment, domestic and foreign, and in-ward investment teams for the Westof England will be targeting that,”said Mr Whittard.

Peter Musgrove, director of com-mercial property consultant LambertSmith Hampton in Bristol, said: “T helong-term prospects for Bristol andthe South West are very promising.”

He said one of the biggest dealswould be EDF taking space in theregion, but felt they might be temptedto move closer to Hinkley Point inSomerset, rather than Bristol.

However, he added: “The greatthing about a nuclear power plant isthat it is a very long-term project anda very large investment. As a result,there will be a lot of investment over aperiod of time coming down the M5 toareas such as Clevedon.

“There will become, along the M5, aspecialist nuclear hub. There will beoffices for the major companies in-volved in the project, from construc-tion firms to suppliers.”

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

Commercial feature

William SanzoDir ectorEurotaxis

Further growth is verymuch achievable for us

Know how

WITH the Government’scontinuing frugality, itmay seem that the trans-port industry has beenregulated an exponential

amount.Rising costs of fuel coupled with in-

creasing traffic congestion mean thatfor many operators profits are beingsqueezed like never before.

Established more than 33 years agoand still a family-run taxi and PCVoperator, Eurotaxis has seen manychanges, the largest of which was am-algamating two sites and moving to apurpose-built transport yard in Yate.

Only last year we were based on asmall, dusty yard in Westerleigh withour maintenance facilities based eightmiles away, and our nearest VOSA Au-thorised Testing Facility 16 miles awayin Avonmouth.

If you think that some PCV vehicleswill only do eight miles per gallon, wewere wasting a small fortune in fuel andwages commuting daily between thes i t e s.

After 13 years, we finally found asuitable location and moved to a pur-pose-built transport yard in Yate withon-site facilities.

However, we still had the 32-mileround trip nearly twice a week for aPCV vehicle to go to the ATF for its MoT.We have invested £150,000 in a new ATFlane at our depot in Yate. The ATF laneis now open to the public and to othero p e r at o r s.

Since its opening day we have seen allkinds of vehicles on site, from horse-boxes to coaches, from HGVs to buses.

Some individuals or operators who donot have maintenance facilities haveeven brought their vehicle to us for itsMoT preparation where we have guar-anteed it will pass its MoT.

Alongside our ATF lane we have in-vested in our vehicle-recovery infra-structure with a Mercedes Actros and aMercedes Atego.

So far there have been numerous HGVand PCV operators who have used ourmaintenance and recovery services as aone-stop shop for their vehicles.

Our other significant investment lastyear was building a classroom and be-coming an authorised centre to give theDriver Certificate of Professional Com-p e t e n c e.

We see that growth – although dif-ficult at the moment – is, with the rightinfrastructure and commitment, verymuch achievable.

AYATE taxi and coach-hirecompany is opening itsdoors to other businessesafter investing in a com-mercial vehicles MoT

l a n e.Eurotaxis has been a phenomenal

success story since it was foundedby Juan Sanzo in 1980.

It has grown from a one-man op-eration, after Juan bought a“battered old” Austin for £200.

Now the firm has 180 vehicles –taxis, buses and coaches – and aturnover of £5 million a year.

It employs 95 people and uses anumber of other self-employed taxid r ive r s.

That growth, however, causedJuan a headache. Every commer-cial vehicle has to be MoT-testedeach year. And unlike with a per-sonal car, you cannot take it to manygarages. There are a select numberof specialised testing lanes in Au-

Hold-ups with MoTs drove us toset up our own vehicle test laneGavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Mini Buses & Coaches Taxis & Weddings ATF - HGV & PSV MOTsRecovery & Repairs

eurotaxis.com 0333 666 66 66

Not Just Taxis

� Eurotaxis directors Keith and William Sanzo

thorised Testing Facilities.Difficulties in getting Juan’s fleet

of vehicles to the nearest centre,and lack of available appointments,prompted Eurotaxis to come upwith a radical solution.

Juan said: “You can never get anappointment – it was a real prob-lem. And when you did it was takingfour hours to take a vehicle fortesting and then bring it back.

“So we decided to invest £150,000in building our own lane to do iti n - h o u s e. ”

It took six months to get throughthe red tape and logistical hurdles.

But the lane finally opened forbusiness in November, just beforethe firm’s 33rd birthday.

The benefits for Eurotaxis are thetime and cost savings in not havingto get its vehicles to the test centre.

And to cover the running costs andeventually recoup the investment,the firm has opened up the lane toother companies.

It has a VOSA tester on site threedays a week, but is hoping to extendthat to Monday to Saturday once ithas enough customers coming in –that could add up to 80 tests eachwe e k .

Juan says the MoT lane will neverbe a big profit-maker for the com-pany, but has mutual benefits for hisbusiness and other firms in the areathat can make use of it, paying just asmall pit fee on top of the VOSAcharg es.

The MoT lane is just one of the

services Eurotaxis offers over andabove a typical taxi firm.

It runs a commercial-vehicle re-covery service for breakdowns, cancarry out repairs and maintenancework, and can collect and returnvehicles for their MoTs.

And its coach hire arm takespeople across the UK and Europe.

Eurotaxis undertakes around8,000 to 10,000 taxi journeys everyweek, and buses about 5,000 chil-dren to and from school.

Juan said: “The key to growingthe business has been hard workand family.”

His wife Anne is the managingdirector, sons Keith and William are

directors and son-in-law Toby runsthe workshop.

Juan said: “It is very importantthat it is a family business. It givesyou trust, and know how, fromlength of service. For example,Keith has been with the business forabout 20 years.”

As to his own involvement ascompany secretary, Juan, 63, has noplans to retire.

He said: “I enjoy this too much.”And he still gets behind the wheelre gularly.

Juan said: “I still drive every day– buses, taxis, whatever. I enjoy thedriving. There is no hassle. There isno stress. Driving is driving.”

Juan Sanzo

“You can never get anappointment – it was areal problem. And whenyou did it was taking fourhours to take a vehiclefor testing and thenbring it back. So wedecided to invest£150,000 in building ourown lane to do itin-house.

� Hinkley Point C will be thefirst in a new generation ofnuclear power stations acrossthe UK� It will be able to generate3,260MW of electricity –around five million homes� It will sit alongside thecurrent Hinkley reactors, onestill active and the other beingdecommissioned� The site will include:– Two UK EPR nuclearreactors units– Two turbine halls– Cooling water infrastructure– Fuel and wastemanagement facilities,including storage– Electricity transmissioni n f r a s t r u c t u re– Service and ancillarybuildings– A sea wall– A public information centre– Landscaping for theconstruction land.

HINKLEY POINT C

Ned Cussen, right

“ It’s not just about theobvious jobs linked withbuilding and running anuclear power station,it’s the spend thatcomes through thatassociation.

� An artist’s impression of how Hinkley will look after the installation of its new reactors; below, the plant as it is now

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10 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 11We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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 Big Interview

IT’S been well over a year sinceKen Simpson was elected Bristolchairman of the Federation ofSmall Businesses. Last Novem-ber, when he was re-elected to

serve another 12 months in the po-sition, his election was unopposed.

Partly, that was due to his successin promoting the FSB during the pre-vious year of his tenure. Partly, headmits, it was because nobody elsewas in the running.

Maybe that’s because the role isvoluntary and requires a significantamount of dedication. But for MrSimpson, who is 55 and also runs aretail consultancy called Make MoreMargin from his home in Whit-church, the position is a rewardingone, for several reasons.

“Part of it is about raising theprofile of Make More Margin,” hesays. “But I also want to givesomething back. I’ve spent 40 years inretail, I’ve learned a lot, and I want tohelp businesses operate and help thisbusiness community grow.

“I also wanted to make the FSB farmore visible to the public and itsm e m b e r s h i p.

“As a small business, if you’re not amember I’d question why not becausethere are so many benefits.

“And in the last 12 months we’vedone a fair amount in terms of pro-moting the organisation, and gainedquite a bit of publicity, which I’mreally happy about.”

Many FSB members – there are1,830 companies in Bristol with theorganisation – will remember the daythe sales rep visited them to convincethem that membership was a goodthing.

T hey’ll probably still recognise thebenefits – free business banking,legal advice available, protectionagainst investigation from the InlandRevenue, online resources includingtemplates of business documents, toname but a few.

But many will also feel that, havingbeen given the sales patter, their in-vestment in membership hasn’t ex-actly made a major impact on theirbu s i n e s s.

Mr Simpson says: “T hat’s one of thethings I’m really conscious of in Bris-tol, and why we have introducedmonthly networking events to reachout to the membership.

“Membership is static at 1,830 orthereabouts. I have an ambition to getit up towards 2,000 by this time nextyear because of the referral schemewe are going to start.

“But it is quite difficult keeping incontact with membership, especiallywith data protection.

“For example, I don’t have a data-base of my members – I have to gothrough the regional office.

“Having said that, we do have aweekly email newsletter which goesout. And we are working as hard aswe can here to make the most of ourmembers’ involvement with the or-g anisation.”

So what else does the FSB do?You may know that it specialises in

supporting retailers and much of MrS i m p s o n’s limited time commitmenthas been involved in supporting shopowners in areas like Clifton, Cothamand Redland.

He is currently spearheading acampaign called Winning White-ladies, which is designed to revitalisethe retail, business and communityspirit in Whiteladies Road, CothamHill, Alma Road, Alma Vale Road,

MY AMBITION IS TOHELP T H I S BUSINESSCOMMUNITY GROWWith four decades of experience as a retailer, Ken Simpson has the perfect credentials for hisrole as chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses. He tells of his passion to help start-uptraders and how he thinks the high street can survive, as Rupert Janisch reports

My working dayYou wake up at? It dependson what I am doing, but usually7.30amWhat do you have forbreakfast? Cup of teaWhat time do you startwork? Again, it depends, butusually 9amWhat happens in your typicalworking day? There is nosuch thing, every day isd i ff e re n t .What time do you go home?It varies, but usually between5.30pm and 6.30pmDo you take workhome/attend eveningfunctions? Yes to both. I try toget to as many NeighbourhoodPartnership meetings aroundWhiteladies Road as I can, aswell as the management sideof developing the traders’association, FSB events, andlate-night working if the clientrequires it. I often spend theevening catching up on thesocial media aspects of myvarious roles.

Name: Ken SimpsonAge: 55Place of birth: Rochdale,Greater ManchesterSchool: Balderstone,RochdaleFirst job: Saturday boy withAsdaHero or inspiration: Sir WinstonChurchill. He managed tore-invent himselfseveral timesand wasindefatigabledespiteoverwhelmingodds. He alsohad a great,intelligentsense ofh u m o u r.

Vital statistics

people are moving to online retail butthey also want proper advice andgenuine goods.

“T hat’s what the high street needsto become, offering the specialistelement.”

But it’s not all criticism of the citycouncil. “Whilst they can be a realpain in the sit-upon,” he says, “theyare very good at promoting businessin the city.

“We ’ve worked extensively with thecity council over the past 12 months,doing things like running eventswhere small businesses can get infront of big businesses, which havebeen hugely successful and will berepeated this year.”

Mr Simpson’s life in four decades of

trading started as a Saturday workerfor Asda in his original home townRo ch d a l e.

His first taste of Bristol was acycling holiday in 1976 – he decidedhe liked it here and moved to the cityin 1977.

Now, through the FSB, he’s alsofocused on helping the next gener-ation of retailers to get their foot onthe ladder.

“We ’ve been quite heavily involvedwith the Young Enterprise scheme ins ch o o l s, ” he says, “helping studentstake on extra-curricular work settingup a proper company, issuing sharesand so on.

“We put up a prize for the bestschool in Bristol – £300 for seed cap-

ital for this year and £200 for thewinners, a school from Backwell,which they’ve actually put back intothis year’s competition entry.

“That shows how much the stu-dents put into this.

“It’s a really good thing because ithelps students get into the world ofcommerce and business, rather thangoing down an academic route.

“Because some youngsters areideally suited to running a businessand it’s really inspiring to be involvedwith it.

“We ’ve done some funding, but wealso have teams of businessmen whoact as coaches to the schools thatwere involved.

“It’s been happening in other areas,but I’ve promoted the FSB’s involve-ment with it in Bristol.

“I was so blown away by the calibreof these kids that I thought it wassomething that we had to get behind,because they are our future mem-b e r s. ”

Mr Simpson also hopes, if possible,to realign the regional structure ofthe FSB so that it better fits thegovernmental structure of the area.

Currently some areas of northSomerset, such as Clevedon and Nail-sea, fall within his patch while otherareas like Weston-super-Mare, whichare covered by business organisa-tions like the LEP, do not.

There are currently more than1,800 businesses in the Bristol branchof the FSB, comprising more than8,000 employees. If Mr Simpson hashis way, that number could soon be-come even more significant.

not impacting adversely on the res-idents. There needs to be the rightmixture of mixed use, pay and displayand permit-only.

“We ’ve got 450 people who will beworking at Simply Health at the oldNatWest building at the top of White-ladies Road at the end of this month.

“There are only 40 parking spaces,so it’s going to be a bit of a chal-leng e.”

Re s i d e n t s ’ parking is also an issueabout transport policy – somethingwhich Mr Simpson also has viewson.

He says: “Public transport’s theonly alternative, but in reality it’spretty poor.

“If we want to get people out of theircars we have to make public trans-port work. But I’ve tried to use publictransport several times – the busesd o n’t turn up even when they’rescheduled to.

“There needs to be better thinkingabout the use of park and rides – fo rexample, making the one at BathRoad in south Bristol run the wholeway through the city and down to thePortway, so that someone living inKeynsham but working in Cliftond o e s n’t have to change in the cityc e n t re.

“T here’s also a problem with week-ends – local traders on places likeCotham Hill find that their potentialcustomers can’t park nearby becausethe restrictions stop at 5pm on aFriday and residents park in thespaces all weekend.”

Given the local nature of many ofthe concerns of FSB members, it’sunsurprising that Mr Simpson has aclose relationship with Bristol CityCouncil, sitting on a number of scru-tiny panels to represent their in-t e re s t s.

But he’s realistic about laying theblame for some policies, such as theoft-cited issue of business rates, awayfrom the city council’s door.

Where he believes the city councilcan make an impact is by offeringflexibility in enforcing regulationswhich impact negatively on localtraders, such as planning regulationsfor on-street advertising.

“Currently, places like side-streetcafes can’t advertise on corners be-cause they don’t have the requisiteplanning permission.

“The council really should take therules and wonder whether they’drather have the shops full and busi-ness rates or impose draconian lawswhich no one else is bothered aboutbecause the signs aren’t blocking thep ave m e n t .

“N ow ’s the time that we need localauthorities which support local busi-n e s s e s.

“T here’s a bit of a shift going on –

My downtimeWhat’s your perfectweekend? Spending timewith my wife Clair,ideally when it is dry orsunny so that I canget out in the garden.

What’s yourfavourite book orfilm or TV show?There are too manygreat books to singleany one out; but anythingon local history, WW2, or by

Noel Barber, Bernard Cornwell,Ken Follett and Bryce

C o u r t e n a y.

My favourite films:The MothmanProphecies and mostWW2 films.

My favourite TVshows: I quite like

Grand Designs, DoctorWho (inset), Life on Mars

(right) and Ashes to Ashes.

Lower Redland Road, Worral Roadand Chandos Road.

And with a high concentration ofsmall businesses in the area, White-ladies Road and its surrounds arealso hotspots of wider issues whichaffect small firms across the city, liketransport, business rates, refuse col-lection and, in particular, residents’parking zones.

“It’s is a thorny issue,” he says,“and while I don’t normally sit on thefence I can see both sides of theargument. But my concern primarilyis that it doesn’t impact negatively onbu s i n e s s.

“So I’ve looked at the plans for bothsides of Whiteladies Road with someinterest because I’m setting up thetraders’ association here, and I’vesuggested some improvements whichwill make it better for business while

Ken Simpson, left

“ I’ve spent 40 years inretail, I’ve learned a lot,and I want to helpbusinesses operate andhelp this businesscommunity grow. I alsowanted to make the FSBfar more visible to thepublic and itsmembership. As a smallbusiness, if you’re not amember I’d questionwhy not because thereare so many benefits.

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10 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 11We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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 Big Interview

IT’S been well over a year sinceKen Simpson was elected Bristolchairman of the Federation ofSmall Businesses. Last Novem-ber, when he was re-elected to

serve another 12 months in the po-sition, his election was unopposed.

Partly, that was due to his successin promoting the FSB during the pre-vious year of his tenure. Partly, headmits, it was because nobody elsewas in the running.

Maybe that’s because the role isvoluntary and requires a significantamount of dedication. But for MrSimpson, who is 55 and also runs aretail consultancy called Make MoreMargin from his home in Whit-church, the position is a rewardingone, for several reasons.

“Part of it is about raising theprofile of Make More Margin,” hesays. “But I also want to givesomething back. I’ve spent 40 years inretail, I’ve learned a lot, and I want tohelp businesses operate and help thisbusiness community grow.

“I also wanted to make the FSB farmore visible to the public and itsm e m b e r s h i p.

“As a small business, if you’re not amember I’d question why not becausethere are so many benefits.

“And in the last 12 months we’vedone a fair amount in terms of pro-moting the organisation, and gainedquite a bit of publicity, which I’mreally happy about.”

Many FSB members – there are1,830 companies in Bristol with theorganisation – will remember the daythe sales rep visited them to convincethem that membership was a goodthing.

T hey’ll probably still recognise thebenefits – free business banking,legal advice available, protectionagainst investigation from the InlandRevenue, online resources includingtemplates of business documents, toname but a few.

But many will also feel that, havingbeen given the sales patter, their in-vestment in membership hasn’t ex-actly made a major impact on theirbu s i n e s s.

Mr Simpson says: “T hat’s one of thethings I’m really conscious of in Bris-tol, and why we have introducedmonthly networking events to reachout to the membership.

“Membership is static at 1,830 orthereabouts. I have an ambition to getit up towards 2,000 by this time nextyear because of the referral schemewe are going to start.

“But it is quite difficult keeping incontact with membership, especiallywith data protection.

“For example, I don’t have a data-base of my members – I have to gothrough the regional office.

“Having said that, we do have aweekly email newsletter which goesout. And we are working as hard aswe can here to make the most of ourmembers’ involvement with the or-g anisation.”

So what else does the FSB do?You may know that it specialises in

supporting retailers and much of MrS i m p s o n’s limited time commitmenthas been involved in supporting shopowners in areas like Clifton, Cothamand Redland.

He is currently spearheading acampaign called Winning White-ladies, which is designed to revitalisethe retail, business and communityspirit in Whiteladies Road, CothamHill, Alma Road, Alma Vale Road,

MY AMBITION IS TOHELP T H I S BUSINESSCOMMUNITY GROWWith four decades of experience as a retailer, Ken Simpson has the perfect credentials for hisrole as chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses. He tells of his passion to help start-uptraders and how he thinks the high street can survive, as Rupert Janisch reports

My working dayYou wake up at? It dependson what I am doing, but usually7.30amWhat do you have forbreakfast? Cup of teaWhat time do you startwork? Again, it depends, butusually 9amWhat happens in your typicalworking day? There is nosuch thing, every day isd i ff e re n t .What time do you go home?It varies, but usually between5.30pm and 6.30pmDo you take workhome/attend eveningfunctions? Yes to both. I try toget to as many NeighbourhoodPartnership meetings aroundWhiteladies Road as I can, aswell as the management sideof developing the traders’association, FSB events, andlate-night working if the clientrequires it. I often spend theevening catching up on thesocial media aspects of myvarious roles.

Name: Ken SimpsonAge: 55Place of birth: Rochdale,Greater ManchesterSchool: Balderstone,RochdaleFirst job: Saturday boy withAsdaHero or inspiration: Sir WinstonChurchill. He managed tore-invent himselfseveral timesand wasindefatigabledespiteoverwhelmingodds. He alsohad a great,intelligentsense ofh u m o u r.

Vital statistics

people are moving to online retail butthey also want proper advice andgenuine goods.

“T hat’s what the high street needsto become, offering the specialistelement.”

But it’s not all criticism of the citycouncil. “Whilst they can be a realpain in the sit-upon,” he says, “theyare very good at promoting businessin the city.

“We ’ve worked extensively with thecity council over the past 12 months,doing things like running eventswhere small businesses can get infront of big businesses, which havebeen hugely successful and will berepeated this year.”

Mr Simpson’s life in four decades of

trading started as a Saturday workerfor Asda in his original home townRo ch d a l e.

His first taste of Bristol was acycling holiday in 1976 – he decidedhe liked it here and moved to the cityin 1977.

Now, through the FSB, he’s alsofocused on helping the next gener-ation of retailers to get their foot onthe ladder.

“We ’ve been quite heavily involvedwith the Young Enterprise scheme ins ch o o l s, ” he says, “helping studentstake on extra-curricular work settingup a proper company, issuing sharesand so on.

“We put up a prize for the bestschool in Bristol – £300 for seed cap-

ital for this year and £200 for thewinners, a school from Backwell,which they’ve actually put back intothis year’s competition entry.

“That shows how much the stu-dents put into this.

“It’s a really good thing because ithelps students get into the world ofcommerce and business, rather thangoing down an academic route.

“Because some youngsters areideally suited to running a businessand it’s really inspiring to be involvedwith it.

“We ’ve done some funding, but wealso have teams of businessmen whoact as coaches to the schools thatwere involved.

“It’s been happening in other areas,but I’ve promoted the FSB’s involve-ment with it in Bristol.

“I was so blown away by the calibreof these kids that I thought it wassomething that we had to get behind,because they are our future mem-b e r s. ”

Mr Simpson also hopes, if possible,to realign the regional structure ofthe FSB so that it better fits thegovernmental structure of the area.

Currently some areas of northSomerset, such as Clevedon and Nail-sea, fall within his patch while otherareas like Weston-super-Mare, whichare covered by business organisa-tions like the LEP, do not.

There are currently more than1,800 businesses in the Bristol branchof the FSB, comprising more than8,000 employees. If Mr Simpson hashis way, that number could soon be-come even more significant.

not impacting adversely on the res-idents. There needs to be the rightmixture of mixed use, pay and displayand permit-only.

“We ’ve got 450 people who will beworking at Simply Health at the oldNatWest building at the top of White-ladies Road at the end of this month.

“There are only 40 parking spaces,so it’s going to be a bit of a chal-leng e.”

Re s i d e n t s ’ parking is also an issueabout transport policy – somethingwhich Mr Simpson also has viewson.

He says: “Public transport’s theonly alternative, but in reality it’spretty poor.

“If we want to get people out of theircars we have to make public trans-port work. But I’ve tried to use publictransport several times – the busesd o n’t turn up even when they’rescheduled to.

“There needs to be better thinkingabout the use of park and rides – fo rexample, making the one at BathRoad in south Bristol run the wholeway through the city and down to thePortway, so that someone living inKeynsham but working in Cliftond o e s n’t have to change in the cityc e n t re.

“T here’s also a problem with week-ends – local traders on places likeCotham Hill find that their potentialcustomers can’t park nearby becausethe restrictions stop at 5pm on aFriday and residents park in thespaces all weekend.”

Given the local nature of many ofthe concerns of FSB members, it’sunsurprising that Mr Simpson has aclose relationship with Bristol CityCouncil, sitting on a number of scru-tiny panels to represent their in-t e re s t s.

But he’s realistic about laying theblame for some policies, such as theoft-cited issue of business rates, awayfrom the city council’s door.

Where he believes the city councilcan make an impact is by offeringflexibility in enforcing regulationswhich impact negatively on localtraders, such as planning regulationsfor on-street advertising.

“Currently, places like side-streetcafes can’t advertise on corners be-cause they don’t have the requisiteplanning permission.

“The council really should take therules and wonder whether they’drather have the shops full and busi-ness rates or impose draconian lawswhich no one else is bothered aboutbecause the signs aren’t blocking thep ave m e n t .

“N ow ’s the time that we need localauthorities which support local busi-n e s s e s.

“T here’s a bit of a shift going on –

My downtimeWhat’s your perfectweekend? Spending timewith my wife Clair,ideally when it is dry orsunny so that I canget out in the garden.

What’s yourfavourite book orfilm or TV show?There are too manygreat books to singleany one out; but anythingon local history, WW2, or by

Noel Barber, Bernard Cornwell,Ken Follett and Bryce

C o u r t e n a y.

My favourite films:The MothmanProphecies and mostWW2 films.

My favourite TVshows: I quite like

Grand Designs, DoctorWho (inset), Life on Mars

(right) and Ashes to Ashes.

Lower Redland Road, Worral Roadand Chandos Road.

And with a high concentration ofsmall businesses in the area, White-ladies Road and its surrounds arealso hotspots of wider issues whichaffect small firms across the city, liketransport, business rates, refuse col-lection and, in particular, residents’parking zones.

“It’s is a thorny issue,” he says,“and while I don’t normally sit on thefence I can see both sides of theargument. But my concern primarilyis that it doesn’t impact negatively onbu s i n e s s.

“So I’ve looked at the plans for bothsides of Whiteladies Road with someinterest because I’m setting up thetraders’ association here, and I’vesuggested some improvements whichwill make it better for business while

Ken Simpson, left

“ I’ve spent 40 years inretail, I’ve learned a lot,and I want to helpbusinesses operate andhelp this businesscommunity grow. I alsowanted to make the FSBfar more visible to thepublic and itsmembership. As a smallbusiness, if you’re not amember I’d questionwhy not because thereare so many benefits.

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4 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 5We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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

M a n u fa c t u r i n g

A MANUFACTURING firmhas invested £250,000 in anew laboratory in Portbury.Plasterboard maker and sup-plier Siniat has built a

state-of-the-art facility at its flagshipplant.

The lab provides a modern,high-specification environment forproduction, maintenance and qualityassurance teams, which have beenconsolidated in one place at the heartof the plant.

Building work began in May and isnow complete, with the lab fully op-e r at i o n a l .

The facility also acts as an areawhere Siniat can welcome customersand other visitors to discuss its in-novations and show off its products’capabilities, such as fire and waterre s i s t a n c e.

Plant manager Stephane Mettav-ant said the project was a step in a

long-term vision for improving thes i t e.

“We ’ve embarked on an ambitiousprogramme of change for our Bristolplant since becoming Siniat,” hesaid.

“It’s focused on improving facil-ities for our customers and our em-ployees and creating an environmentin which we can share our expert-i s e.

“The programme has already de-livered tangible results and helped usto streamline our processesthroughout the plant. We have beensuccessful in reducing the number ofcustomer complaints we receive toindustry-leading levels, and the newlab represents the next stage of re-inforcing that quality assurance.

“It conveys the values that we shareat Siniat: it is open, modern, pro-fessional and innovative – and lit-erally places quality at the heart ofour operation.

“The Bristol plant is Siniat’sbiggest manufacturing facility andit’s really important that we make it aplace where employees are proud towork and where customers feel wel-

come to come and see the productionline for themselves.”

Siniat was formerly known as La-farge Plasterboard. It was acquiredby the Etex group at the end of 2011and began trading as Siniat in Oc-tober 2012.

New £250,000 lab givesSiniat a winning formula

� Plasterboard maker Siniat has opened a lab at its Portbury flagship plant for testing and demonstrating its goods

Residential lettings

On your marks Sports store set for move

A SPORTS shop is set to markits third anniversary with amove into a major new siteon the city’s Harbourside.The Triathlon Shop opened

in Temple Quay in April 2011, oc-cupying 1,600 square feet at its storenear Temple Meads railway station.

But after capitalising on the grow-ing popularity of the sport in the UKand outgrowing their current loc-ation, the store is about to move to9,000 sq ft of premises in MillenniumS q u a re.

The move will take place in the

early part of this year, in time for thenew triathlon season.

Triathlon is a sport which com-bines swimming, road cycling andrunning over distances ranging fromshort sprint events to marathon Iron-man versions.

Helped by the exploits of Olympicgold medallist Alistair Brownlee andbronze-winning brother Jonathan,the sport has seen more growth in theUK than any other in recent years.

And with separate parts of the newstore dedicated to each discipline,The Triathlon Shop co-owner JonBurrage expects to see a diverserange of athletes coming through thed o o r s.

Mr Burrage, 29, from Staple Hill,runs the shop with his wife Holly, 27,alongside head mechanic Will Poole,

30, from Brislington, store managerChris Newman, 24, from Cotham, andrunning and swimming expert JonGentle, 27, from Bedminster.

Mrs Burrage said: “This move willnot only allow us to show off ourproducts in a more spacious and in-viting environment, but will allow usto expand all the services that wehave become so well known for.

“Good customer service and an en-joyable customer experience is whatsets us apart from many of the chainand online shops and we are keen tokeep this at the heart of everythingwe do.

“I am convinced that this new storewill make us the best bike shop, bestrunning shop, best swim shop andbest triathlon shop in the UK.”

That ethos is backed up by the fact

A BRISTOL firm has won the bid todesign, manufacture and install amajor project at a new Danish shop-ping centre.

Fabric architecture specialist BaseStructures, which employs 50 peopleat its Feeder Road headquarters, willdeliver a striking, multifaceted fabricfacade and walkway metro link forCopenha g en’s flagship shoppingcentre, Frederiksberg.

Architects KHR will not allow im-ages of the designs to be publishedyet, but it is described as “edgy andg eometric”, made up of fabric slabs atvarying angles and planes to form a“unique textured fabric wrap”.

Base Structures’ role is to designthe steel and fabric elements as wellas the fabrication and installation ofall the fabric and fittings.

Head of projects Mark Smith said:“There is simply nothing of this scalein terms of designed fabric in Den-mark. It’s just not used to date as anarchitectural material.

“We hope this will constitute a wa-tershed moment for tensile fabricarchitecture in Denmark, but eitherway it will be an arresting addition

to the Copenhagen landscape.”Base is making prototypes of sev-

eral panels to test and iron out anyunforeseen technicalities. A site man-

ager will oversee the works and liaisewith the main contractor.

The Frederiksberg shopping centreis due to open in the autumn.

A rc h i te c t u re

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen design success

� A Base Structures employee works on a high frequency welding machine

� Co-owner Jon Burrage and store manager Chris Newman will see The Triathlon Shop in major new premises on Millennium Square

Best-ever quarter fornew business launches� A RECORD number of newcompanies were formed in Bristolduring the third quarter of 2013,according to a new report.

Company formation in Bristolreached an all-time high during thethird quarter of the year, accordingto data released by Duport.co.uk.

The latest Duport BusinessConfidence Report for the cityshows there were 1,721 companiesformed between July andSeptember. This figure beats anyother third quarter on record for thecity and represents a 12 per centrise on the same period in 2012.

Net company growth – thenumber of company formationsminus the number of companyclosures – also rose to 651,compared with 546 during the thirdquarter of 2012.

Duport managing director, PeterValaitis, pointed to developmentsover the past five years, includingCabot Circus shopping centre, andregeneration projects under way,such as the Canon’s Marshdevelopment, which will include 450new flats, homes and watersideo ff i c e s .

He said: “Bristol is a really excitingplace for new businesses to set up,with high footfall and a dynamic cityc e n t re .

“It’s no surprise that so many newcompanies are forming there – atrend which I expect to see continuein years to come.”

G row t h

Concern overnew regulationson rent arrears� PROPERTY experts are warningthat new regulations governing theways in which landlords can recovercommercial rent arrears could upsetrelationships between owners andtenants.

The new commercial rent arrearsrecovery (CRAR) procedure comesinto force in April, replacing thecommon law remedy that has beenin use for more than 800 years.

Under the old rules, landlordscould recover arrears of rent fromtheir tenants by instructing bailiffs toseize their goods and sell themwithout going to court or giving thetenant any advance warning.

But from April 6 landlords willhave to give tenants seven days’notice before entering the premisesand only rent up to the date of thenotice can be recovered.

Angus Jackson, right, from BrutonKnowles, said theregulations hadreceived alukewarmre c e p t i o nfrom there c o v e r i n gc o m m e rc i a lp ro p e r t ys e c t o r.

He said:“The old regimewas generallyregarded by landlords as a quickand efficient method to recover renta r re a r s .

“The new procedure is narrower inscope and is likely to be less usefulto landlords.

“Landlords will be particularlyconcerned regarding the prior noticerequirement, which could give atenant the opportunity to move anyitems of value to a secure locationor to dispose of them.

“Issues are also likely to arise inrelation to where a notice must beserved. It would appear that it canbe served at the demised premises,at a company’s registered office or aplace where the debtor tenantcarries out a trade or business.

“It may be better not to serve thenotice at the demised premises, inthe hope that it is overlooked or theoccupiers of the demised propertyare not notified of the enforcementagent’s visit.”

He added that it only applied tobasic rent.

Mr Jackson said: “We will have towait and see how useful the newregulations are in practice, but atthis stage it would appear that thiscould make the recovery of arrearsa more time-consuming and costlyp ro c e s s . ”

Commercial property

Confidence on the riseas office space filled� TAKE-UP of office space in Bristolcity centre in 2013 increased bynearly a quarter on the previousyear, according to the latest figuresreleased by The Bristol OfficeAgents Society.

More than 504,500 sq ft of spacewas taken in the city centre, anincrease of 23 per cent on 2012 andup on the five-year average. In theout-of-town market, take-up stoodat 229,858 sq ft, giving an overalltotal for the city of 734,366 sq ft,compared to 660,598 sq ft in 2012.

Richard Kidd, from GVA’s officeagency team, said the “dramatic”uplift showed that occupierconfidence had returned.

Chris Grazier, of HTC, said thestrong take-up left the city with adiminishing supply of quality space,which was good news for m o respeculative office development.

Proper ty

Mitie’s care offeringboosted by acquisition� BRISTOL-based outsourcing firmMitie has bought home careservices company Complete CareHoldings.

Complete Care provides care athome to around 150 people withongoing complexclinicalh e a l t h c a reneeds. Thebusinessemploysaround 650personalc a reassistants,includingregistered nurses.

Mitie chief executiveRuby McGregor-Smith, pictur ed,said: “I am delighted to welcome allthe people of Complete Care toMitie, who bring with them theclinical capability to supportindividuals living at home withlong-term, complex conditions.

“The acquisition of Complete Carestrengthens Mitie's offering in thegrowing healthcare market.”

S e c to r

Get the bigger picture.Business news from Bristol,Bath, Gloucestershire and

Somerset. Scan to sign up fornews direct to your inbox

the store has recently made the finalof the Britain’s Friendliest Businessawards. Each finalist has to get asmany Facebook “l i ke s ” as possible atfacebook.com/BritainsF riendliestBiz,which will be considered by thejudg es.

The new store will feature in-creased workshop capacity, abio-mechanical and gait analysis stu-dio, sports massage and injury rehabclinics, as well as a high-end “end-less” pool for wetsuit testing andtechnique coaching.

The shop will also have a com-prehensive hire and demo pro-gramme, enabling customers to trybikes, saddles and wetsuits beforethey buy and to hire bike boxes andrace wheels.

As well as capitalising on its loc-

ON YOUR MARKS: SPORTSSTORE SET FOR MOVE

BUSINESS NEWS ON THE MOVE Ourreporters file on the move, and youcan keep up to date out and about viathe mobile versions of our website

bristolpost.co.uk/business

Search begins for thetop UK entrepreneurs� ACCOUNTANTS EY are calling fornominations from business leadersin Bristol who have shownentrepreneurial flair while growingor turning around the fortunes oftheir organisations in the UK oroverseas.

Entries are open until March 7,with finalists announced in April.

The programme starts at aregional level. Regional winners thenprogress to the UK finals, and theoverall UK winner goes on tocompete for the title of WorldEntrepreneur of the Year in MonteCarlo.

Chris Gilbert, EY director and UKEntrepreneur of the Year leader inthe South West, said: “With theincreasing flow of good news andconfidence in the economy, Britainis standing tall in the world andthere has never been a better timeto celebrate entrepreneurship.

“EY’s Entrepreneur of the Yearaward programme is a greatshowcase that has really increasedthe visibility of British businessmenand women globally.”

Business awards

Rupert JanischBusiness@b-nm.co.uk

POSH student flats developer VitaVentures has appointed a contractorfor a £14 million scheme in Bristolcity centre.

The appointment of Black-pool-based Create Construction to theColston Avenue scheme shows howthe student property market contin-ues to boom in Bristol.

The six-storey project should beready for the 2014/2015 academicyear. The flats are aimed at under-graduates from overseas, a growingdemographic who tend to look forluxury accommodation.

The project comprises 132 studiorooms, which are sold to private in-

vestors and then let out on theirbehalf to students. Since it waslaunched for sales in July 2013, all therooms have been sold and many havealready been reserved by students forthe 2014/15 academic year.

Chief executive, Trevor Moore,said: “Bristol was selected as the loc-ation for a luxury student accom-modation scheme because it has aworld-renowned university and at-tracts a high calibre of students fromaround the globe.

“The demand we’ve experiencedfrom both investors and studentsshows that our instincts about thescheme and the city were spot-on.”

Proper ty

Builders chosen for student flats

� The Vita Ventures development in Colston Avenue, Bristol

ation during major events such as theannual Bristol half marathon, whichstarts in the Harbourside, regularruns and rides will start from theshop, which will also host seminarsand an in-store cafe area offeringrefreshments and live sports ons c re e n .

� Stephane Mettavant

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

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4 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 5We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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

M a n u fa c t u r i n g

A MANUFACTURING firmhas invested £250,000 in anew laboratory in Portbury.Plasterboard maker and sup-plier Siniat has built a

state-of-the-art facility at its flagshipplant.

The lab provides a modern,high-specification environment forproduction, maintenance and qualityassurance teams, which have beenconsolidated in one place at the heartof the plant.

Building work began in May and isnow complete, with the lab fully op-e r at i o n a l .

The facility also acts as an areawhere Siniat can welcome customersand other visitors to discuss its in-novations and show off its products’capabilities, such as fire and waterre s i s t a n c e.

Plant manager Stephane Mettav-ant said the project was a step in a

long-term vision for improving thes i t e.

“We ’ve embarked on an ambitiousprogramme of change for our Bristolplant since becoming Siniat,” hesaid.

“It’s focused on improving facil-ities for our customers and our em-ployees and creating an environmentin which we can share our expert-i s e.

“The programme has already de-livered tangible results and helped usto streamline our processesthroughout the plant. We have beensuccessful in reducing the number ofcustomer complaints we receive toindustry-leading levels, and the newlab represents the next stage of re-inforcing that quality assurance.

“It conveys the values that we shareat Siniat: it is open, modern, pro-fessional and innovative – and lit-erally places quality at the heart ofour operation.

“The Bristol plant is Siniat’sbiggest manufacturing facility andit’s really important that we make it aplace where employees are proud towork and where customers feel wel-

come to come and see the productionline for themselves.”

Siniat was formerly known as La-farge Plasterboard. It was acquiredby the Etex group at the end of 2011and began trading as Siniat in Oc-tober 2012.

New £250,000 lab givesSiniat a winning formula

� Plasterboard maker Siniat has opened a lab at its Portbury flagship plant for testing and demonstrating its goods

Residential lettings

On your marks Sports store set for move

A SPORTS shop is set to markits third anniversary with amove into a major new siteon the city’s Harbourside.The Triathlon Shop opened

in Temple Quay in April 2011, oc-cupying 1,600 square feet at its storenear Temple Meads railway station.

But after capitalising on the grow-ing popularity of the sport in the UKand outgrowing their current loc-ation, the store is about to move to9,000 sq ft of premises in MillenniumS q u a re.

The move will take place in the

early part of this year, in time for thenew triathlon season.

Triathlon is a sport which com-bines swimming, road cycling andrunning over distances ranging fromshort sprint events to marathon Iron-man versions.

Helped by the exploits of Olympicgold medallist Alistair Brownlee andbronze-winning brother Jonathan,the sport has seen more growth in theUK than any other in recent years.

And with separate parts of the newstore dedicated to each discipline,The Triathlon Shop co-owner JonBurrage expects to see a diverserange of athletes coming through thed o o r s.

Mr Burrage, 29, from Staple Hill,runs the shop with his wife Holly, 27,alongside head mechanic Will Poole,

30, from Brislington, store managerChris Newman, 24, from Cotham, andrunning and swimming expert JonGentle, 27, from Bedminster.

Mrs Burrage said: “This move willnot only allow us to show off ourproducts in a more spacious and in-viting environment, but will allow usto expand all the services that wehave become so well known for.

“Good customer service and an en-joyable customer experience is whatsets us apart from many of the chainand online shops and we are keen tokeep this at the heart of everythingwe do.

“I am convinced that this new storewill make us the best bike shop, bestrunning shop, best swim shop andbest triathlon shop in the UK.”

That ethos is backed up by the fact

A BRISTOL firm has won the bid todesign, manufacture and install amajor project at a new Danish shop-ping centre.

Fabric architecture specialist BaseStructures, which employs 50 peopleat its Feeder Road headquarters, willdeliver a striking, multifaceted fabricfacade and walkway metro link forCopenha g en’s flagship shoppingcentre, Frederiksberg.

Architects KHR will not allow im-ages of the designs to be publishedyet, but it is described as “edgy andg eometric”, made up of fabric slabs atvarying angles and planes to form a“unique textured fabric wrap”.

Base Structures’ role is to designthe steel and fabric elements as wellas the fabrication and installation ofall the fabric and fittings.

Head of projects Mark Smith said:“There is simply nothing of this scalein terms of designed fabric in Den-mark. It’s just not used to date as anarchitectural material.

“We hope this will constitute a wa-tershed moment for tensile fabricarchitecture in Denmark, but eitherway it will be an arresting addition

to the Copenhagen landscape.”Base is making prototypes of sev-

eral panels to test and iron out anyunforeseen technicalities. A site man-

ager will oversee the works and liaisewith the main contractor.

The Frederiksberg shopping centreis due to open in the autumn.

A rc h i te c t u re

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen design success

� A Base Structures employee works on a high frequency welding machine

� Co-owner Jon Burrage and store manager Chris Newman will see The Triathlon Shop in major new premises on Millennium Square

Best-ever quarter fornew business launches� A RECORD number of newcompanies were formed in Bristolduring the third quarter of 2013,according to a new report.

Company formation in Bristolreached an all-time high during thethird quarter of the year, accordingto data released by Duport.co.uk.

The latest Duport BusinessConfidence Report for the cityshows there were 1,721 companiesformed between July andSeptember. This figure beats anyother third quarter on record for thecity and represents a 12 per centrise on the same period in 2012.

Net company growth – thenumber of company formationsminus the number of companyclosures – also rose to 651,compared with 546 during the thirdquarter of 2012.

Duport managing director, PeterValaitis, pointed to developmentsover the past five years, includingCabot Circus shopping centre, andregeneration projects under way,such as the Canon’s Marshdevelopment, which will include 450new flats, homes and watersideo ff i c e s .

He said: “Bristol is a really excitingplace for new businesses to set up,with high footfall and a dynamic cityc e n t re .

“It’s no surprise that so many newcompanies are forming there – atrend which I expect to see continuein years to come.”

G row t h

Concern overnew regulationson rent arrears� PROPERTY experts are warningthat new regulations governing theways in which landlords can recovercommercial rent arrears could upsetrelationships between owners andtenants.

The new commercial rent arrearsrecovery (CRAR) procedure comesinto force in April, replacing thecommon law remedy that has beenin use for more than 800 years.

Under the old rules, landlordscould recover arrears of rent fromtheir tenants by instructing bailiffs toseize their goods and sell themwithout going to court or giving thetenant any advance warning.

But from April 6 landlords willhave to give tenants seven days’notice before entering the premisesand only rent up to the date of thenotice can be recovered.

Angus Jackson, right, from BrutonKnowles, said theregulations hadreceived alukewarmre c e p t i o nfrom there c o v e r i n gc o m m e rc i a lp ro p e r t ys e c t o r.

He said:“The old regimewas generallyregarded by landlords as a quickand efficient method to recover renta r re a r s .

“The new procedure is narrower inscope and is likely to be less usefulto landlords.

“Landlords will be particularlyconcerned regarding the prior noticerequirement, which could give atenant the opportunity to move anyitems of value to a secure locationor to dispose of them.

“Issues are also likely to arise inrelation to where a notice must beserved. It would appear that it canbe served at the demised premises,at a company’s registered office or aplace where the debtor tenantcarries out a trade or business.

“It may be better not to serve thenotice at the demised premises, inthe hope that it is overlooked or theoccupiers of the demised propertyare not notified of the enforcementagent’s visit.”

He added that it only applied tobasic rent.

Mr Jackson said: “We will have towait and see how useful the newregulations are in practice, but atthis stage it would appear that thiscould make the recovery of arrearsa more time-consuming and costlyp ro c e s s . ”

Commercial property

Confidence on the riseas office space filled� TAKE-UP of office space in Bristolcity centre in 2013 increased bynearly a quarter on the previousyear, according to the latest figuresreleased by The Bristol OfficeAgents Society.

More than 504,500 sq ft of spacewas taken in the city centre, anincrease of 23 per cent on 2012 andup on the five-year average. In theout-of-town market, take-up stoodat 229,858 sq ft, giving an overalltotal for the city of 734,366 sq ft,compared to 660,598 sq ft in 2012.

Richard Kidd, from GVA’s officeagency team, said the “dramatic”uplift showed that occupierconfidence had returned.

Chris Grazier, of HTC, said thestrong take-up left the city with adiminishing supply of quality space,which was good news for m o respeculative office development.

Proper ty

Mitie’s care offeringboosted by acquisition� BRISTOL-based outsourcing firmMitie has bought home careservices company Complete CareHoldings.

Complete Care provides care athome to around 150 people withongoing complexclinicalh e a l t h c a reneeds. Thebusinessemploysaround 650personalc a reassistants,includingregistered nurses.

Mitie chief executiveRuby McGregor-Smith, pictur ed,said: “I am delighted to welcome allthe people of Complete Care toMitie, who bring with them theclinical capability to supportindividuals living at home withlong-term, complex conditions.

“The acquisition of Complete Carestrengthens Mitie's offering in thegrowing healthcare market.”

S e c to r

Get the bigger picture.Business news from Bristol,Bath, Gloucestershire and

Somerset. Scan to sign up fornews direct to your inbox

the store has recently made the finalof the Britain’s Friendliest Businessawards. Each finalist has to get asmany Facebook “l i ke s ” as possible atfacebook.com/BritainsF riendliestBiz,which will be considered by thejudg es.

The new store will feature in-creased workshop capacity, abio-mechanical and gait analysis stu-dio, sports massage and injury rehabclinics, as well as a high-end “end-less” pool for wetsuit testing andtechnique coaching.

The shop will also have a com-prehensive hire and demo pro-gramme, enabling customers to trybikes, saddles and wetsuits beforethey buy and to hire bike boxes andrace wheels.

As well as capitalising on its loc-

ON YOUR MARKS: SPORTSSTORE SET FOR MOVE

BUSINESS NEWS ON THE MOVE Ourreporters file on the move, and youcan keep up to date out and about viathe mobile versions of our website

bristolpost.co.uk/business

Search begins for thetop UK entrepreneurs� ACCOUNTANTS EY are calling fornominations from business leadersin Bristol who have shownentrepreneurial flair while growingor turning around the fortunes oftheir organisations in the UK oroverseas.

Entries are open until March 7,with finalists announced in April.

The programme starts at aregional level. Regional winners thenprogress to the UK finals, and theoverall UK winner goes on tocompete for the title of WorldEntrepreneur of the Year in MonteCarlo.

Chris Gilbert, EY director and UKEntrepreneur of the Year leader inthe South West, said: “With theincreasing flow of good news andconfidence in the economy, Britainis standing tall in the world andthere has never been a better timeto celebrate entrepreneurship.

“EY’s Entrepreneur of the Yearaward programme is a greatshowcase that has really increasedthe visibility of British businessmenand women globally.”

Business awards

Rupert JanischBusiness@b-nm.co.uk

POSH student flats developer VitaVentures has appointed a contractorfor a £14 million scheme in Bristolcity centre.

The appointment of Black-pool-based Create Construction to theColston Avenue scheme shows howthe student property market contin-ues to boom in Bristol.

The six-storey project should beready for the 2014/2015 academicyear. The flats are aimed at under-graduates from overseas, a growingdemographic who tend to look forluxury accommodation.

The project comprises 132 studiorooms, which are sold to private in-

vestors and then let out on theirbehalf to students. Since it waslaunched for sales in July 2013, all therooms have been sold and many havealready been reserved by students forthe 2014/15 academic year.

Chief executive, Trevor Moore,said: “Bristol was selected as the loc-ation for a luxury student accom-modation scheme because it has aworld-renowned university and at-tracts a high calibre of students fromaround the globe.

“The demand we’ve experiencedfrom both investors and studentsshows that our instincts about thescheme and the city were spot-on.”

Proper ty

Builders chosen for student flats

� The Vita Ventures development in Colston Avenue, Bristol

ation during major events such as theannual Bristol half marathon, whichstarts in the Harbourside, regularruns and rides will start from theshop, which will also host seminarsand an in-store cafe area offeringrefreshments and live sports ons c re e n .

� Stephane Mettavant

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

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2 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 3We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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

AROUND half of the talentedgraduates from the Uni-versity of the West of Eng-land’s Faculty of Businessand Law are women. But not

enough are breaking through into theboardrooms of businesses.

T hat’s why UWE Bristol is backingthe inaugural Bristol and BathWomen in Business Awards as themain sponsor.

Professor Jane Harrington, exec-utive dean of the faculty and pro-viceChancellor of the university, said: “Ifyou look at students coming out ofuniversity, about 50 per cent of UWEstudents are women and yet whenyou get to senior level in businessthat becomes a much lower number.

“In the legal profession, 50 per centof our students are women and theyperform slightly better than our malestudents. They perform well initiallyin their careers but then tail off.

“We need to promote those verygifted young women and give themthe confidence that they can achieveas they go through their careers.

“These awards provide role modelsof successful women and how theymanaged to achieve that success.”

Jane, 47, is a member of the BristolWo m e n’s Commission and the SouthWest board of the Confederation ofBritish Industry.

Her role at UWE is similar to that ofa chief executive of a branch of a largecompany. She has 200 academicsworking for her and about 6,500 stu-d e n t s.

“I have to deal with all the same

issues like staffing, HR, finance,budgets, facilities, estates that abusiness does because we are run-ning a business, it’s just that ourbusiness happens to be higher edu-c at i o n , ” said Jane.

Her customers are the large num-bers of students, from undergradu-ates through to PhD level. The facultyalso works with businesses in a num-ber of ways, from placing students ininternships, working together to pro-duce students to meet industry needsand providing tailored courses andprogrammes for companies.

Jane herself is a role model, reach-ing one of the top positions in anorganisation the size of UWE.

She has been at the university since1991, but staying in one place doesn’tdenote any lack of ambition.

“I’ve held pretty much every po-sition within the faculty, from re-searcher up to executive dean,” shesaid. “I’ve been lucky in that whenev-

er I have got to the stage where I waslooking for the next challenge, I havebeen able to find it here.”

Which sounds like something tocelebrate. Jane said: “C e l e b r at i n gwo m e n’s success in business ishugely important.

“It’s important at all levels for theeconomy, for both financial andnon-financial reasons. The economyprospers if they have the best talentand not to have the same percentageof women as you could have meansyou are missing out potentially on ahuge pool of talent.”

� To enter (the deadline is February21) visit w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t . c o . u k / w i b a ,choose your category and fill in theform online.

Awa rd sT EC H N O LO GY

Pillpod Work begins on breastcancer patient’s medical invention

LORNA Perks won a businesscompetition with a device shecame up with after chemo-therapy for breast cancer –but it is in the 18 months since

her win that the serious work on herproject has really begun.

The Ashley Down mum was certainthat her Pillpod could make a dif-ference to patients who can becomeconfused when faced with a variety ofdifferent tablets.

But, since winning the Orange Dif-ferent Business competition, thesingle mum’s device has taken on awhole new direction.

Winning the competition meant£200,000 of business support and hasseen Lorna work with a host of dif-ferent people on the product she cameup with after her own experiencewith the “carrier bag full of tablets”she left hospital with after her firstround of chemotherapy.

Her idea was to have a device,linked into the NHS and pharmaciesso that the information about eachdifferent pill and when it should betaken is programmed for the patient

“You come up with what you thinkis a fantastic idea that is going tochange the world but then you ac-tually do the research properly,”Lorna, 50, said.

“Working with the Helen HamlynCentre for Design at the Royal Collegeof Art talking to patients and doctorsI worked out what I was trying tomake was not what they wanted so ithas slightly changed.

“It is very hard when you have gotsomething set in your mind andpeople are saying no, this is what themarket wants. But what has come outof it is something even better so I amreally pleased we did that.”

Lorna said that working on theproject has proved that other peoplehad the same experience as she didwith medication, but feedback fromthe medical profession showed that itwould be useful for it to also gatherinformation from patients about howthey are feeling so that it can be usedto gauge their health and wellbeingand also help with medical research.

Lorna has continued to work withOrange since she was announced as

the winner of the competition in Julylast year.

Now she has taken the final £46,000from the prize pot to cover the cost ofwriting the software for the Pillpod.

“We are working with the RoyalMarsden Hospital and have been ap-proached by a few NHS trusts about itand they have been really positive,”Lorna, a mum of two.

“When we show it to people theylove it.”

Lorna has also applied for a re-gional growth fund grant to supporther efforts.

And while progress has beenslower than Lorna might have hopedwith the Pillpod, she has seen anotherof the products she invented come tofr uition.

S m at t a is a play mat, which can befolded up and used to store toys withlots of little bits so that they do notleave a mess on the floor.

Lorna has taken on an employeewho had been unemployed for a longtime and who is making the mats.

“She’s absolutely brilliant and theyare made in Bristol using organicFairtrade cotton,” Lorna said.

“They were launched in Julythrough the website and we have soldabout 50 of them already.

Lorna has some other inventions inmind ready for when she has finallylaunched the finished version of thePillpod, and said the common themeis that they all focus on helpingp e o p l e.

“It is just a fantastic feeling,” shesaid.

“I think that a lot of people haveideas and don’t do anything withthem.

“One of the biggest fears withSmatta, which was why it took solong, was that I was frightened ofputting it out to market because I wasworried about people copying it butthat stopped me doing anything withit, and then I thought ‘wh at ’s theworst that can happen?’”

Now her own businesses areLor na’s job along with her sons, whoshe works around.

Technical services

Inviron’s platform for expansion

U n i ve rs i ty Women are our beststudents – but don’t get promoted

FACILITIES management companyInviron has opened a new office inBristol as part of its strategy to ex-pand its business in the region.

The office will be responsible forsupporting existing contracts, in-cluding planned and reactive main-tenance programmes it provides forclients including Cabot Circus ownerLand Securities and aircraft man-ufacturer Airbus.

Three people will be based in theAlmondsbury office, managing ateam of engineers across the region.The firm hopes to expand the team asit wins more local contracts.

I nv i ro n’s managing director, NeilJohnson, and regional director, DaveWebb, opened the office, the firm’s

first in the South West. It has eightother offices in the UK, spread fromBirmingham to Glasgow to Ipswich.

Andy Shepherd, who will managethe Bristol branch, said: “An import-ant part of our overall strategy is toestablish and expand upon the op-portunities within the south west ofEngland and South Wales. Movinginto these new premises will supportthis strategy.

“This will be the first time Invironhas had an office in the region andI’m confident that our existing clientswill benefit from our presence.”

Mr Johnson said: “Our vision is tobecome the most respected sustain-able technical services business inthe UK and Ireland.”

Assistant Editor (Business)Gavin Thompson

Call 0117 934 3336Email gavin.thompson

@b-nm.co.ukTwitter @gavin_thompson1

Get in touch

Writer Rupert JanischEmail business@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising RobertRodgerson

Call07828 941469Email ro b e r t . ro d g e r s o n

@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising JaneChapmanCall 01179 343025Email jane.chapman@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising SimonCoy Media Sales

Executive - BusinessCall 07736 900 705.

Email simon.coy@b-nm.co.uk

Best deals - How the numbers stack up

Business currentaccounts

Petrol prices

1.01%£10,000 deposit

0.05%£1 deposit

0.25%£1 deposit

State Bankof India

0.05%£500 deposit

Co-operativeBank

0.12%£1 deposit

Unity TrustBank

0.10%£25,000 deposit

Corporation tax

Employer NI rates

23 %

20 %Main rate

Small profitsrate – below

£300,000

13 . 8%Standard rate on

earnings above£148 per week

10 .4%Employees ins a l a r y - re l a t e d

pension schemeearning up £770 p/w

129 .6 6 pUnleaded

137 .21pDiesel

137 .74 pSuperunleaded

70 .6 5 pLPG

Source: PetrolPrices.com

Business savingsaccounts

1.49%£10,000 deposit

1.80%£10,000 deposit

State Bankof India

1.36%£1,000 deposit

1.50%£500 deposit

S h a w b ro o kBank

1.50%£5,000 deposit

Inflation (CPI)

2.0 %Weekly earnings

1.1 %Base interest rate

0.5 %Ave mortgage rate

3.99 %Source: BusinessMoneyfacts -moneyfacts.co.uk

Allied IrishBank (GB)

Cambridge &CountiesBank

United TrustBank

NationalCounties BS

Business diary

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

We d n e s d a y @ 6 : Bristol Instituteof Directors informal freenetworking at The Radisson Blufrom 6-8pm, today. Call 01173707785 to register.

Become part of the skillssolution, SMEs: Immersion seesLEP work with businesses andskills providers to seekalternative ways to traditionaltraining approaches throughcreating a continuous dialoguebetween business and skillsprovision. 9am-1.30pm,tomorrow, Hands PriceConference Centre, LowerChurch Road,Weston-super-Mare. Contactn i c k y. w i l l i a m s @ w o e s k i l l s . c o . u k .

Ask the adviser: F re espeed-dating-style event forfamily businesses to meetspecialist advisers, from 8.30amto 1pm on Friday, at Old DownManor. To reserve a place, visitw w w. f i b c o m m u n i t y. c o m or email:o f f i c e @ f i b c o m m u n i t y. c o m .

The Style Forum BristolRunway Style Showcase:Bringing Bristol’s fashion, hairand beauty people together.2pm-5.30pm, Monday, BerwickLodge, Bristol.

The Financial Expert:Manufacturing: A free event forSME manufacturers to updateknowledge to support keydecisions which underpin thefuture success of their business.Aimed at directors of businesseswith a minimum turnover of£1 million. Tuesday, January 28,at Grant Thornton’s Bristol officeat Hartwell House, 55-61Victoria Street, from9.15am-2pm. To book, call 0845658 9600 or emaileventssw@mymas.org.

South West Infrastructure andEconomic Question Time:RCIS-organised discussionaround the challenges andopportunities facing the SouthWest in funding and deliveringinfrastructure fit for the future,3-6pm, Wednesday, January 29,Holiday Inn, Bristol.

Old Down Manor Showcase:Complimentary showcase ofvenue for corporate events.Wednesday, January 29,3.30pm-6pm. Emailo l i v i a @ o l d d o w n m a n o r. c o . u k .

Spike Design: OpenWe d n e s d a y Free businessadvice and hot-desking forcreative start-ups. Wednesday,January 29. Call Jane on 0117929 2266 to book.

FSB South Gloucestershireseminar: How small businessescan get the best from Linked-in.Wednesday, January 29,6.45pm-9.45pm, Aztec WestHotel, Almondsbury BS32 4TS.Register at w w w. f s b . o r g . u k .

Get Connected Bristol: TheBristol’s Post’s first regularbusiness networking event.Wednesday, February 5, 6-8pm,BDO offices, Finzel’s Reach,Bristol. Invitation only, contactgavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk.

Vicki MathiasBusiness@b-nm.co.uk

� LORNA Perks was pickedfrom 150 different entries for ashortlist of ten for the OrangeDifferent Business competition.

A short clip explaining thePillpod device was available onthe competition website alongwith the nine other entries thatwent to a public vote.

Lorna was then one of threefinalists who had to pitch theirbusiness plan to a panel ofjudges in London and she wasannounced as the winner inJuly 2012.

THE COMPETITION

� Lorna PerksTHE CATEGORIES

� Woman of the Year, sponsoredby PPC

� Young Entrepreneur of theYe a r

� Mentor of the Year

� Contribution to theCommunity Award, for womenwho have made a difference toBristol or Bath

� Women in the WorkplaceAw a rd , sponsored by CrestNicholson, for companies thatshow flexibility and adaptability tothe employment of women

� New Business of the Year,

sponsored by HSBC CommercialBanking

� Business of the Year,sponsored by City of BristolCollege

� Award for Innovation

� Marketing Campaign of theYe a r

� Female ApprenticeDevelopment Award, sponsoredby the West of England LocalEnterprise Partnership

� Outstanding Contribution toBusiness in Bristol or Bathsponsored by UWE Bristol

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

Professor JaneHarrington

These awardsprovide rolemodels ofsuccessfulwomen and howthey managed toachieve thatsuccess.

“

1.55%£500 deposit

United TrustBank

� Far left, contact manager Steve Nott, next to branch manager AndyShepherd, will be based at the Bristol office. Far right, managing director NeilJohnson next to regional director Dave Webb Picture: Dave Betts

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2 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 3We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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

AROUND half of the talentedgraduates from the Uni-versity of the West of Eng-land’s Faculty of Businessand Law are women. But not

enough are breaking through into theboardrooms of businesses.

T hat’s why UWE Bristol is backingthe inaugural Bristol and BathWomen in Business Awards as themain sponsor.

Professor Jane Harrington, exec-utive dean of the faculty and pro-viceChancellor of the university, said: “Ifyou look at students coming out ofuniversity, about 50 per cent of UWEstudents are women and yet whenyou get to senior level in businessthat becomes a much lower number.

“In the legal profession, 50 per centof our students are women and theyperform slightly better than our malestudents. They perform well initiallyin their careers but then tail off.

“We need to promote those verygifted young women and give themthe confidence that they can achieveas they go through their careers.

“These awards provide role modelsof successful women and how theymanaged to achieve that success.”

Jane, 47, is a member of the BristolWo m e n’s Commission and the SouthWest board of the Confederation ofBritish Industry.

Her role at UWE is similar to that ofa chief executive of a branch of a largecompany. She has 200 academicsworking for her and about 6,500 stu-d e n t s.

“I have to deal with all the same

issues like staffing, HR, finance,budgets, facilities, estates that abusiness does because we are run-ning a business, it’s just that ourbusiness happens to be higher edu-c at i o n , ” said Jane.

Her customers are the large num-bers of students, from undergradu-ates through to PhD level. The facultyalso works with businesses in a num-ber of ways, from placing students ininternships, working together to pro-duce students to meet industry needsand providing tailored courses andprogrammes for companies.

Jane herself is a role model, reach-ing one of the top positions in anorganisation the size of UWE.

She has been at the university since1991, but staying in one place doesn’tdenote any lack of ambition.

“I’ve held pretty much every po-sition within the faculty, from re-searcher up to executive dean,” shesaid. “I’ve been lucky in that whenev-

er I have got to the stage where I waslooking for the next challenge, I havebeen able to find it here.”

Which sounds like something tocelebrate. Jane said: “C e l e b r at i n gwo m e n’s success in business ishugely important.

“It’s important at all levels for theeconomy, for both financial andnon-financial reasons. The economyprospers if they have the best talentand not to have the same percentageof women as you could have meansyou are missing out potentially on ahuge pool of talent.”

� To enter (the deadline is February21) visit w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t . c o . u k / w i b a ,choose your category and fill in theform online.

Awa rd sT EC H N O LO GY

Pillpod Work begins on breastcancer patient’s medical invention

LORNA Perks won a businesscompetition with a device shecame up with after chemo-therapy for breast cancer –but it is in the 18 months since

her win that the serious work on herproject has really begun.

The Ashley Down mum was certainthat her Pillpod could make a dif-ference to patients who can becomeconfused when faced with a variety ofdifferent tablets.

But, since winning the Orange Dif-ferent Business competition, thesingle mum’s device has taken on awhole new direction.

Winning the competition meant£200,000 of business support and hasseen Lorna work with a host of dif-ferent people on the product she cameup with after her own experiencewith the “carrier bag full of tablets”she left hospital with after her firstround of chemotherapy.

Her idea was to have a device,linked into the NHS and pharmaciesso that the information about eachdifferent pill and when it should betaken is programmed for the patient

“You come up with what you thinkis a fantastic idea that is going tochange the world but then you ac-tually do the research properly,”Lorna, 50, said.

“Working with the Helen HamlynCentre for Design at the Royal Collegeof Art talking to patients and doctorsI worked out what I was trying tomake was not what they wanted so ithas slightly changed.

“It is very hard when you have gotsomething set in your mind andpeople are saying no, this is what themarket wants. But what has come outof it is something even better so I amreally pleased we did that.”

Lorna said that working on theproject has proved that other peoplehad the same experience as she didwith medication, but feedback fromthe medical profession showed that itwould be useful for it to also gatherinformation from patients about howthey are feeling so that it can be usedto gauge their health and wellbeingand also help with medical research.

Lorna has continued to work withOrange since she was announced as

the winner of the competition in Julylast year.

Now she has taken the final £46,000from the prize pot to cover the cost ofwriting the software for the Pillpod.

“We are working with the RoyalMarsden Hospital and have been ap-proached by a few NHS trusts about itand they have been really positive,”Lorna, a mum of two.

“When we show it to people theylove it.”

Lorna has also applied for a re-gional growth fund grant to supporther efforts.

And while progress has beenslower than Lorna might have hopedwith the Pillpod, she has seen anotherof the products she invented come tofr uition.

S m at t a is a play mat, which can befolded up and used to store toys withlots of little bits so that they do notleave a mess on the floor.

Lorna has taken on an employeewho had been unemployed for a longtime and who is making the mats.

“She’s absolutely brilliant and theyare made in Bristol using organicFairtrade cotton,” Lorna said.

“They were launched in Julythrough the website and we have soldabout 50 of them already.

Lorna has some other inventions inmind ready for when she has finallylaunched the finished version of thePillpod, and said the common themeis that they all focus on helpingp e o p l e.

“It is just a fantastic feeling,” shesaid.

“I think that a lot of people haveideas and don’t do anything withthem.

“One of the biggest fears withSmatta, which was why it took solong, was that I was frightened ofputting it out to market because I wasworried about people copying it butthat stopped me doing anything withit, and then I thought ‘wh at ’s theworst that can happen?’”

Now her own businesses areLor na’s job along with her sons, whoshe works around.

Technical services

Inviron’s platform for expansion

U n i ve rs i ty Women are our beststudents – but don’t get promoted

FACILITIES management companyInviron has opened a new office inBristol as part of its strategy to ex-pand its business in the region.

The office will be responsible forsupporting existing contracts, in-cluding planned and reactive main-tenance programmes it provides forclients including Cabot Circus ownerLand Securities and aircraft man-ufacturer Airbus.

Three people will be based in theAlmondsbury office, managing ateam of engineers across the region.The firm hopes to expand the team asit wins more local contracts.

I nv i ro n’s managing director, NeilJohnson, and regional director, DaveWebb, opened the office, the firm’s

first in the South West. It has eightother offices in the UK, spread fromBirmingham to Glasgow to Ipswich.

Andy Shepherd, who will managethe Bristol branch, said: “An import-ant part of our overall strategy is toestablish and expand upon the op-portunities within the south west ofEngland and South Wales. Movinginto these new premises will supportthis strategy.

“This will be the first time Invironhas had an office in the region andI’m confident that our existing clientswill benefit from our presence.”

Mr Johnson said: “Our vision is tobecome the most respected sustain-able technical services business inthe UK and Ireland.”

Assistant Editor (Business)Gavin Thompson

Call 0117 934 3336Email gavin.thompson

@b-nm.co.ukTwitter @gavin_thompson1

Get in touch

Writer Rupert JanischEmail business@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising RobertRodgerson

Call07828 941469Email ro b e r t . ro d g e r s o n

@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising JaneChapmanCall 01179 343025Email jane.chapman@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising SimonCoy Media Sales

Executive - BusinessCall 07736 900 705.

Email simon.coy@b-nm.co.uk

Best deals - How the numbers stack up

Business currentaccounts

Petrol prices

1.01%£10,000 deposit

0.05%£1 deposit

0.25%£1 deposit

State Bankof India

0.05%£500 deposit

Co-operativeBank

0.12%£1 deposit

Unity TrustBank

0.10%£25,000 deposit

Corporation tax

Employer NI rates

23 %

20 %Main rate

Small profitsrate – below

£300,000

13 . 8%Standard rate on

earnings above£148 per week

10 .4%Employees ins a l a r y - re l a t e d

pension schemeearning up £770 p/w

129 .6 6 pUnleaded

137 .21pDiesel

137 .74 pSuperunleaded

70 .6 5 pLPG

Source: PetrolPrices.com

Business savingsaccounts

1.49%£10,000 deposit

1.80%£10,000 deposit

State Bankof India

1.36%£1,000 deposit

1.50%£500 deposit

S h a w b ro o kBank

1.50%£5,000 deposit

Inflation (CPI)

2.0 %Weekly earnings

1.1 %Base interest rate

0.5 %Ave mortgage rate

3.99 %Source: BusinessMoneyfacts -moneyfacts.co.uk

Allied IrishBank (GB)

Cambridge &CountiesBank

United TrustBank

NationalCounties BS

Business diary

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

We d n e s d a y @ 6 : Bristol Instituteof Directors informal freenetworking at The Radisson Blufrom 6-8pm, today. Call 01173707785 to register.

Become part of the skillssolution, SMEs: Immersion seesLEP work with businesses andskills providers to seekalternative ways to traditionaltraining approaches throughcreating a continuous dialoguebetween business and skillsprovision. 9am-1.30pm,tomorrow, Hands PriceConference Centre, LowerChurch Road,Weston-super-Mare. Contactn i c k y. w i l l i a m s @ w o e s k i l l s . c o . u k .

Ask the adviser: F re espeed-dating-style event forfamily businesses to meetspecialist advisers, from 8.30amto 1pm on Friday, at Old DownManor. To reserve a place, visitw w w. f i b c o m m u n i t y. c o m or email:o f f i c e @ f i b c o m m u n i t y. c o m .

The Style Forum BristolRunway Style Showcase:Bringing Bristol’s fashion, hairand beauty people together.2pm-5.30pm, Monday, BerwickLodge, Bristol.

The Financial Expert:Manufacturing: A free event forSME manufacturers to updateknowledge to support keydecisions which underpin thefuture success of their business.Aimed at directors of businesseswith a minimum turnover of£1 million. Tuesday, January 28,at Grant Thornton’s Bristol officeat Hartwell House, 55-61Victoria Street, from9.15am-2pm. To book, call 0845658 9600 or emaileventssw@mymas.org.

South West Infrastructure andEconomic Question Time:RCIS-organised discussionaround the challenges andopportunities facing the SouthWest in funding and deliveringinfrastructure fit for the future,3-6pm, Wednesday, January 29,Holiday Inn, Bristol.

Old Down Manor Showcase:Complimentary showcase ofvenue for corporate events.Wednesday, January 29,3.30pm-6pm. Emailo l i v i a @ o l d d o w n m a n o r. c o . u k .

Spike Design: OpenWe d n e s d a y Free businessadvice and hot-desking forcreative start-ups. Wednesday,January 29. Call Jane on 0117929 2266 to book.

FSB South Gloucestershireseminar: How small businessescan get the best from Linked-in.Wednesday, January 29,6.45pm-9.45pm, Aztec WestHotel, Almondsbury BS32 4TS.Register at w w w. f s b . o r g . u k .

Get Connected Bristol: TheBristol’s Post’s first regularbusiness networking event.Wednesday, February 5, 6-8pm,BDO offices, Finzel’s Reach,Bristol. Invitation only, contactgavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk.

Vicki MathiasBusiness@b-nm.co.uk

� LORNA Perks was pickedfrom 150 different entries for ashortlist of ten for the OrangeDifferent Business competition.

A short clip explaining thePillpod device was available onthe competition website alongwith the nine other entries thatwent to a public vote.

Lorna was then one of threefinalists who had to pitch theirbusiness plan to a panel ofjudges in London and she wasannounced as the winner inJuly 2012.

THE COMPETITION

� Lorna PerksTHE CATEGORIES

� Woman of the Year, sponsoredby PPC

� Young Entrepreneur of theYe a r

� Mentor of the Year

� Contribution to theCommunity Award, for womenwho have made a difference toBristol or Bath

� Women in the WorkplaceAw a rd , sponsored by CrestNicholson, for companies thatshow flexibility and adaptability tothe employment of women

� New Business of the Year,

sponsored by HSBC CommercialBanking

� Business of the Year,sponsored by City of BristolCollege

� Award for Innovation

� Marketing Campaign of theYe a r

� Female ApprenticeDevelopment Award, sponsoredby the West of England LocalEnterprise Partnership

� Outstanding Contribution toBusiness in Bristol or Bathsponsored by UWE Bristol

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

Professor JaneHarrington

These awardsprovide rolemodels ofsuccessfulwomen and howthey managed toachieve thatsuccess.

“

1.55%£500 deposit

United TrustBank

� Far left, contact manager Steve Nott, next to branch manager AndyShepherd, will be based at the Bristol office. Far right, managing director NeilJohnson next to regional director Dave Webb Picture: Dave Betts

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10 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 11We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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 Big Interview

IT’S been well over a year sinceKen Simpson was elected Bristolchairman of the Federation ofSmall Businesses. Last Novem-ber, when he was re-elected to

serve another 12 months in the po-sition, his election was unopposed.

Partly, that was due to his successin promoting the FSB during the pre-vious year of his tenure. Partly, headmits, it was because nobody elsewas in the running.

Maybe that’s because the role isvoluntary and requires a significantamount of dedication. But for MrSimpson, who is 55 and also runs aretail consultancy called Make MoreMargin from his home in Whit-church, the position is a rewardingone, for several reasons.

“Part of it is about raising theprofile of Make More Margin,” hesays. “But I also want to givesomething back. I’ve spent 40 years inretail, I’ve learned a lot, and I want tohelp businesses operate and help thisbusiness community grow.

“I also wanted to make the FSB farmore visible to the public and itsm e m b e r s h i p.

“As a small business, if you’re not amember I’d question why not becausethere are so many benefits.

“And in the last 12 months we’vedone a fair amount in terms of pro-moting the organisation, and gainedquite a bit of publicity, which I’mreally happy about.”

Many FSB members – there are1,830 companies in Bristol with theorganisation – will remember the daythe sales rep visited them to convincethem that membership was a goodthing.

T hey’ll probably still recognise thebenefits – free business banking,legal advice available, protectionagainst investigation from the InlandRevenue, online resources includingtemplates of business documents, toname but a few.

But many will also feel that, havingbeen given the sales patter, their in-vestment in membership hasn’t ex-actly made a major impact on theirbu s i n e s s.

Mr Simpson says: “T hat’s one of thethings I’m really conscious of in Bris-tol, and why we have introducedmonthly networking events to reachout to the membership.

“Membership is static at 1,830 orthereabouts. I have an ambition to getit up towards 2,000 by this time nextyear because of the referral schemewe are going to start.

“But it is quite difficult keeping incontact with membership, especiallywith data protection.

“For example, I don’t have a data-base of my members – I have to gothrough the regional office.

“Having said that, we do have aweekly email newsletter which goesout. And we are working as hard aswe can here to make the most of ourmembers’ involvement with the or-g anisation.”

So what else does the FSB do?You may know that it specialises in

supporting retailers and much of MrS i m p s o n’s limited time commitmenthas been involved in supporting shopowners in areas like Clifton, Cothamand Redland.

He is currently spearheading acampaign called Winning White-ladies, which is designed to revitalisethe retail, business and communityspirit in Whiteladies Road, CothamHill, Alma Road, Alma Vale Road,

MY AMBITION IS TOHELP T H I S BUSINESSCOMMUNITY GROWWith four decades of experience as a retailer, Ken Simpson has the perfect credentials for hisrole as chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses. He tells of his passion to help start-uptraders and how he thinks the high street can survive, as Rupert Janisch reports

My working dayYou wake up at? It dependson what I am doing, but usually7.30amWhat do you have forbreakfast? Cup of teaWhat time do you startwork? Again, it depends, butusually 9amWhat happens in your typicalworking day? There is nosuch thing, every day isd i ff e re n t .What time do you go home?It varies, but usually between5.30pm and 6.30pmDo you take workhome/attend eveningfunctions? Yes to both. I try toget to as many NeighbourhoodPartnership meetings aroundWhiteladies Road as I can, aswell as the management sideof developing the traders’association, FSB events, andlate-night working if the clientrequires it. I often spend theevening catching up on thesocial media aspects of myvarious roles.

Name: Ken SimpsonAge: 55Place of birth: Rochdale,Greater ManchesterSchool: Balderstone,RochdaleFirst job: Saturday boy withAsdaHero or inspiration: Sir WinstonChurchill. He managed tore-invent himselfseveral timesand wasindefatigabledespiteoverwhelmingodds. He alsohad a great,intelligentsense ofh u m o u r.

Vital statistics

people are moving to online retail butthey also want proper advice andgenuine goods.

“T hat’s what the high street needsto become, offering the specialistelement.”

But it’s not all criticism of the citycouncil. “Whilst they can be a realpain in the sit-upon,” he says, “theyare very good at promoting businessin the city.

“We ’ve worked extensively with thecity council over the past 12 months,doing things like running eventswhere small businesses can get infront of big businesses, which havebeen hugely successful and will berepeated this year.”

Mr Simpson’s life in four decades of

trading started as a Saturday workerfor Asda in his original home townRo ch d a l e.

His first taste of Bristol was acycling holiday in 1976 – he decidedhe liked it here and moved to the cityin 1977.

Now, through the FSB, he’s alsofocused on helping the next gener-ation of retailers to get their foot onthe ladder.

“We ’ve been quite heavily involvedwith the Young Enterprise scheme ins ch o o l s, ” he says, “helping studentstake on extra-curricular work settingup a proper company, issuing sharesand so on.

“We put up a prize for the bestschool in Bristol – £300 for seed cap-

ital for this year and £200 for thewinners, a school from Backwell,which they’ve actually put back intothis year’s competition entry.

“That shows how much the stu-dents put into this.

“It’s a really good thing because ithelps students get into the world ofcommerce and business, rather thangoing down an academic route.

“Because some youngsters areideally suited to running a businessand it’s really inspiring to be involvedwith it.

“We ’ve done some funding, but wealso have teams of businessmen whoact as coaches to the schools thatwere involved.

“It’s been happening in other areas,but I’ve promoted the FSB’s involve-ment with it in Bristol.

“I was so blown away by the calibreof these kids that I thought it wassomething that we had to get behind,because they are our future mem-b e r s. ”

Mr Simpson also hopes, if possible,to realign the regional structure ofthe FSB so that it better fits thegovernmental structure of the area.

Currently some areas of northSomerset, such as Clevedon and Nail-sea, fall within his patch while otherareas like Weston-super-Mare, whichare covered by business organisa-tions like the LEP, do not.

There are currently more than1,800 businesses in the Bristol branchof the FSB, comprising more than8,000 employees. If Mr Simpson hashis way, that number could soon be-come even more significant.

not impacting adversely on the res-idents. There needs to be the rightmixture of mixed use, pay and displayand permit-only.

“We ’ve got 450 people who will beworking at Simply Health at the oldNatWest building at the top of White-ladies Road at the end of this month.

“There are only 40 parking spaces,so it’s going to be a bit of a chal-leng e.”

Re s i d e n t s ’ parking is also an issueabout transport policy – somethingwhich Mr Simpson also has viewson.

He says: “Public transport’s theonly alternative, but in reality it’spretty poor.

“If we want to get people out of theircars we have to make public trans-port work. But I’ve tried to use publictransport several times – the busesd o n’t turn up even when they’rescheduled to.

“There needs to be better thinkingabout the use of park and rides – fo rexample, making the one at BathRoad in south Bristol run the wholeway through the city and down to thePortway, so that someone living inKeynsham but working in Cliftond o e s n’t have to change in the cityc e n t re.

“T here’s also a problem with week-ends – local traders on places likeCotham Hill find that their potentialcustomers can’t park nearby becausethe restrictions stop at 5pm on aFriday and residents park in thespaces all weekend.”

Given the local nature of many ofthe concerns of FSB members, it’sunsurprising that Mr Simpson has aclose relationship with Bristol CityCouncil, sitting on a number of scru-tiny panels to represent their in-t e re s t s.

But he’s realistic about laying theblame for some policies, such as theoft-cited issue of business rates, awayfrom the city council’s door.

Where he believes the city councilcan make an impact is by offeringflexibility in enforcing regulationswhich impact negatively on localtraders, such as planning regulationsfor on-street advertising.

“Currently, places like side-streetcafes can’t advertise on corners be-cause they don’t have the requisiteplanning permission.

“The council really should take therules and wonder whether they’drather have the shops full and busi-ness rates or impose draconian lawswhich no one else is bothered aboutbecause the signs aren’t blocking thep ave m e n t .

“N ow ’s the time that we need localauthorities which support local busi-n e s s e s.

“T here’s a bit of a shift going on –

My downtimeWhat’s your perfectweekend? Spending timewith my wife Clair,ideally when it is dry orsunny so that I canget out in the garden.

What’s yourfavourite book orfilm or TV show?There are too manygreat books to singleany one out; but anythingon local history, WW2, or by

Noel Barber, Bernard Cornwell,Ken Follett and Bryce

C o u r t e n a y.

My favourite films:The MothmanProphecies and mostWW2 films.

My favourite TVshows: I quite like

Grand Designs, DoctorWho (inset), Life on Mars

(right) and Ashes to Ashes.

Lower Redland Road, Worral Roadand Chandos Road.

And with a high concentration ofsmall businesses in the area, White-ladies Road and its surrounds arealso hotspots of wider issues whichaffect small firms across the city, liketransport, business rates, refuse col-lection and, in particular, residents’parking zones.

“It’s is a thorny issue,” he says,“and while I don’t normally sit on thefence I can see both sides of theargument. But my concern primarilyis that it doesn’t impact negatively onbu s i n e s s.

“So I’ve looked at the plans for bothsides of Whiteladies Road with someinterest because I’m setting up thetraders’ association here, and I’vesuggested some improvements whichwill make it better for business while

Ken Simpson, left

“ I’ve spent 40 years inretail, I’ve learned a lot,and I want to helpbusinesses operate andhelp this businesscommunity grow. I alsowanted to make the FSBfar more visible to thepublic and itsmembership. As a smallbusiness, if you’re not amember I’d questionwhy not because thereare so many benefits.

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10 We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 11We d n e s d a y, January 22, 2014 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 Big Interview

IT’S been well over a year sinceKen Simpson was elected Bristolchairman of the Federation ofSmall Businesses. Last Novem-ber, when he was re-elected to

serve another 12 months in the po-sition, his election was unopposed.

Partly, that was due to his successin promoting the FSB during the pre-vious year of his tenure. Partly, headmits, it was because nobody elsewas in the running.

Maybe that’s because the role isvoluntary and requires a significantamount of dedication. But for MrSimpson, who is 55 and also runs aretail consultancy called Make MoreMargin from his home in Whit-church, the position is a rewardingone, for several reasons.

“Part of it is about raising theprofile of Make More Margin,” hesays. “But I also want to givesomething back. I’ve spent 40 years inretail, I’ve learned a lot, and I want tohelp businesses operate and help thisbusiness community grow.

“I also wanted to make the FSB farmore visible to the public and itsm e m b e r s h i p.

“As a small business, if you’re not amember I’d question why not becausethere are so many benefits.

“And in the last 12 months we’vedone a fair amount in terms of pro-moting the organisation, and gainedquite a bit of publicity, which I’mreally happy about.”

Many FSB members – there are1,830 companies in Bristol with theorganisation – will remember the daythe sales rep visited them to convincethem that membership was a goodthing.

T hey’ll probably still recognise thebenefits – free business banking,legal advice available, protectionagainst investigation from the InlandRevenue, online resources includingtemplates of business documents, toname but a few.

But many will also feel that, havingbeen given the sales patter, their in-vestment in membership hasn’t ex-actly made a major impact on theirbu s i n e s s.

Mr Simpson says: “T hat’s one of thethings I’m really conscious of in Bris-tol, and why we have introducedmonthly networking events to reachout to the membership.

“Membership is static at 1,830 orthereabouts. I have an ambition to getit up towards 2,000 by this time nextyear because of the referral schemewe are going to start.

“But it is quite difficult keeping incontact with membership, especiallywith data protection.

“For example, I don’t have a data-base of my members – I have to gothrough the regional office.

“Having said that, we do have aweekly email newsletter which goesout. And we are working as hard aswe can here to make the most of ourmembers’ involvement with the or-g anisation.”

So what else does the FSB do?You may know that it specialises in

supporting retailers and much of MrS i m p s o n’s limited time commitmenthas been involved in supporting shopowners in areas like Clifton, Cothamand Redland.

He is currently spearheading acampaign called Winning White-ladies, which is designed to revitalisethe retail, business and communityspirit in Whiteladies Road, CothamHill, Alma Road, Alma Vale Road,

MY AMBITION IS TOHELP T H I S BUSINESSCOMMUNITY GROWWith four decades of experience as a retailer, Ken Simpson has the perfect credentials for hisrole as chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses. He tells of his passion to help start-uptraders and how he thinks the high street can survive, as Rupert Janisch reports

My working dayYou wake up at? It dependson what I am doing, but usually7.30amWhat do you have forbreakfast? Cup of teaWhat time do you startwork? Again, it depends, butusually 9amWhat happens in your typicalworking day? There is nosuch thing, every day isd i ff e re n t .What time do you go home?It varies, but usually between5.30pm and 6.30pmDo you take workhome/attend eveningfunctions? Yes to both. I try toget to as many NeighbourhoodPartnership meetings aroundWhiteladies Road as I can, aswell as the management sideof developing the traders’association, FSB events, andlate-night working if the clientrequires it. I often spend theevening catching up on thesocial media aspects of myvarious roles.

Name: Ken SimpsonAge: 55Place of birth: Rochdale,Greater ManchesterSchool: Balderstone,RochdaleFirst job: Saturday boy withAsdaHero or inspiration: Sir WinstonChurchill. He managed tore-invent himselfseveral timesand wasindefatigabledespiteoverwhelmingodds. He alsohad a great,intelligentsense ofh u m o u r.

Vital statistics

people are moving to online retail butthey also want proper advice andgenuine goods.

“T hat’s what the high street needsto become, offering the specialistelement.”

But it’s not all criticism of the citycouncil. “Whilst they can be a realpain in the sit-upon,” he says, “theyare very good at promoting businessin the city.

“We ’ve worked extensively with thecity council over the past 12 months,doing things like running eventswhere small businesses can get infront of big businesses, which havebeen hugely successful and will berepeated this year.”

Mr Simpson’s life in four decades of

trading started as a Saturday workerfor Asda in his original home townRo ch d a l e.

His first taste of Bristol was acycling holiday in 1976 – he decidedhe liked it here and moved to the cityin 1977.

Now, through the FSB, he’s alsofocused on helping the next gener-ation of retailers to get their foot onthe ladder.

“We ’ve been quite heavily involvedwith the Young Enterprise scheme ins ch o o l s, ” he says, “helping studentstake on extra-curricular work settingup a proper company, issuing sharesand so on.

“We put up a prize for the bestschool in Bristol – £300 for seed cap-

ital for this year and £200 for thewinners, a school from Backwell,which they’ve actually put back intothis year’s competition entry.

“That shows how much the stu-dents put into this.

“It’s a really good thing because ithelps students get into the world ofcommerce and business, rather thangoing down an academic route.

“Because some youngsters areideally suited to running a businessand it’s really inspiring to be involvedwith it.

“We ’ve done some funding, but wealso have teams of businessmen whoact as coaches to the schools thatwere involved.

“It’s been happening in other areas,but I’ve promoted the FSB’s involve-ment with it in Bristol.

“I was so blown away by the calibreof these kids that I thought it wassomething that we had to get behind,because they are our future mem-b e r s. ”

Mr Simpson also hopes, if possible,to realign the regional structure ofthe FSB so that it better fits thegovernmental structure of the area.

Currently some areas of northSomerset, such as Clevedon and Nail-sea, fall within his patch while otherareas like Weston-super-Mare, whichare covered by business organisa-tions like the LEP, do not.

There are currently more than1,800 businesses in the Bristol branchof the FSB, comprising more than8,000 employees. If Mr Simpson hashis way, that number could soon be-come even more significant.

not impacting adversely on the res-idents. There needs to be the rightmixture of mixed use, pay and displayand permit-only.

“We ’ve got 450 people who will beworking at Simply Health at the oldNatWest building at the top of White-ladies Road at the end of this month.

“There are only 40 parking spaces,so it’s going to be a bit of a chal-leng e.”

Re s i d e n t s ’ parking is also an issueabout transport policy – somethingwhich Mr Simpson also has viewson.

He says: “Public transport’s theonly alternative, but in reality it’spretty poor.

“If we want to get people out of theircars we have to make public trans-port work. But I’ve tried to use publictransport several times – the busesd o n’t turn up even when they’rescheduled to.

“There needs to be better thinkingabout the use of park and rides – fo rexample, making the one at BathRoad in south Bristol run the wholeway through the city and down to thePortway, so that someone living inKeynsham but working in Cliftond o e s n’t have to change in the cityc e n t re.

“T here’s also a problem with week-ends – local traders on places likeCotham Hill find that their potentialcustomers can’t park nearby becausethe restrictions stop at 5pm on aFriday and residents park in thespaces all weekend.”

Given the local nature of many ofthe concerns of FSB members, it’sunsurprising that Mr Simpson has aclose relationship with Bristol CityCouncil, sitting on a number of scru-tiny panels to represent their in-t e re s t s.

But he’s realistic about laying theblame for some policies, such as theoft-cited issue of business rates, awayfrom the city council’s door.

Where he believes the city councilcan make an impact is by offeringflexibility in enforcing regulationswhich impact negatively on localtraders, such as planning regulationsfor on-street advertising.

“Currently, places like side-streetcafes can’t advertise on corners be-cause they don’t have the requisiteplanning permission.

“The council really should take therules and wonder whether they’drather have the shops full and busi-ness rates or impose draconian lawswhich no one else is bothered aboutbecause the signs aren’t blocking thep ave m e n t .

“N ow ’s the time that we need localauthorities which support local busi-n e s s e s.

“T here’s a bit of a shift going on –

My downtimeWhat’s your perfectweekend? Spending timewith my wife Clair,ideally when it is dry orsunny so that I canget out in the garden.

What’s yourfavourite book orfilm or TV show?There are too manygreat books to singleany one out; but anythingon local history, WW2, or by

Noel Barber, Bernard Cornwell,Ken Follett and Bryce

C o u r t e n a y.

My favourite films:The MothmanProphecies and mostWW2 films.

My favourite TVshows: I quite like

Grand Designs, DoctorWho (inset), Life on Mars

(right) and Ashes to Ashes.

Lower Redland Road, Worral Roadand Chandos Road.

And with a high concentration ofsmall businesses in the area, White-ladies Road and its surrounds arealso hotspots of wider issues whichaffect small firms across the city, liketransport, business rates, refuse col-lection and, in particular, residents’parking zones.

“It’s is a thorny issue,” he says,“and while I don’t normally sit on thefence I can see both sides of theargument. But my concern primarilyis that it doesn’t impact negatively onbu s i n e s s.

“So I’ve looked at the plans for bothsides of Whiteladies Road with someinterest because I’m setting up thetraders’ association here, and I’vesuggested some improvements whichwill make it better for business while

Ken Simpson, left

“ I’ve spent 40 years inretail, I’ve learned a lot,and I want to helpbusinesses operate andhelp this businesscommunity grow. I alsowanted to make the FSBfar more visible to thepublic and itsmembership. As a smallbusiness, if you’re not amember I’d questionwhy not because thereare so many benefits.

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Introducing

PARTNERSINBUSINESS…

We’re sure you already know us. We’re oneof the largest further and higher educationcolleges in the UK, offering the widest rangeof academic and vocational qualifications inthe area. But perhaps you don’t know thatwe’re also one of the largest trainingproviders for business too?

We have enormous business capability andresources and we’re keen to share it with you.That’s why we’ve created Partners in Business,a new employer-led initiative to ensure all localbusinesses - big or small - have access toeffective recruitment and training solutions.

We’d be delighted to form a partnership withyou. Together, we can shape the future of yourbusiness and play a big part in boosting theeconomic prosperity of our region.

For a face to face introduction toPartners in Business, call 0117 312 5020to arrange an initial discussion.