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KLM UK Engineering team celebrate Long Service Awards today, with one colleague celebrating 40 years with the Company and the rest of the team a steady 10 years! Congratulations!

Would you pay more council tax for policing in Norfolk? That is the question being posed by the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).

PCC Lorne Green will soon have to decide whether to increase or freeze the policing element of council tax. First, he wants to know what the Norfolk public thinks and is asking how much people would be willing to pay.

“I want to hear from the people of Norfolk. Do you support keeping the policing part of the council tax at last year’s level, or do you support a rise? And, if so, how much would you be prepared to pay?” said Lorne.

“I have spent a great deal of time over the past year listening to Norfolk communities. They tell me not only do they want to be safe, they want to feel safe. Our constabulary has a responsibility to offer that assurance in our homes, on our streets and in our communities.

“At the same time I recognise the financial situation for policing continues to be extremely challenging. The nature of crime continues to change and is becoming more complex. Ahead of December’s police funding announcement, I made representations to the Home Secretary, Policing Minister and Secretary to the Treasury to impress upon them just how serious the financial picture here in Norfolk is and the threat it poses to our policing service.

“It is important to be clear however that, before I even consider raising the policing element of the council tax, I have to be absolutely sure that the force continues to drive efficiencies at every turn, including from collaboration and partnership working.

“The Chief Constable has told me that a precept freeze would, inevitably, lead to police officer and staff reductions. He has also said that were I to raise the council tax by the maximum amount of 46 pence a week, this would allow significant investment in the force, including the addition of 40 extra officers. I would urge people to listen to what the Chief Constable has to say before having their say.

“To help inform my budget decision, I would like to know your views. Some 56% of Norfolk’s policing budget is funded by central government, meaning your council tax makes up the rest – so I want all Norfolk residents to have the opportunity to have their say.

“There are lots of ways you can share your views, not least through the online survey. Please take the time to have your say as your views are important to me.”

The full consultation document and online survey can be found at www.norfolk-pcc.gov.uk 

The consultation will run from 2 January until 30 January. The PCC will take his budget proposals to the Norfolk Police and Crime Panel on 5 February 2018.

As proud co-sponsors of the Best Employer category at the Norfolk Business Awards, we would like to share our congratulations with the overall winner The Maids Head Hotel and all three of the extremely worthy finalists.

Alongside Birketts, we were delighted to present the Best Employer award as part of our ongoing purpose of celebrating and promoting the fantastic places to work in our region. This award recognises the companies which are achieving success by engaging, inspiring, motivating and developing their employees.

The Maids Head Hotel, situated in Norwich, and renowned for being the oldest hotel in the UK, was presented with this well-deserved accolade at the black-tie awards ceremony on Thursday. It was one of four businesses to be shortlisted in this category alongside Flagship Group, The Holden Group and Morgan Sindall. As part of the judging panel, we can honestly say that the decision on which of these inspiring companies should be crowned the overall winner was extremely difficult. All four businesses really stood out and shone as inspiring examples of organisations putting people first.

As the winners, The Maids Head Hotel was praised for how its purpose, vision and corporate values have all been fully integrated into the everyday operations of the hotel and are visible in all aspects of the business, including recruitment, appraisals and reward and recognition. The hotel employs 90 people and its workforce is very diverse, both in terms of backgrounds and nationalities. Significant efforts have been made to develop staff by working with local colleges to enhance skills.

All four organisations will benefit from an enhanced employer brand as a result of being recognised in this category. It highlights all of them as fantastic examples of businesses which are committed to developing innovative employee engagement strategies with a long-term growth vision in mind.  

As part of the judging process, all entrants also completed the Best Employers Eastern Region confidential employee engagement survey. Having scored in the top 25% of this, and submitted further evidence for judging, Flagship Group and Morgan Sindall were also presented with the Best Employers Eastern Region Platinum Accreditation last month and The Holden Group was presented with the Best Employers Eastern Region Gold Accreditation.

We would like to congratulate all of the winners and finalists on the night. It was a huge privilege to once again be a part these awards, organised by the Eastern Daily Press. This year was the biggest celebration in the awards nearly 30-year history and this is a testament to the many inspiring organisations within Norfolk’s deep and diverse business community.

For more information about The Maids Head Hotel as winners read the EDP 24 article.

Hatch Brenner Solicitors has confirmed their continued support of Norwich Theatre Royal with the announcement of the next two must-see productions in their drama venue sponsorship.

The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre critically acclaimed production of To Kill a Mockingbird arrives in Norwich from Monday 4 – Saturday 9 March 2019. Exploring racial injustice, the timely and enchanting production brings Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to life.

• “Terrific retelling of Harper Lee’s classic makes dramatic gold” The Times
• “Some productions have the power effortlessly to win you over and this enchanting heartfelt adaptation is one of them” Daily Express
• “Its real triumph is in perfectly capturing its warmth and wonder” Time Out

The Girl on the Train is a gripping new play starring Samantha Womack And Oliver Farnworth. Playing from Monday 1 – Saturday 6 July 2019, the stage adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ internationally best-selling novel is a thrilling mystery which keeps the audience guessing until the final moment. It follows lead character Rachel who watches what she thinks of as the perfect couple from the train window every day, in order to escape a life she hates. When she finds herself a witness to a possible crime, her life changes completely. The production is directed by Anthony Banks with designs from James Cotterill.

• “This is a must. Don’t miss it” WhatsOnStage

Samantha Womack has starred extensively in television, film and theatre. She is best known for playing Ronnie Mitchell in BBC1’s EastEnders with leading roles in Mount Pleasant and Game On, plus the recent box office hit films, The Kingsman series. As well as his extensive career on the stage, Oliver Farnworth has starred in Hollyoaks and as Andy Carver in ITV’s Coronation Street.

Dawn Parkes, Hatch Brenner Managing Partner commented: “We are looking forward to seeing the new productions of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Girl on The Train. In particular, Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird is something of an inspiration to many lawyers given his integrity and compassion, so I can’t wait to experience the retelling of such a great novel on stage in Norwich. We are delighted to continue our association with our neighbours on Theatre Street, Norwich Theatre Royal.”

More details can be found at www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk

A Norwich-based equipment manufacturer has stepped up its global presence by supplying bespoke equipment for an Australian snack maker. Fabcon Food Systems has provided a full seasoning system for Snack Lovers, a savoury snack manufacturer known for the unique shapes, textures and tastes of its products which are sold across Australia. Working closely with the Melbourne firm’s owners, Fabcon has completed the installation of a full bespoke seasoning line at the company’s factory as it looks to increase its output and product range.

It’s Fabcon’s eighth installation outside of the UK in the past 12 months – on top of new orders in Nigeria, Romania and further business in Kuwait.  Trevor Howard, managing director of Fabcon Food Systems, said: “Snack Lovers has a long and successful history in the Australian snacks market so we’re really delighted to be part of the company’s ongoing success story. We clicked straight away with the team and understood what they needed to help support their seasoning process.

“Our system is now fully installed and playing a key role in the production of many popular potato snacks. We’re looking forward to developing our relationship in the months and years ahead.” Ewan Busch, co-founder of Snack Lovers, added: “We met the Fabcon team at a trade event in Vienna in 2017 and were really impressed with the quality of their seasoning equipment and its pricing.

“We had specific quality improvement needs for our systems and Fabcon really stepped up to the challenge and reacted quickly. We’re delighted with the installation and it has really improved our production process for our snack products. Our relationship with Trevor and the Fabcon team goes from strength to strength.” Formed in 2015, Fabcon Food Systems manufacture, supply and install innovative handling and processing equipment for the food industry. Designed and built at the company’s Norwich factory, Fabcon’s team of 25 supply systems and machinery to customers in the UK, mainland Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Africa. Snack Lovers was founded in 1999 by Mr Busch and his wife, Sharyn. Readers can find more information through www.snacklovers.com.au

Technical overview Fabcon Food System provided the following equipment to Snack Lovers:

• A vibratory product infeed conveyor • A volumetric draw seasoning screw feeder • A Scarf plate feeder • A retractable support structure for both feeders to facilitate access to the tumble drum for cleaning • A stainless steel tumble drum

KLM UK Engineering is delighted to announce the signing of airframe maintenance contract extension with West Atlantic UK Limited.

Paris, Amstelveen, Norwich, 9 January 2019 – A European leader in the regional jets & narrow body aircraft market and having an internationally acknowledged expertise on the Boeing 737, Embraer 170/190, BAe146/Avro RJ, Fokker 70/100 & Airbus A320 Family, KLM UK Engineering is delighted to confirm this contract extension with West Atlantic UK Limited.

KLM UK Engineering will commence airframe maintenance checks with West Atlantic UK Limited on their Boeing 737 Freighter fleet in February 2019, following on from the contract that started in January 2018.

Ian Bartholomew, Director Business Development & Sales at KLM UK Engineering Limited commented: “We are delighted that West Atlantic UK Limited have further extended their heavy maintenance contract with KLM UK Engineering, we have been supporting West Atlantic UK Limited for a number of years and look forward to providing airframe maintenance solutions to them again when we restart the programme in early 2019“.

Nigel Hiorns, Managing Director West Atlantic UK Ltd said: “Having been a customer of KLM UK Engineering’s for a number of years now, we are very pleased to announce the continuation of this working relationship and look forward to our aircraft going back to the KLM UK Engineering facilities when our heavy maintenance programme commences in 2019“.

WHAT IS THE NEW ANGLIA SCALE UP PROGRAMME AND WHO IS IT FOR?

The Scale Up programme has been launched to support businesses with high growth potential up to 20% in terms of turnover. These companies have been categorised as ‘Silver’. Those achieving growth in excess of 20% in terms of turnover or FTEs are categorised as ‘Gold’.

The mission of the Scale Up programme is, therefore, providing the business support to turn ‘Silver’ businesses into ‘Gold’ businesses.

The objective of the programme is to engage with potential high growth businesses throughout the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk and to create an exclusive community of like-minded peers and industry and topic experts. This programme will provide ongoing support and also understand and develop the nature of the high growth ecosystem required to generate growth across the New Anglia region.

KEY BENEFITS TO SME TO JOIN THE HIGH GROWTH PROGRAMME

– Access to members only workshops, information tools, meetings and events

– All businesses at these events are like-minded and keen to grow and develop their businesses in Suffolk and Norfolk – peer to peer support and discussions

– All businesses are in Norfolk and Suffolk

– Access to industry experts and information from dedicated growth/scale-up bodies and people

– Access to inspirational local and national businesses who have been on the scale-up/growth journey

– Three-year programme in place to take them into the next step

– Cross organisational support (i.e. Tech East, Invest East, Councils, Chambers)

EVENT & CONFERENCE

New Anglia Growth Hub is delighted to announce the launch of the Scale Up programme.  There are two launch events planned so far and more to come.  The first two events are supporting Digital Tech and Manufacturing.

The first event is for Digital Tech. The event and conference is on the 6th February 2019 at Bedford Lodge Hotel, Newmarket CB8 7BX.

The second event is Manufacturing.  The event and conference is on the 26th March 2019 at Barnham Broom Hotel, Norwich, NR9 4DD.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

These events and support are free, but booking is by invite-only through signing up and being accepted on to the programme. This too is a free and simple process but will require review and approval by our High Growth Adviser. If you have not already been contacted you can apply through the simple form below, which will then be reviewed and you will be contacted by phone or email, either to discuss this a little further or get your full details to add you to the programme.

After you have been accepted, you will be able to get invites directly to your inbox for all our events, and be able to access to the supporting information from these events will be through the New Anglia Scale Up Portal on the New Anglia Growth Hub Website.  As this is all free, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Kick start your growth today and apply below.

To read more please click on the leaflet and agenda below.  If you wish to discuss this further before completing this form, please contact our High Growth Adviser, Morgan Potter through his email: morgan.potter@newanglia.co.uk

New Anglia Scale Up & High Growth Launch Event Leaflet

New Anglian Scale Up & High Growth Launch Event Agenda

APPLY TODAY!

Leading independent vehicle and contract hire company Burnt Tree has today achieved its target of working 1 million working hours without any reportable accidents or incidents at either its Shrewsbury head office or any of its 18 branches in England, Scotland and Wales.

Having achieved this first target of 1 million working hours, Burnt Tree is now planning to reach its second target of 2 million accident and incident free working hours across all the company premises.

Announcing details of this significant milestone, Richard Metcalfe, Chief Executive at Burnt Tree said, “Following the RIDDOR guidelines laid down by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), we have been able to achieve this impressive target by raising the awareness of hazard identification internally and proactively managing accident and incident rates, companywide.”

It was in February 2012 that the last reportable incident took place at Burnt Tree. The launch of a ‘Zero Accident’ campaign, aligned to the company’s core values, has also had a significant additional impact on the minor injuries frequency at the company, which have reduced by 34% over the corresponding period.

“This important initiative was designed to encourage Burnt Tree staff to become more aware of the consequences and impact of accidents in the workplace. By actively participating in the changing of the culture towards HS&E, our staff have been the driving force behind this marked improvement in the last 18 months,” added Richard Metcalfe.

RIDDOR – Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 – is part of the Health & Safety Executive’s programme that puts emphasis on businesses to report certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses).

Burnt Tree is the UK’s largest independent commercial vehicle rental and contract hire company, offering the widest range of vehicles in the industry, all backed by flexible products that put its customers in control. The company operates a 15,000-strong fleet out of 18 strategically located sites throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

At our Best Employers Eastern Region awards conference in October 2018, Bidwells Managing Director Catherine Spitzer and Director of People and Change Julie Archer, shared their experience of completing a total transformation of the leading property consultancy’s Cambridge headquarters to create a truly agile workspace.

Whilst few businesses will have the resources to invest in complete office refurbishment, there is a lot of inspiration employers can take from Bidwells’ story.

During an ‘on-stage’ interview with Jeanette Wheeler, Partner at Birketts LLP, Catherine and Julie described Bidwell’s transformation: 

“Our objective was to create a workplace where our colleagues are empowered to be their best and to reaffirm Bidwells as a great place to work. Our head office at Trumpington Road was not working physically or mentally for our employees. It was a traditional 1970s building and the layout of long corridors and individual offices meant people were very siloed. Colleagues who had worked together for over 30 years didn’t really know each other. We believe people are stronger in teams than they are as individuals, yet we had a whole host of knowledge and experience, which wasn’t coming together. Our aim was to create a workspace which encouraged conversation, engaged employees to share expertise and enabled them to work better, both together and individually. 

“We recognised that some employees would naturally be worried about change and that not everyone would want the same things from their work environment. To manage this we took the approach of treating everyone as individuals. We actively encouraged everyone to have their say and to help shape ideas for the transformation. We asked people what they needed to do their job well, what most frustrated them about the office and what processes and technology would make things easier. As well as asking what people wanted, we also asked what they thought we should ditch because it wasn’t adding any value. We carried out more than two years of research before we began the reconstruction, as we wanted the design to be right.

“The three-storey office has been reconfigured into zoned spaces. It’s not a completely open plan, but there are no internal offices other than meeting rooms. Instead, there are different zoned areas of anchored desks, break out spaces and quiet areas. The idea is to empower our 250 plus staff by giving them a choice of different environments to work in. Everyone is encouraged to move around the office as they see fit and based on the task they are working on. There are options to work seated or standing, a variety of chairs to choose from including comfortable winged chairs in both open and slightly more private spaces. If people need a quiet space, they can find one. If they want to sit on a sofa to catch up on reading without any distractions, they can. Alternatively, there are a huge number of collaborative areas where people can work together.

“There are still people who are naturally drawn to sitting in the same areas, but we really are seeing people moving around more. One of the biggest changes is that people don’t sit and eat lunch at their desks anymore. We all congregate for lunch in our ground floor café. This really encourages conversations and a team mentality as people naturally talk over food and drink – it’s the social glue!

“The new-look office has only been open for less than a year, but so far the results are really good. When you walk in it feels like a ‘happy’ environment. People are working more collaboratively and talking to each other more. We have even had past employees return to the organisation as well as attracting key personnel to the business because of the changes.

“This office transformation is just one element of us evolving the business without wanting to make changes just for the sake of it. It is part of a wider plan to shape our strategy, vision and culture. Having been established for 180 years this year, we are not looking to substantially change Bidwells, just to build on its strengths and to make the firm fit for the future and the size it has become. The new workspace really helps bring our culture to life and it is encouraging everyone to live by our values, which include having fun. We are delighted with the way it has turned out and our employees love it already.”

Find out more about Best Employers at www.best-employers.co.uk

Chartered accountants and business advisers, M+A Partners, has further strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Faith Pearce, Senior Tax Manager.

Faith started her tax career as a private client tax assistant for a large national accountancy firm, where she qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser.

Although starting out in private client tax, Faith has experience in corporate tax compliance and more recently has been involved in a number of tax advisory projects, covering various aspects of tax planning for land owners, high net worth individuals, shareholders and business owners.

As a growing firm, that is very much looking to the future, M+A are delighted to be consolidating the knowledge within their senior tax team and expanding this area of the business.

M+A Partner Clare Goodswen commented “Faith brings extensive tax expertise and specialist knowledge to the firm. I know her as someone that can confidently manage and advise on all tax matters, giving our clients an excellent level of service.  We are thrilled to welcome her to M+A Partners and wish her all the best in her new position.”

We are thrilled to announce our recent partnership and work with Casino Market, a UK online casino affiliate which is looking to revolutionise the way in which the casino market in the UK operates. There is a great deal of focus on casino operators at present (the companies where users play games.) However, there is not too much of a focus on the likes of Casino Market who are affiliates and partners to those very operators.

Rather than prospective players having to ‘shop around’ for the best online casino for their preferences, affiliates like Casino Market bring all the information together to help users make much more informed choices of casino. This also allows users and players to make use of potentially numerous welcome bonuses and exclusive offers. Moreover, Casino Market operates a Responsible Gambling policy which means that those who may be at risk of debt are avoided.

What are we doing for Casino Market?

Casino Market’s website was initially not developed for search engine optimisation (SEO) at all. This meant that it simply did not rank in any way online on Google or any other search engines. We therefore have been working round the clock to ensure this innovative and exciting site is able to be found by potential users online. This has entailed us undertaking some imperative tasks:

Updating the Content Management System (CMS) – Working with the in-house development team at Casino Market, we worked to transition them away from their old, non-optimised CMS to a much more SEO-friendly CMS that can be more easily read by all search engines.

Crawling Factors – This has included updating URLs on the site, fixing every page’s meta data and ensuring that all page titles are optimised for both users and SEO. We have also been working with the developers at Casino Market to make sure that the ideal pages for each type of user are found online.

Getting Them Out There – Having not had any marketing work performed on this website or even its brand, we have been working with various partners to ensure that through the means of online and digital marketing, the Casino Market name and brand gets the exposure it needs. This is also a strong trust signal for Google and other search engines, with popularity and knowledge of brands driving some of the highest quality users

Content – The Casino Market site previously had next to no content on the website. Thus, Google and other search engines were unable to read most of what was on the pages. Therefore, we are working on a strong and comprehensive content strategy to ensure the site can be crawled as well as engage with by all users

Plans for high-speed mobile broadband are to be rolled out by the rail industry across the busiest parts of Britain’s rail network.

As well as this announcement, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin also stated that, by 2019, 70% of train passengers should have access to faster broadband speeds whilst travelling, even to the point of being able to watch streamed videos on their mobile phones.

The Transport Secretary said: “Today’s announcement marks the beginning of the end of poor coverage on our railways,” whilst confirming that the programme will be industry funded.

A Network Rail spokesman added: “As an industry, we recognise that the limited availability of mobile communications on Britain’s rail network is not good enough.If rail is to remain a preferred mode of transport, this must be addressed, which is why today’s announcement is good news for the millions of people who travel by train each day.”

Network Rail are currently in the middle of upgrading both its fixed line and mobile infrastructure, as a result of a £1.9bn digital communications improvement programme. Once the upgrade is complete, in June 2014, the new fibre optic network should be capable of handling 192,000 gigabit per second (Gbit/s) of data. It has been forecasted that the telecommunications demand on British railways could rise to 200Gbit/s by 2018.

“By increasing the number of mobile phone masts to fill gaps in signal coverage, and incorporating signal boosters inside train carriages, passengers will be able to benefit from our surplus data capacity,” a Network Rail spokesman stated.

Currently, each train only has access to 2.5 megabit per second (Mbit/s) of data, which must be shared between passengers. This has meant train operating companies have had to limit downloads on to mobile devices, blocking access to video streaming services such as iPlayer and Netflix.

After the upgrade, the available data could rise to 50Mbit/s per train, which may allow a change of policy. As of yet, it is unclear how much passengers may be charged for this high-speed mobile broadband service.