Member News

Monthind is delighted to have partnered with Liberty Hygiene, expanding our washroom services and enabling us to provide a broader range of products to new and existing customers.

Whilst Monthind has been supplying washroom equipment and products for many years we saw an opportunity to improve our delivery by working alongside the established hygiene services provider, Liberty Hygiene. At the beginning of 2019, Liberty Hygiene installed 404 sanitary bins, 119 air fresheners and 28 eco shields amongst other washroom services across our sites in East Anglia.

The cleaning and facilities management industry continues to evolve and the team at Monthind works tirelessly to ensure our services are delivered professionally and efficiently. We embrace industry partnerships which will benefit our customers and allow us to improve provision and efficacy, such as this partnership with Liberty Hygiene.

Simon Biggs, Monthind Partner, says: “As East Anglia’s leading independent cleaning company, it is crucial that any commercial partnerships do not have a detrimental effect on our reputation. After a thorough tender process we are confident that Liberty Hygiene can be relied upon to deliver to our exacting standards.”

“Working in partnership with Monthind allows us both to broaden our reach and deliver a wider range of services to customers. Our company ethics are synchronised, we both value our customers and our people, and believe that by looking after both we optimise our operations,” commented Glenn Marshall, Operations Director at Liberty Hygiene.

For more information on Monthind’s services and for a no-obligation quotation call 01206 215300.

Last night we attended the Norfolk Constructing Excellence Club Awards, held at OPEN in the City. We were  nominated in the Preservation and Rejuvenation category alongside notable proper construction companies as Chaplin Farrant, Fielden + Mawson and MJS Projects.

To our great surprise, we WON FIRST PRIZE in Preservation and Rejuvenation. A tremendous achievement from the WMM team, City College Norwich tutors and most importantly the students.

While in the process of basking in the glory of this award, we were shocked to also be awarded First Prize Overall!

It was fantastic to be able to invite City College Staff and Students to the Awards and for the students in particular to be praised for their efforts.  

Abate Pest Management is delighted to announce that they have been named a Future50 Company!

Future50 is an exciting business growth programme that’s designed to recognise Norfolk and Suffolk’s most innovative companies and we are thrilled to have been selected.

Jon Blake of Abate said “We are really pleased to have been selected as a member of the 2019 Future50 programme. This is a great recognition for all the hard work that has been taking place at Abate. We have some fantastic growth opportunities within the East Anglian region and our franchise development plans are accelerating for new area operations. 2019 has been a great year so far with the award of the Small Company for the Year at the British Pest Management Awards together with our European CEPA standard. Our contract portfolio continues to increase with a couple of notable signings with a science research centre and a commercial bakery. As the warm weather starts to arrive, we will see an increase in our domestic call outs, which we are preparing for with the addition of two new service technicians.”

Future50 aims to find the region’s ‘ones to watch’ and to accelerate growth ambitions through inspirational keynote events that stimulate peer learning, collaborative discussion groups, exposure in local media brands and business support from the key partners and their network.

Future50 is delivered across Norfolk and Suffolk by Archant, with partners Barclays, Birketts, Lovewell Blake, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and UEA adding ongoing support throughout.

ABATE PEST MANAGEMENT 

DOMESTIC AND COMMERCIAL PEST CONTROL FOR 20 YEARS

• 2019 British Pest Management Awards Small Company of the Year
• Nationwide Coverage
• Insured to £10 Million
• BPCA Full Servicing Member
• CEPA, OHAS 18001, CHAS and Safe Contractor
• ISO 9001 and ISO 14001
• Food Grade Operations
• Real Time Client Reporting

Call 0800 980 9767 or 01953 603390

Hatch Brenner Solicitors in Norwich has added two new productions to its ongoing drama venue sponsorship at Norwich Theatre Royal.

The first is Educating Rita, which will be on from Monday 10 – Saturday 15 June.

The cast features well known English actor Stephen Tompkinson in the role of Frank, and Jessica Johnson playing the role of Rita. When married hairdresser Rita enrols on a university course to expand her horizons, little does she realise where the journey will take her.

Her tutor Frank is a frustrated poet, brilliant academic and dedicated drinker, who’s less than enthusiastic about taking Rita on, but the two soon realise how much they have to teach each other.

This hilarious and heart-warming comedy won the Olivier Award when it was produced in London’s West End by the RSC, before being adapted into the multi award-winning film starring Julie Walters and Michael Caine.

The second production is A Taste of Honey from the National Theatre. It will play in Norwich from Tuesday 12 – Saturday 16 November.

Directed by Bijan Sheibani (Barber Shop Chronicles), this British classic is an exhilarating depiction of working-class life in post-war Salford.

Bringing Shelagh Delaney’s career defining, taboo-breaking 1950s play to life, the story follows feisty teenager Jo after her mother, Helen, runs off with a car salesman. Jo takes up with Jimmy, a sailor who promises to marry her but tragically ends up abandoning her.

Art student Geoff moves in and assumes the role of surrogate parent until, misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels.

West-End star Jodie Prenger leads the cast in the role of Helen.

Amy Beck, Business Development and Marketing Manager at Hatch Brenner commented: “Our support of Norwich Theatre Royal is something that all our staff are very proud of. A registered charity, the organisation continues to develop their mission in bringing first class work to the city, as well as supporting community and outreach projects. We really look forward to attending the drama productions with our guests from the Norwich business community; invariably a great evening, where our guests can share their views on the production and leave feeling inspired.”

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

Join Our Team – Exciting Marketing Executive Role

Want to continue or develop your marketing career in a successful and growing agency?

Keen to work with a diverse range of businesses and deliver genuine results?

We’re seeking an intelligent all-round Marketing Executive to help with our continued growth.

Full Mix Marketing

Launched in 2016, we’ve quickly established a growing number of loyal clients and developed a strong reputation for our expert skills and delivery of results.

We provide highly-effective strategic, digital and creative marketing – ranging from totally out-sourced delivery to single elements like social media, direct mail and web design.

We’ve recently gained a number of new clients for whom we’re providing part or all of their ongoing marketing delivery.

The Role

We require an enthusiastic and intelligent marketer to join our team.

Working alongside the directors and other marketing executives, you will help schedule, create, manage and deliver ongoing strategic, digital and creative marketing – from inception to completion.

The role may initially be varied but can become more focused depending on your skills or ambition. Though a good understanding of marketing is vital, you will receive support to develop your skills.

Initially a Marketing Executive role, the right candidate will have a genuine opportunity to develop into a more senior role and share in our success.

The role is based in Cringleford, Norwich.

This is anticipated to be a full-time role. However, applications are also welcome from experienced marketers seeking a part time role of 20+ hours (please specify preferred hours in application).

Key Duties

• Contributing to the creation of marketing strategies and plans
• Overseeing and coordinating ongoing marketing delivery
• Briefing and supporting web designers, graphic designers and digital marketing specialists within team
• Creating and contributing to marketing including:
  • Press releases, blogs and other content
  • Social media
  • Website content, SEO and PPC
  • Email campaigns
  • Direct mail campaigns
  • Print design and advertising
• Identify and exploiting marketing opportunities for our clients
• Liaising with clients and reporting on progress and results
• Helping shape our own processes and direction

The Person

Essential

• Experience of marketing in a commercial or agency environment
• Good understanding of the principles of marketing
• Strong written and language skills
• Well organised and able to effectively plan own workload
• Attention to detail and keen to maintain standards
• Adaptive, dependable and keen to develop

Desirable

• Copy writing, PR or content creation skills and experience
• Experience of marketing management or coordination
• Graphic design, web design or digital marketing skills
• Business or marketing related qualification (e.g. degree, CIM)

Sound like the challenge you’re seeking? To apply email info@fullmixmarketing.co.uk or visit: https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/marketing-executive-ft-or-pt/37938766 

Closing Date 21/6/19

The shortlist for the annual Best Practice Awards has been announced today 10 May 2019 by work life balance charity Working Families

MHA Larking Gowen has been named as a finalist in the “Best Flexible Working Initiative” award category of the Working Families’ Best Practice Awards. Employers large and small from many sectors compete annually to reach the shortlist for the unique business awards for flexible, agile organisations.

Now in their tenth year, Working Families’ Best Practice Awards showcase and celebrate employers who are offering flexibility for all their people and going above and beyond in their support for parents and carers.

“We are delighted to be shortlisted for this award,” says Amanda Ninham, Head of Human Resources at MHA Larking Gowen. “The ability for our people to work flexibly around their commitments outside of work and achieve a sense of balance in their lives is extremely important to us.  Our flexible working approach dovetails perfectly with our wellbeing commitment too.”

Jane van Zyl, Chief Executive of Working Families and Chair of the judging panel, says,

“Working Families would like to congratulate MHA Larking Gowen, whose flexible working culture and employee-friendly workplace has earned them a much-coveted place as a finalist of this year’s Best Practice Awards.  MHA Larking Gowen’s outstanding entry in the Best Flexible Working Initiative category caught the attention of the judging panel and stood out amongst a record number of entrants.                                      

“Flexible working isn’t just good for parents and carers; it’s good for business. Employers reap valuable rewards when they give their staff members more control over their time-from improved employee engagement to better organisational performance.

“Our research shows an unmet demand for flexible working. 86% of parents want to work flexibly but less than half (49%) actually do.  Initiatives like those on the shortlist are key to helping parents take control of their time and find the work-life balance that works best for them.”

The full shortlist for the 12 categories:

Best Flexible Working Initiative – sponsored by NHS Employers

Larking Gowen

Suffolk County Council

Global Witness

Best for Mothers

Barclays

FYXER

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Mum & You

Best for Fathers

Response IT

Deloitte

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Best for Carers & Eldercare

Barclays

Centrica

Best for Embedded Flexibility – sponsored by Arnold Clark

Freestyle

Deloitte

Morgan Sindall

Best for Flexible Recruitment

Suffolk County Council

Arnold Clark

Best for Line Manager Support

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Best Innovation – sponsored by ILF Scotland

Waltham Forest Council

Arnold Clark

Best Returner Programme – sponsored by Royal Bank of Canada

Barclays

Allen & Overy

Morgan Sindall

Natwest Markets

Best Family Network

Barclays

Royal Bank of Scotland

Sky

Best for Mental Health & Wellbeing – sponsored by Schroders

Deloitte

QBE Insurance Group

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Financial Ombudsman Service

Best Small Employer

Response IT

9-2-3 Jobs

Slalom

The winners of each category will be announced on 20th June at London’s Vintners’ Hall.

The Maddermarket Theatre opened its doors to the public for the first time in September 1921. Originally a Roman Catholic Chapel, the building was discovered, derelict and abandoned, by Nugent Monck whilst searching for a permanent home for The Guild of Norwich Players, a troupe he had founded in 1911. The conversion of the Chapel, into a working, Elizabethan style theatre took six weeks and the opening production of ‘As You Like It’ was a great success, with even the playwright George Bernard Shaw sending his best wishes. By 1933 the Norwich Players had become the first amateur company to produce all of Shakespeare’s plays under one director.

Almost one hundred years after our foundation the Maddermarket Theatre and the Norwich Players continue to produce a full programme of high quality and engaging theatre for audiences throughout the region.

2019 sees us staging ten main house productions from family favourite The Secret Garden to the regional premier of Tristan Bernays modern, brutal telling of Boudica; and a double-bill of plays for solo performer from the visionary theatre-maker Samuel Beckett performed in the intimate setting of the Emmerson Studio.

In addition to the Norwich Players programme, the venue welcomes a variety of touring professional shows ranging from popular music tribute acts to celebrity speakers, and provides a performance space for other local companies.

Through the Mad Red Theatre School, our education programme, we aim to provide the opportunity to experience, participate and be trained towards live performance.

Sponsorship Opportunities

An ongoing challenge for us at the theatre are the costs involved in producing each play. From performance rights to wardrobe expenses, the costs are in the region of £3,000 per play.

With this in mind, we are reaching out to you and the business community, to share our creative journey, and support on a local, regional and national level. With your support you are helping us continue to offer a rich, diverse cultural showcase, and we in turn offer a sponsor package that we believe is excellent value combined with corporate responsibility.

We would love to welcome you as a sponsor so please contact Alice Wright (General Manager) on 01603 62650 to start the process.

Our Sponsors Experience

You and up to thirty guests will be met in the foyer by your host and escorted to The Emmerson Studio where refreshments will be available and the Theatre Trustees will be available to answer your questions.

For the performance you will take your seats in the upstairs gallery which will be closed for your exclusive use. (Up to 50 tickets worth £600)

During the interval pre-ordered drinks and ice creams will be served in the Emmerson Studio and you will have a chance to meet the theatre’s professional staff.

After the show members of the cast will be available to meet the members of the Sponsorship group in the Emmerson Studio.

Marketing Package

• Your logo in our twice yearly theatre brochure (48,000 printed annually, 14,000 direct mail)
• Inclusion on our Sponsors leaflet rack for a year
• Your logo on our external Sponsor’s board.
• Your logo on every poster and leaflet for the Sponsored Show.              
• Programme adverts for the run of the Sponsored Show
• Your marketing materials at the theatre from the first night of the Sponsored Show to the start of the next play
• Two promotional posts on our social media channels (6K Twitter followers, 3K Facebook likes, 1.2K Instagram followers)
• Inclusion on our promotional emails for the Sponsored Show (10K subscribers)

Hicham Al Maghouch has opened a new TaxAssist Accountants shop in the heart of Lewisham.

The shop at 338 Lewisham High Street offers tailored tax and accountancy services for small businesses and individual tax payers across the Lewisham area. “I am so pleased with the look and feel of the shop. It will provide the ideal environment for me to meet with clients to discuss their tax and accountancy needs,” said Hicham. “My career has been spent working with a range of business clients of different sizes, but it has always been my passion to work with and support the small business community.” “I’m really looking forward to meeting individual taxpayers and small businesses in the area who are in need of an accountant and would encourage anyone interested in our services to pop in to arrange a free initial consultation.

I build my business on trust and integrity and my relationships with my clients are front and centre of everything I do”.

TaxAssist Accountants Lewisham specialises in providing accountancy services, company tax returns, self-assessment returns, payroll, bookkeeping, tax savings and tax advice to small businesses.

In addition, TaxAssist also offers QuickBooks Online and Receipt Bank which help business owners manage their finances, scan receipts and stay in control of their business.  

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Architect Mirja Mainwaring and Architectural Technologist Matthew Clarke to the LSI Architects Board of Directors.

Director David Andrews commented that “As a Board we are unanimous in that we are all absolutely delighted that Matt and Mirja join us as Directors. Both appointments are of great significance to our practice, as Mirja becomes LSI’s first female Director and Matt becomes the first person to join the Board who initially joined the practice as a trainee following the establishing of our ‘grow our own’ policy to recruitment and employee development in 2002.”

Since joining in 2012, Mirja has played a key role in the development of the practices higher education portfolio.

Mirja has delivered a number of projects for the University of East Anglia, including the RICS award winning £9.5M Crome Court student accommodation, the £27M Hickling and Barton House student accommodation development and refurbishments of Earlham Hall, the lecture theatres and library.

Mirja is currently Project Associate on a landmark new £44M academic building project at the University.

Mirja has led the practice’s efforts to establish its presence in the residential sector and has been involved in projects such as the £8M fit out of The Loft Apartments at Manhattan Loft Garden’s in Stratford and the £34M Ebury Centre Development in Westminster.

In the eastern region Mirja has been involved in the development of a masterplan for a new sustainable community in Rackheath providing 200 new homes, and proposals for a small scale high quality sustainable residential development in Dickleburgh.

Matt joined LSI as a trainee Architectural Technologist in 2003, since then predominantly working on projects in the education sector which has formed a large percentage of the practice’s work.

Matt has undertaken the role of project runner on a number of successful projects in the education sector including UTC’s in Norfolk, Peterborough and Dagenham and the RIBA East Award winning Stephen Perse Foundation in Cambridge.

Outside of the education sector, Matt has delivered a new bioscience research and development facility for Leaf Systems on Norwich Research Park and Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Cley Marshes Visitor Centre.

Matt is currently delivering an £8M Integrated Health Centre in Kent and a £20M office development in Suffolk.

Foster Coldstores has launched Duet+, a new low noise condenser for their coldrooms, which is up to 42% quieter than the previous range.

The unit benefits from a sleek modern design as well as a host of improved engineering features.

The Duet+ condenser is almost 30% more energy efficient than the previous condenser, the Duet, and could save customers up to £443 per year.

“We have seen a rise in the requirement for low noise condensing units from a host of customers whose premises could be located close to noise sensitive properties, along with requests for low energy equipment from within our customer base,” said Samuel Devitt, Commercial Sales Manager for Foster Coldstores.

“The new unit has been designed with reliability at the heart of its design, allowing customers to focus on the running of their business with peace of mind, with full technical information available on request.”

The Duet+ comes in varying specifications all direct from their manufacturing facility in King’s Lynn. Options include housed/unhoused, high ambient, and low energy. All options come with low energy evaporators and intelligent control systems as standard.

Foster Refrigerator is Europe’s leading commercial refrigeration manufacturer, and with Gamko, are part of the ITW group of companies.  Foster has been designing and manufacturing its products in Britain for over 50 years and prides itself in providing outstanding products with market leading innovation, quality, reliability, energy-efficiency and customer service. Foster is a multi-award-winning company, and proudly carries the Royal Warrant in the UK. 

www.fosterrefrigerator.com

Gamko are global leaders in the manufacture of professional drinks coolers for the bar, leisure and catering industries.  Since 1958, products have continued to deliver a unique blend of inventive spirit and precision engineering to customers across the world, revolutionising the professional drinks cooling industry.  Providing support from concept to installation, Gamko are the experts in professional drinks cooling – have your bar the way your business needs it

www.gamko.com

We are delighted to be working with All Purpose Loans, continuing our work with loan comparison sites and lenders and helping them get to the top of Google through SEO (search engine optimisation). Following our success with other similar sites such as One Stop and MY JAR, we are in the process of implementing a number of techniques to help the site rank organically on Google for a number of key terms (not using the paid ads) and helping the company grow in terms of visitors to the site, applications made, funded and revenue generated. Here is the approach we have taken below:

Keyword Research

Every campaign starts with a conversation or sit down with the client to determine the list of keywords they wish to target. It is important that we include variations, so not only personal loans, but also online, compare, UK, bad credit – to cover the full spectrum of enquiries. In addition, it is essential that we get feedback, since this showed that words relating to loans calculator were very popular and therefore it is important to include a calculator option and example on every page too.

Content Creation

Based on the keywords, our next task is to create a content landing page for every set of keywords. The idea is that you create one page for Google to focus its attention on, per keyword. So it is best to have one page about business loans, not 5 or 10, and to focus your efforts on this main page. If you create other landing pages and guides relating to business loans, it is always healthy to then use an internal link back to your main page.

Beyond the product landing pages, we will be writing key guides about the loan products available, making the content as specific as possible to answering key problems that customers deal with – rather than writing generic blog content.

Link Building

Still a key part to the SEO marketing mix is getting links to the site. Our approach is to acquire paid links from very specific, good-quality business/loans/finance sites and also gain natural links through outreach, PR and creating sufficiently useful guides that they naturally pick up traction.

Technical Fix-Ups

Every month, we make it our priority to ensure that the site is optimised from a technical standpoint. This includes making sure every meta-title, tag, description, heading (h1,h2,h3), internal link, sitemap, image alt text and robot txt is well optimised to ensure a smooth crawling and indexing of the website.

We are delighted to see some initial progress for our clients at All Purpose Loans and are expecting some impressive results when we reach the 3-6 month mark, which is expected for SEO.

Innovate UK Smart Grants for Game-changing or Disruptive R&D – New Round Open

The Innovate UK (IUK) Smart Grants provide an opportunity for businesses and research and technology organisations to apply for a grants to deliver ambitious or disruptive R&D innovations with significant potential for impact on the UK economy. Smart is the new name for IUK’s ‘Open grant funding’ programme.

The competition provides funding for innovation research and development (R&D) from feasibility (including market research), through to technology or prototype testing and development stages up to (but not including) commercialisation.

IUK has allocated up to £25 million to fund a number of innovation projects in this competition. For projects with a duration of between 6 and 18 months, the total eligible project costs will be between £25,000 and £500,000 (single company or collaboration). For those with a duration between 19 and 36 months, the total eligible project costs will be between £25,000 and £2 million (collaboration only).

IUK may consider eligible project costs over £2 million (but not exceeding £3 million).

All proposals must be business focused, rather than pure research. Applications can come from any area of technology (including arts, design, media or creative industries), science or engineering and be applied to any part of the economy.

To lead a project, the applicant must be a UK-based business of any size or a research and technology organisation (RTO). The project must be carried out in the UK. If collaborating with others, the application must include an SME. To work alone, the applicant must be an SME. Proposals from innovation-based businesses with significant ambition and potential for growth or scale-up are welcomed. Collaborators can be UK based businesses, academic organisations, charities, public sector organisations or RTOs.

The competition is open until midday on 24 July 2019.

Further information can be found by following the links: 

• Innovate UK (IUK)
• Innovate UK Smart Grants: April 2019