Member News

Could you be the Business of the Decade? That’s the opportunity being offered to top-performing Great Yarmouth businesses as the Spirit of Enterprise Awards marks its 10th anniversary with the introduction of a special award.

Considered the most prestigious annual celebration of business excellence in the Great Yarmouth borough, the annual awards scheme is organised by enterpriseGY, Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s business support service.

Introduced specially for the anniversary, the one-off Business of the Decade Award is open to all businesses in the borough – large or small – regardless of whether they have entered the competition before. It is sponsored by facilities management and services group Norse, GYB Services and GYN Asset Management Services.

The awards has nine other categories covering a range of areas, the winners of which will be considered for the sought-after title of 2017 Business of the Year by overall award sponsor Stephenson Smart, chartered accountants and business advisors, who will choose the winner.

Businesses are encouraged to put themselves forward for the various awards by noon on Monday, October 16. The awards are free-of-charge to enter online at www.spiritofenterpriseawards.co.uk and finalists will be profiled in a supplement in the Great Yarmouth Mercury, with winners appearing in a further supplement.

The finalists and winners will be showcased in the press and at a glittering awards ceremony and gala dinner at the Town Hall on Friday, November 17. The media sponsors are the Great Yarmouth Mercury and The Beach.

Each award is backed by a local organisation. Sponsors choose the winner in their category from three finalists shortlisted by a local independent panel or by the category sponsor themselves.

The categories and sponsors are:

·         Great Manufacturing/Engineering – sponsored by Goodchild Marine

·         Great New Business – sponsored by Noritake Itron

·         Great Business Growth – sponsored by Bateman Groundworks

·         Great Business Idea – sponsored by Seahorse Guest House

·         Great Customer Services – sponsored by Greater Yarmouth Tourism and Business Improvement Area Ltd (GYTABIA)

·         Great Family Owned Business – sponsored by Birketts

·         Great International Growth – sponsored by Pasta Foods

·         Great Investment in People – sponsored by P&S Personnel

·         Great Community Contribution – sponsored by Potters Friends Foundation

Overall award and sponsor:

·         Business of the Year – sponsored by Stephenson Smart

Anniversary award and sponsor:

·        Business of the Decade – sponsored by Norse, GYB Services and GYN Asset Management Services

The Spirit of Enterprise Awards help to highlight the borough’s many and varied successful businesses, supporting one of the council’s priorities, which is to work with partners to help champion and enable economic growth and job-creation in the area.

In a joint statement, the council’s political group leaders, Cllr Graham Plant, Cllr Kay Grey, Cllr Trevor Wainwright and Cllr Adrian Myers, said: “The profile of the Spirit of Enterprise Awards as the borough’s most prestigious business awards has grown steadily over the decade, and it plays a key role in boosting confidence in the local economy.

“The Business of the Decade Award is a great way to mark this milestone anniversary. We have seen some fantastic finalists and winners over the decade, but there are lots of brilliant businesses right across the borough and this award is open to anyone who thinks they might be a contender for the title.

“It is completely free-of-charge to enter any category of these awards and we urge businesses to take the opportunity to showcase their achievements. We would also like to again thank the 2017 sponsors, without whom this wonderful celebration of business excellence would not be possible.”

This year, help and advice with entries is available from TMS Media, which is working in partnership with enterpriseGY, by calling Steve Scott or Rachel Moore on 01493 662929. Video entries are also welcome.  

Providence Street Placeshaping Community Centre receives Bags of Help from Tesco fund.

Providence Street Placeshaping Community Centre have received £1000 from the Tesco Bags of Help community grant scheme.

The money will go towards the construction of disabled access for the Community Garden that is located outside the main entrance of the centre.

With the support of the environmental charity Groundwork, Tesco have been using money raised from the sale of plastic bags to provide money to community projects through their Bags of Help grants.

The structural work on the garden was carried out by Freebridge Community Housing Property Services and was completed in June 2017.

The Norfolk Youth Offending Team contributed benches for the garden from their workshop nearby and fencing was provided by West Norfolk MIND.

Generous donations from Lovell, Arc Fabrications, ElecSure, KJ Plastering Ltd, Westcoast Windows, Osborn & Kent and Proctor Roofing and Ground Control helped fund the original project.

Robert Clarke, Director of Housing at Freebridge, said: “We are extremely grateful for the funding that Tesco have pledged to this project.

“Our new community garden has already proved popular with the local community and service users at Providence Street Placeshaping Community Centre, we couldn’t be more delighted that we can now make this fantastic new facility accessible to everyone who visits the centre.”

Freebridge Community Housing announces new chairman.

Freebridge Community Housing is delighted to announce Andy Walder as their new Chairman, taking over the role from Ray Johnson, who has been in post for almost nine years.

Andy joined the Freebridge board after retiring from the Construction Industry Training Board, where he worked for 14 years and was responsible for their training colleges across the UK.

Andy’s earlier experience was in asset management and running multiple site licensed retail outlets for major UK companies such as Allied Domecq and Whitbread. He is currently a Director of the Ad Meliora Academy in King’s Lynn and works with others such as Wolverhampton University to promote the benefits of vocational training to support academic learning.

Tony Hall, Freebridge Community Housing Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to announce that Andy is our new Chairman. With his experience, knowledge and expertise he will be of great benefit to Freebridge in his new role, and we look forward to working with him and the rest of the Board to continue developing homes and creating opportunities for people within West Norfolk.

“I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Ray Johnson for the time and commitment he has given to Freebridge over the years, he will be much missed, and we wish him the very best in whatever challenge he decides to take on next.”

Ray Johnson said: “It has been a privilege to be a board member and honour to be the Chair. I witnessed considerable change over the nine years and leave Freebridge in good shape, and in the capable hands of an experienced board with a competent management team and enthusiastic staff.

“I hope Andy enjoys his time as chair as much as I did. I would like to thank all present and past board members, the chief executive and all employees for their assistance during my time on the board of Freebridge Community Housing.”

Andy Walder, Freebridge Community Housing Chairman, said: “I am delighted, excited and proud to be the new chair of Freebridge Community Housing, an organisation that is doing great things here in West Norfolk.

“My Board colleagues, the Freebridge team and I are passionate about supporting a better West Norfolk through the development of more and diverse homes, leading on initiatives that will help and support people and communities to be the best they can possibly be and delivering a high-performance housing service to our customers.

“We have an exciting future and I am looking forward to working with the team and partners to ensure we deliver our plans.”

Norse Commercial Services has promoted Justin Galiford to the newly created role of Group Director of Operations for Development and Strategy.

Justin, who was previously Commercial Director, now oversees Norse’s compliance, health and safety, and environmental and quality issues across its operating divisions and public sector partnerships. As such he has overall Board level responsibility for the central Procurement Team, the Safety, Health, Environment, and Quality (SHEQ) team and the company’s Information Technology and applications (ITaps) team.

In addition, Justin’s new role will include the negotiation and mobilisation of new local authority joint ventures: Norse currently has 14 such partnerships, representing a major element in its forward order book of £2.2 billion. Sales Director Geoff Tucker says that the company is currently in the final stages of creating a number of new local authority partnerships that will add significantly to Norse’s portfolio.

The company recently announced record profits, and significant growth in the first five months of the current year, which have led to new appointments and the creation of high-quality jobs in Norfolk.

The latest HMRC figures have shown a surge in the amount of Research and Development (R&D) tax relief savings being made by East Anglian companies compared to their counterparts across the rest of the UK, according to R&D tax relief specialist Jumpstart.

With a 48% year on year increase in the total R&D tax credits claimed in 2015-2016, analysis of the latest HMRC figures for the FYE 2016 shows East Anglian businesses accounted for 10% of the UK’s total claims.

Jumpstart’s East of England Business Development Manager, Lee Williams, comments: “These latest HMRC figures are a fantastic demonstration of how companies in the East of England have benefited from the R&D tax relief scheme in terms of tax savings compared to companies across the rest of the UK.”

Of the 26,255 claims across the UK totalling £2.9billion in tax benefits, 2,630 claims came from companies in East of England resulting in £370million back. Of these, 2,180 were claimed under the SME scheme and the remainder were claimed under the large company scheme.

The figures show a concentration of claims in three key sectors across the UK:

·         Manufacturing – 28% of claims and 32% of total claimed

·         Information & Communication – 26% of claims and 20% of total claimed

·         Professional, Scientific & Technical – 20% of claims and 23% of total claimed.

Lee continues: “Whilst uptake of the UK government’s R&D tax relief scheme is increasing across the UK and is healthy across the Eastern region, there are still companies who are not reaping the full benefits of the scheme.

Also, local companies could be under claiming or over claiming because their technical project activities and expenditures are not being accurately interpreted against government legislation. As well as the introduction of increased scrutiny over such claims by HMRC, the

process of claiming is very much a technical assessment so it is important that companies, whether in profit or loss making, instruct a specialist advisor to handle this for them.”

Since its inception, Jumpstart has helped its clients recover over £95million in R&D tax relief and has identified over £482million in eligible R&D expenditure.

Any company wishing to find out more about R&D tax relief should contact Lee Williams on 0131 240 2900 or email lee.williams@jumpstartuk.co.uk.

City College Norwich’s newly-launched Degree Apprenticeship in Leadership and Management has had an enthusiastic response from employers, with 28 apprentices from 12 different organisations starting the 3-year programme.

The Degree Apprenticeship, which is validated by the UEA, sees students gain CMI Chartered Manager status and provides an attractive new way for employers to develop their workforce and support individuals to consolidate and extend their management skills.

The employers signing their staff up for the Degree Apprenticeship are wide-ranging, from large public sector organisations, to financial services companies, as well as small and medium sized enterprises.    

Following the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in April this year, large employers that pay the levy can finance the degree through their levy contribution while small employers only pay 10% (with the remainder being Government-subsidised).

The Degree Apprenticeship is designed for existing managers, as well as staff new to management and those who will be taking on additional management responsibilities.  It provides staff with the opportunity to gain a comprehensive, in-depth and practical understanding of key areas of management. 

Modules covered include Leading Enterprise in Organisations, Digital Marketing and Communication, Leading and Managing People, Developing Organisational Leadership, and Project Management.

In common with other apprenticeships, a key emphasis of the programme is on developing the Degree Apprentices’ skills within their workplace, supported by their employer and regular visits by an apprenticeship assessor from the college.  The apprentices attend City College Norwich’s Higher Education Centre one day a week for lectures, seminars and workshops. 

As a result of the strong initial demand for the course, City College Norwich is planning to start a second cohort of Leadership and Management Degree Apprentices early in 2018.

Employers interested in finding out more can do so by contacting City College Norwich’s apprenticeship team on 0800 328 3616 or employerpartnerships@ccn.ac.uk.   

Ed Rose, Head of Higher Education and Employer Responsive Delivery, City College Norwich, said: 

“This is the first time that a Degree Apprenticeship in Leadership and Management has been available in Norfolk and we are delighted by the enthusiastic response of employers and their staff to this new qualification. 

“The programme offers an excellent way for staff to consolidate their management experience, whilst working towards a full honours degree and Chartered Manager status.  It is really encouraging that so many employers have embraced this new apprenticeship as a great way to develop their managers and future leaders.”  

Monthind Clean LLP are pleased to announce that they will be returning to the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce B2B Exhibition again this year. We are really looking forward to exhibiting on 12th October at Norwich City Football Club and hope to make new connections and catch up with familiar faces. This year there are plenty of events taking place throughout the day including Social Media and Marketing Masterclasses. Make sure you come and see the Monthind Clean team on stand 12, and remember to book your FREE ticket here: https://www.mychamber.co.uk/NorfolkChamberBookings/event/view/id/2463

Peter Lawrence from Human Capital Department gave a talk to Norfolk Cyber Security Cluster on Monday 18th Sept on “GDPR and the Human Firewall“.

Slides from the presentation which focussed on the Training & Development Implications of GDPR will be made available on the Human Capital Departments website – www.humancapitaldept.com

‘Never work with children or animals’ they say, but they probably haven’t shot a video with a spaniel called Bella. With less than a week in which to produce a product demonstration for one of Europe’s largest pet product specialists – Suffolk-based Beaphar – what are the chances of happening upon one of the most perfectly behaved, good natured, telegenic animals on the planet?  

For half a day this delightful creature ran, stood still, rolled over, in fact anything our director wanted her to do without complaint (human performers please note!). And she was even unfazed when we rummaged through her fur, paws and ears simulating an examination for ticks, which was the point of the production.  Dog owners are sometimes unaware how easily ticks can be picked up on a dog’s fur, with possible severe health problems, for pets and humans. A short video with a big message delivered in days, thanks to beautiful Bella.

Guess that’s a large tick then.

Arena Partnership will be launching their new TPTracker BUSINESS software at the forthcoming Norfolk Chamber B2B Exhibition.

This is a cloud-based software package for small- and medium-sized businesses, to securely store their database of customers, clients, prospects, suppliers and other contacts, linked to a range of functionality for lookups, profiling, task management, communication and engagement tracking.

Arena has been providing TPTracker software to the UK Social Housing sector (mainly Housing Associations and Local Authorities) for more than 10 years from their base in Hethersett.

In partnership with local software developers Net Matters, they have now adapted TPTracker so that users can select just the functions they need and name the fields to suit their own terminology, making it extremely flexible and easy to use.

But perhaps the most surprising feature is the pricing and support offered:

• No set-up costs;
• No long-term contracts, you just pay monthly for as long as you need to;
• One licence per business, for an unlimited number of users;
• Includes someone from Arena to set it all up for you, then be there if you need help;
• Just 1 hour of FREE training is all you will need to get started.

Come and see us on Stand 78 (Top of the Terrace)

Or beat the queue by finding out more NOW.

See you there!

The Arena Partnership Team

01603 813932

We are pleased to announce that we are working alongside Hyphen marketing on South London estate agents James Pendleton across their search engine optimisation (SEO). James Pendleton are a well-established agency providing a vast range of homes and rented properties throughout South and South West London. Covering both commercial and residential properties, James Pendleton have been working on their online presence and expanding their exposure online.

With locally placed agents throughout the southern parts of London, James Pendleton provide a professional, expert and personable service that is difficult to find nowadays. However, with marketing changing and with the online world and that of estate agents and their customers evolving, it has been important for James Pendleton to adapt to the market and the changes afoot.

The Challenges

Having previously undergone a degree of SEO work, James Pendleton came did have their website partially optimised. However, having undertaken the work quite some years ago, there were a few now potentially ‘dark-hat’ SEO techniques that have been used. Previously and as per old fashioned SEO practices, James Pendleton had been signed up to a number of now defunct online directories. Whilst at the time this meant that their backlink profile grew, with additional links and domains pointing to their site, it has meant that in recent times their online results and rankings have somewhat dipped.

Since late 2016, Google rolled out their Penguin algorithm update which devalues links of low quality. Whilst in previous times websites would be penalised until they removed spammy links and resubmitted their site, Google’s update means that the links in question become devalued and so become effectively worthless. This has meant that numerous sites, including James Pendleton have seen their organic rankings dip. As part of their SEO progress, we have also assessed their on-site SEO and this has included their meta data, internal link structuring and on-site content utilisation. This is required in order to link their on and off-site SEO ranking factors and results.

What We Have Done

Initially, we have carried out extensive keyword and industry research for James Pendleton in order to identify and effectively target their chosen targets and keyword and search terms through all subsequent SEO and online work with their website. We have also gone through James Pendleton’s extensive backlink profile, identifying spammy links, devalued links and those that may be causing them more harm than good. We have also identified the links in their backlink profile that are strong, making sure to keep them pointing at James Pendleton. Subsequently, we have disavowed the spammy and dark-hat links from their backlink profile by submitting them to Google to be removed from consideration of the backlink profile of the website. This has led to the strong and reputable links being taken in to consideration by Google without being ‘diluted’ by the weak and spammy links accrued over the years.

In addition, we are now also working to build them a strong, clean and carefully considered backlink profile; making sure they receive high quality links from relevant websites, property-related publications and other websites that will boost their online standing and increase the strength of their domain in order to improve their organic results and traffic.

We look forward to working further on this budding partnership over the coming months.

Leading East Anglian gas company, Gasway Services Ltd (part of Flagship Group), is urging people to ensure their gas appliances are fitted correctly and checked annually as they support Gas Safety Week which launches next week (18-24) September.

Poorly maintained appliances can be dangerous leading to gas leaks, fires, explosions, and carbon monoxide poisoning known as the ‘silent killer’ as you can’t see, smell or taste it. Children under 14 and adults over 65 are most at risk.

Latest figures from Gas Safe Register show that in East Anglia, one in five homes inspected had unsafe gas appliances.

With the rise of Carbon Monoxide poisoning in the UK, the Gasway is using Gas Safety Week to encourage people to check their appliances to make sure they are working correctly and efficiently.

If you have a gas boiler and/or cooker, some top tips are:

• Only use a Gas Safe registered engineer to fit, fix and service your appliances
• Have all your gas appliances serviced and safety checked each year
• Know the six signs of carbon monoxide poisoning – headaches, dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, collapse and loss of consciousness.
• Check gas appliances for warning signs that they are not working properly – yellow instead of blue flames, black marks or stains on or around the appliance and too much condensation in the room.
• Fit an audible carbon monoxide (CO) alarm

Liam Betts, Managing Director at Gasway said: “It’s important we support Gas Safety Week and work together with other similar companies to help people become more aware of the potential dangers of gas appliances.

“As a gas company, we have a responsibility to educate and give advice to our customers on how they can reduce the risk of potential incidents from happening. Just one quick check could save a life.”

For more information on how to stay safe, visit the Gas Safety Week website: https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/gassafetyweek/stay-safe/top-tips-to-stay-safe/