Bigfork were appointed to design the new website for specialist outdoor clothing company, Dannah. The Dannah product range is designed to cope with the harshest mountain environments and the new website design needed to appeal to the adventurous audience. The resulting design is not only bold, with powerful images and strong messages, but also promotes the innovation and unique benefits of Dannah’s high quality clothing range. Finally an online shop has also been added to the website so you can now buy a Dannah jacket and climb a mountain! Take a look at the new Dannah website.
In recognition of its commitment to the Australian franchise sector, representatives from TaxAssist Accountants were recently invited to join fellow Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) members at its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dinner in Brisbane.
TaxAssist’s Master Franchisee for Australia, Terry Murphy, his business partner Celeste Godwin, and David Paulson and Richard Chatten from the accounting franchise’s international development team, were among the 22 guests hand-picked for the invitation-only FCA event at Tattersalls Club.
The dinner provided an excellent opportunity for guests to network with senior figures in the country’s franchise sector, including the FCA’s new Executive Chairman (and former Small Business Minister), Bruce Billson and new FCA CEO Damian Paull.
Terry said: “The chance to meet senior franchisors and discuss the future of franchising was most rewarding, especially with David and Richard as they were able to help give a global perspective with their insight into franchising in the UK.”
TaxAssist’s Australian and UK teams joined forces again two days later to successfully promote its business opportunity at the Brisbane Franchising and Business Opportunities Expo.
David Paulson, Senior Manager UK & International Development, at TaxAssist Accountants, said: “Many of the 30 or so potential franchisees we met at the exhibition, who were keen to join our Australian franchise network were CPA-qualified or had impressive financial backgrounds.
“As a result, early indications point to TaxAssist welcoming a number of new franchisees becoming part of our flourishing success story in Australia.”
Congratulations to our Ecology Team Leader, Dr Charlotte Sanderson, for qualifying as a Registered Consultant for the Great Crested Newt Low Impact Class Licence. The GCN Low Impact Class Licence follows on from the Bat Low Impact Class Licence which Charlotte also qualified for (read article); this means that Charlotte was recognised by Natural England as being technically capable to take on licensing work with less rigorous regulation.
Natural England have reduced the paperwork for the licence application process considerably for Sites where this licence would be appropriate, limiting the licencing burden on themselves, and subsequent delays to developments, such that Sites can be registered under the licence in 15 days or less. The GCN Low Impact Class Licence will cover temporary and low impact works affecting terrestrial habitats and small sections of wet ditches on linear schemes, and will facilitate the removal of areas of permanent terrestrial habitat, the extent of which will be dictated by the proximity to GCN breeding ponds.
Natural England invited applicants to become GCN Registered Consultants earlier this year, allowing a select number of consultant ecologists take steps towards taking on work with less regulation. The rigorous criteria for potential Registered Consultants set by Natural England involved demonstrating experience of working on a range of great crested newt mitigation licence projects, as well as demonstrating a thorough understanding of the licensing process.
James Cross, Natural England’s Chief Executive said, “This landmark saving for our customers is a key milestone on our journey to reduce regulatory burdens and improve real-world impact. We are saving customers time and money, providing a slicker, more efficient process, observing environmental law and achieving great things for nature.
“Our organisational licences are a win-win for large organisations and for the environment, supporting economic progress, whilst ensuring that there is no impact on species conservation.
“The changes to our system have the added bonus of reducing time spent by Natural England staff on advising and processing individual licences, meaning that we can usefully divert those resources elsewhere.”1
Starting salary of £42,500 pro rata with opportunities to earn up to £50,000 (pro rata)
Permanent
18.5hoursweekly
Ipswich
An exciting opportunity to work alongside a dynamic board and management team, for a Community Interest Company who provide diverse services and products, creating opportunities for people to progress in work, learning and life.
The post holder will be the strategic lead for estates, finance and IT, particularly all aspects of financial management and accounting within Realise Futures.
The post requires a commercially astute, articulate, technically strong, dynamic, insightful and influential leader with the ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels. As an executive director, the post holder will provide expert financial and commercial advice to fellow directors as well as the wider management team.
“Realise Futures is committed to safeguarding and promotion the welfare of vulnerable adults, young people and children, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.”
East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) is challenging local businesses and organisations to make as much money as they can from an initial stake of just £50.
The challenge is sponsored by local company ML Financial Associates, who have offices in both Wymondham and Northampton, and who took part in the scheme in 2014 winning the challenge by raising the most amount of money.
Businesses and community groups across Norfolk are being encouraged to sign up to the £50 Challenge which will see them handed a £50 note by the charity. Participants will then be given a 12 week period to invest the money in fundraising initiatives to generate the highest possible amount for EACH.
ML Financial Associates, the proud winners of the 2014/15 Challenge raised an impressive £2362.29 for the charity, decided to back this years’ event by sponsoring the challenge and encouraging other businesses, organisations and community groups across the county to take part and try to break their record.
Simon Lister, Director, ML Financial Associates, said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring the EACH £50 Challenge in Norfolk. We took part previously and thoroughly enjoyed it! This challenge really resonates with us and our business is very much aligned to this scheme as we look to operate on similar principles ie we look to make our clients’ money grow and this is what the £50 Challenge is all about – making a modest amount of money grow into something much more considerable!
As previous winners we’d like to challenge businesses across Norfolk to beat our amount raised, have fun in doing so like we did at ML and help a fantastic charity raise lots of money at the same time.”
ML Financial Associates already supports EACH, having joined the nook business network in August 2015 and pledging to raise £10,000 across the length of the appeal. The nook appeal aims to raise £10 million to transform children’s palliative care across Norfolk including building a new hospice called the nook.
EACH cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions across East Anglia and supports their families. For both families accessing care, and those who have been bereaved, EACH is a lifeline at an unimaginably difficult time.
Carol Plunkett, EACH Norfolk fundraising Manager, said: “We’re really excited about the launch of our £50 Challenge and would like to say a big thank you to ML Financial Associates for supporting the event. It’s great to have them on board and we are so grateful for their continued support. Not only will the challenge raise much-needed funds to support the work of EACH, but it’ll also be great fun for all those taking part.
“We’re looking forward to hearing about the many weird and wonderful ways participants will use their £50 and hope it inspires healthy competition between local businesses and colleagues to raise as much money as possible.”
All the funds raised through the £50 Challenge will go towards the vital care and support EACH provides to families when they need it most – the more money raised, the bigger the difference it will make.
The £50 can be invested in any legal and safe fundraising initiatives and is a great way to have fun, challenge yourself, inspire creativity and a great opportunity to build up team spirit. As part of the initiative, a minimum of £50 has to be raised within the agreed time or the initial £50 returned to the charity.
For more information on the EACH and to sign up for the £50 challenge please contact the Norfolk Fundraising Team on 01953 666767 or email norfolk@each.org.uk.
When the deadline for registering to vote in the UK EU referendum approached there were issues with the online registration system. It stopped working due to the high numbers of people trying to register all at once. The system failed to scale and fell over. By scale, I mean that the hardware was no longer powerful enough to service all of the requests made of the software it was running and it was unable to become more powerful.
There are two main ways to scale computer hardware, vertically and horizontally. Most software can scale vertically, regardless of how it’s designed. To scale horizontally special design considerations must be taken into account.
Vertical Scaling Imagine you’ve got 1000 people to move from point A to point B 10 miles away and a car which can hold 5 people and travels at an average speed of 60 miles an hour. That means it takes 10 minutes to get the car once from point A to point B. Ignoring the return journey and including the driver in the number of people moved, it would take 200 trips, at 10 minutes each, which is 33 hours. That’s pretty slow.
If we use the same car, but with a more powerful engine which can travel at an average speed of 120 miles an hour, it now takes 5 minutes to get the car once from point A to point B and a total time of 16.5 hours. That’s already a good improvement.
If you use 4 minibuses the time comes down to 1 hour. If we continue to increase the number of minibuses we can bring the time down significantly.
This is an example of vertical scaling. By increasing the processing power (engine) and the memory (number of people the vehicle can hold) in a computer we can increase how quickly it responds to users. However, you can only increase processing power and memory to a point. There is a threshold where it becomes impractical to scale further and another where it is no longer cost effective.
Horizontal Scaling Imagine you’ve got the same 1000 people to move from point A to point B and two minibuses which hold 20 people each and travel at an average speed of 120 miles an hour. Both minibuses take 5 minutes to get one from point A to point B. Ignoring the return journey and including the driver in the number of people moved, it would take 25 trips, at 5 minutes each, which is 2 hours.
If you use 4 minibuses the time comes down to 1 hour. If we continue to increase the number of minibuses we can bring the time down significantly.
This is an example of horizontal scaling. By increasing the number of computers which are working together in parallel we can increase how quickly the overall system responds to users.
TVC are delightedto finally announce we have been awarded UKAS accreditation for our calibration laboratory.
Laboratory accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 enables us to conduct the Electrical Verification of Ultrasonic Flaw Detection Equipment to BS EN 12668-1:2010.It has taken many months of hard work and we wantto thank our staff for all their efforts duringthis massive undertaking.
The past two decades have seen us grow and weare delighted to gain UKAS accreditation as we enter into our third. Thisis a symbol ofour drive forquality.
Why UKAS Accreditation?
UKAS is established as a ‘leader in the area of accreditation’ and has been in operation since 1995. Theawarded capability inthis standard enables us to provide you with:
a professional and quality driven service
competent and skilled technicians
traceableandvalid results of the highest quality
Furthermore, UKAS has a set of core values which it seeks to implement within its structure and activities. These form the acronymPRIDE- Professionalism, Responsibility, Innovation, Delivery and Excellence – and we will strive to follow their lead.
UKAS released a short video which shows how regulationsaffect every part of our lives and how, as a result, using international standards will ‘deliver confidence’. Consequently, it ensures that the goods and services around us are safe to use and conform to regulated standards.
UKAS accreditation inISO/IEC 17025:2005 is internationally recognised, therefore, calibrating your Ultrasonic Flaw Detection Equipment to BS EN 12668-1:2010 will:
give you anedge over your competitors
provide an objective view of your equipment
enable you to prove your due diligence to prospective clients
help to manage risks within your design or service processes
give your company credibility worldwide and open up trading markets
We will be adding blogs and further information shortly but please contactus if you would like to know more.
Norwich Airport appoints Richard Pace as Managing Director.
Norwich Airport has announced the appointment of Richard Pace as Managing Director. Richard brings 25 years of aviation industry experience to the post having joined Norwich Airport from the RAF as an air traffic controller in 1995.
Most recently Richard has held the position of General Manager at the airport, from April 2015, overseeing the introduction of a range of new services including the first scheduled sunshine flights from Norwich for nine years.
Commenting on his appointment, Richard said: “This is an exciting time to be taking charge of the business and driving the next stage of our growth strategy,
“Our focus is all about connectivity for so a priority is to grow our links with international hub airports and increase the range of leisure destinations to give customers even more choice and flexibility from closer to home.
“We will also be looking at ways we can further enhance the customer experience at Norwich evidenced by customer surveys, and we want to maximise the opportunities created by the completion of the new Northern Distributor Road in early 2018, which will make access to the airport even easier for many people.”
Richard said he would also focus on growing the Norwich Connects business network, through which the airport is working with the business community to evidence demand for new services. During his time at Norwich Richard’s experience has spanned all aspects of airport operations. He held a variety of technical roles, including air traffic control examiner, before being appointed General Manager Air Traffic Services in 2007.
He became Operations Director in 2009, managing a raft of upgrade projects including the installation of a new radar system, navigating two airspace change proposals and the construction of hangars, aprons, and taxiways. More recently Richard has been involved in the launch of new routes to Malaga, Alicante, Exeter, Gran Canaria, Paphos, Rhodes and Chambery.
Local business Alan Boswell Group has reported another year of growth following the publication of its annual accounts this August.
The independent insurance broker and financial planning group, which has offices in Norwich, Peterborough, Attleborough and Bury St Edmunds, saw its income increase by over seven percent to more than £15m in the year to 31 March, reporting profits in excess of £3 million.
The business has also remained debt free while making large investments in capital expenditure and implementing a strong growth strategy.
Commenting on the accounts, Finance Director Nick Drew says: “Our results demonstrate that our approach to business growth is sustainable. We intend to continue with this strategy, prudently investing in our assets and our people so that we remain the natural choice for insurance and financial advice in East Anglia.”
The announcement follows a year of good news for the business, having been recognised as Independent Insurance Broker of the Year at the Insurance Times Awards, thanks, in part to its dedication to customer service.
“It’s a testament to our teams that we’re an award-winning business, which has been growing year-on-year,” Group Director Chris Gibbs explains. “Customer service is at the heart of what we do and the positive customer feedback we receive often singles out individual team members for the service they provide.
“We want to make insurance and financial planning simple for our clients, which is why we invest in ongoing training and development opportunities for our staff. We are looking to build on this further in the year ahead with the launch of our Quality First initiative, which provides a clear framework for our teams, encouraging them to exceed client expectations and build on our reputation as a business.”
Alongside this investment in existing employees, staffing figures currently stand at 234, representing an eight percent increase in headcount. New starters have been taken on across the business, from insurance account executives and handlers to underwriters and financial planners, in order to bolster the range of services available to customers.
Chairman Alan Boswell said: “We build strong relationships with our clients by offering friendly, expert advice and going the extra mile. Many of our customers have been with us for more than 20 years and we want to build lasting relationships with our new clients too. By investing in people, we’re sure customers will want to stay with us in years to come.”
I enjoy my work (software development) very much. I feel very fortunate to be able to earn a living from doing something I enjoy. However, this does mean I do it a lot. Not just during the working day, but at lots of other times too. This causes many people to ask if I ever stop working or relax. Well, working to me can be and often is relaxing and doesn’t always feel like work. Lots of people tell me I need to stop working so much, they want me to conform to their idea of what not working is.
Then there’sBloodstock. The heavy metal festival once a year (where I am now) where I spend three days in a field and I don’t want to take my laptop. It wouldn’t be very practical if I did. Although having switched from Vodafone to EE (one of the best decisions I ever made) I do now have 4G all the time.
I do take my kindle and I find that I read, a lot. Do I miss my laptop? No, not really and I know it’s there in the evening and morning in the hotel if I really feel the need (which I did just now when I wrote this). This time around I’m not opening an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and writing code at every opportunity because I feel like I’d rather have my head in book.
So once I’ve finished writing this to prove to the doubters that I do sometimes have time away from my laptop, I’ll be finishing Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds and moving on to The Medusa Chronicles, which he wrote with Stephen Baxter, and enjoying the best music in world from a field somewhere in Derbyshire.
Award winning East Anglian recruitment firm, Cooper Lomaz has this week launched its latest Salary Survey for completion.
Each year we crowdsource thousands of responses from across East Anglia and beyond in order to build an annual report which will be released in January.
This report covers Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire in order to provide recruitment trends and insights for the sectors we operate in – Accountancy & Finance, Engineering, Food Manufacturing, Insurance, IT, Sales & Marketing and Supply Chain – to provide businesses with an idea of the average wage in their industry as well as insights on overall job satisfaction and trends.
This year we’ve added to our Salary Survey with additional questions based around Insurance, the Public Sector and the EU Referendum.
Cozens-Hardy solicitors are thrilled to announce that the 2016 Cozens-Hardy Big Cycle Ride, held at Blickling Estate in celebration of local cancer charity Big C’s 35th anniversary, has raised a record-breaking £3,337.03.
Over 250 riders turned out on Sunday 17h July to ride one, two, or three idyllic 25-mile routes, each of which started and finished in the beautiful surroundings of the National Trust Estate. A further 24 riders embarked upon the new family-friendly 3.5km off road loop which, along with the junior skills sessions provided by the Pedal Up Bike Club, proved to be a successful addition to the event this year.
Anna Farquharson, Cozens-Hardy LLP Marketing Partner:
“This is the third year of the Cozens-Hardy Cycle Ride, which is brilliantly organised for the firm by Push Sport. We were delighted to be able to add the off road element and to deliver an event which attracted such a fantastic mix of riders, from serious amateur cyclists to people just wanting to enjoy a supported cycle around the beautiful Norfolk countryside. We are very grateful to Big C for providing such an enthusiastic army of volunteers to help us on the day. Feedback from the riders has, again, been so positive and we are simply thrilled to have raised such a fantastic amount of money for our local cancer charity.”
Clive Evans, Big C Director of Income Generation:
“Big C is delighted to partner with Cozens-Hardy in this ever popular event which has raised a fantastic £3,337 this year -a record breaking amount! It was a very special year with a celebratory 3.5km loop to coincide with our35thanniversary. With the money raised through our partnership we can continue toinvest in pioneering research, fund vital medical equipment and provide information and support at our Big C Centresforpeople living withcancer.Thegenerous support of our partner Cozens-Hardy and the general public ensurespeople in the region receive the best in cancer care.”
A minimum of £3.50 from each entry fee was donated directly to Big C and many riders chose to raise additional funds for the charity through their endeavours. The catering suppliers on the day, Hushwing Café and Hot Rocket Pizza, also donated part of their takings to Big C.