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Huxley Events Joins the Amazing Line Up as Finalist in Two Categories at the Prestigious Conference News Agency Award

Kate Gaskin, Victoria Kerslake & Lizzy Dring on site at an event. The team at Huxley Events has some incredible news to share with everyone. They have been named finalists for two prestigious awards at the Conference News Agency Awards 2024. Victoria Kerslake, a member of the team, has been selected as a finalist for the Event Producer of the Year award. The team is extremely proud of Victoria’s hard work, dedication, and innovative ideas that have impressed their clients. She is considered a rockstar in the event planning world. In addition, Lizzy Dring, another member of the team, has also been shortlisted for the Rising Star Award. Lizzy’s energy, passion, and creative thinking have contributed to the success of their events. The team is beyond excited and honored to be finalists in these awards. It is a reflection of their commitment to excellence and delivering unforgettable experiences for their clients. They express their gratitude to their clients for their trust and support. This recognition as finalists is a proud moment for the team as they have worked tirelessly to overcome challenges, exceed expectations, and create lasting memories. They thank their clients, suppliers, venues, and business friends for their continued support and belief in their abilities.

Lucas & Wyllys Solicitors Partners with Acle Indoor Bowls Club

Lucas & Wyllys Solicitors is proud to announce its sponsorship of Acle Indoor Bowls Club, a prominent fixture in the local community. Acle Indoor Bowls facility was built in 1993 as part of the Acle Recreation Centre complex. The club offers its members a large array of internal leagues plus the opportunity to enter club, County or National competitions. The club was the first in the country to live stream its games. The sponsorship agreement reflects Lucas & Wyllys’ dedication to fostering strong community bonds. As a firm deeply rooted in the local area for over 190 years, Lucas & Wyllys recognises the importance of initiatives like Acle Indoor Bowls Club bringing people together and promoting social interaction. “We are thrilled to partner with Acle Indoor Bowls Club and contribute to its ongoing success,” said Amy Church, Lucas & Wyllys’ Managing Partner. “Supporting organisations like Acle Indoor Bowls Club aligns with our values of community engagement and wellbeing. We look forward to a fruitful partnership that benefits both the club and the wider community.” Denis Goodley, manager of Acle Indoor Bowls Club, expressed gratitude for the partnership, stating, “We are delighted to have Lucas & Wyllys on board as a sponsor. We are excited about the opportunities this collaboration will bring and the positive impact it will have on our club members and the wider community.” The sponsorship agreement between Lucas & Wyllys and the Acle Indoor Bowls Club is a testament to the firm’s ongoing commitment to supporting local initiatives. Lucas & Wyllys, with offices in Great Yarmouth, Gorleston and Blofield, provide a wide range of legal services including wills & probate, lasting powers of attorney, residential and commercial property, divorce & finances, and child care law. For more information about Lucas & Wyllys, please visit www.lucasandwyllys.co.uk To learn more about the Acle Indoor Bowls Club, visit www.acle-indoor-bowls.org.uk   Top photo: Edna Land, Acle Indoor Bowls Ladies President with Candice Barfield, Partner, Amy Church, Managing Partner, Nigel Craske, Senior Partner at Acle Indoor Bowls Club.

Jarrolds launches Growth Fund to support Norfolk businesses

Nick Steven-Jones (left) and Tom Burdett of Jarrolds (Image: Jarrolds) Jarrolds has launched the Jarrolds Growth Fund in an effort to support local firms, with a pot of £100,000 released every year to Norfolk businesses looking to propel their growth. Businesses will be able to apply for a share of the funding, with successful applicants also benefitting from specialist expertise from the Jarrolds team. Nick Steven-Jones, chief executive, said: “We recognise the symbiotic relationship we have with Norfolk businesses. “Our training business wouldn’t be what it is without the thriving community of organisations looking to develop their staff, our food hall wouldn’t be the same without the array of Norfolk produce from our talented suppliers and our new logistics arm wouldn’t have the growth we envisage without the continued wave of high quality goods leaving the county to other parts of the UK. “The Growth Fund is a tangible commitment to invest in and help nurture growing businesses in Norfolk, through funding, access to a community of expertise and the window that Jarrolds can offer.”

Four new faces for Howes Percival’s Norwich Development team

Norwich team with national reputation sees sustained increase in demand. Law firm Howes Percival has expanded its specialist Development team with four new appointments following a sustained increase in new instructions. Established 12 years ago, the Norwich Development team has an impressive client portfolio that includes major UK house builders, as well as local and regional developers, landowners, and public sector organisations.  They have been involved with many of the region’s largest developments acting for developers, planning promoters and landowners in connection with major development projects. The team is part of the firm’s wider commercial property department which offers a ‘cradle to grave’ service for developers – from site acquisition through to disposal – and includes specialist lawyers in planning, real estate finance, environmental law, construction and social housing. Development team new recruits: James Henderson – Partner James has over 20 years’ experience advising developers, landowners, investors (including institutional funds), promoters and funders on all aspects of land acquisition, development and disposal. He is very experienced at working either within or as an extension of the client’s team, in collaboration with other advisors, to understand the important underlying commercial needs and drivers behind projects, providing specialist advice on option agreements, conditional contracts, overage arrangements and collaboration/partnering deals. James joins the team from Aviva Investors. Georgia Short – Senior Associate Georgia deals with a wide range of commercial property matters including all aspects of landlord and tenant law, acquisitions, disposals and refinancing, with experience advising landowners and developers on easements, overage, options and conditional contracts. She joins from Leathes Prior Solicitors. Brendan Cawley – Head of New Homes Brendan started his career in plot sales and property acquisitions, moving on to real estate investment, advising lenders and borrowers on security over development sites (residential and commercial), investment properties, owner occupied properties and property portfolios. His clients included all major high street lenders, challenger banks and private funders. As the Head of New Homes in Norwich, Brendan is focused on advising regional developers and ensuring the smooth delivery of service from site acquisition through to completion supporting clients from the Norwich and Cambridge offices. Emma Field – Apprentice Solicitor Emma joins the team as an Apprentice Solicitor from Howes Percival’s legal administration team. Chris Cubitt, Howes Percival Partner leading the Development team in Norwich, commented, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome James, Georgia, Brendan and Emma to the team.  Despite difficult market conditions ranging from systemic planning issues to inflation and higher borrowing costs, we continue to be very busy – seeing strong work flows in residential development and a growing client base in commercial development. “In residential development the suppressed supply of development sites following delays in planning due to Nutrient Neutrality and other planning system challenges means there is still high demand and high levels of work.  Commercial developers and house builders in difficult economic circumstances need expert advice on complex transactions, to help minimise risk and exposure, whilst maintaining commerciality. Having these specialist teams makes all the difference.  For housebuilders, our planning team has led on Nutrient Neutrality solutions, while our social housing team has delivered an excellent service to social housing providers, impacted by undersupply issues. “We are recognised for the quality of our commercial property offering in the East, with teams in Norwich and Cambridge. It means we can provide an outstanding service across the whole region and beyond.” Howes Percival has a strong reputation for its real estate work in the East – receiving top-ranking for four different categories in the 2024 Legal 500 guide: Commercial Property, Property Litigation. Planning and Environment and Social Housing. For more information visit: https://www.howespercival.com/services/commercial-property

Norwich City College offer City Centre meeting rooms for hire

New City Centre Meeting Room hire opportunities by Norwich City College.

New for 2024, Norwich City College is hiring out its meeting rooms at Norfolk House, located on Exchange Street.

There are a wide variety of room types from interview rooms/meeting rooms or larger training/seminar rooms. All equipped with fast Wi-Fi and high-quality IT resources.

Some of our rooms provide the ability to run hybrid meetings allowing users to live stream or record for a later date.

Pricing starts from £20 per hour. For all enquires and prices, contact collegehire@ccn.ac.uk

Second Time Platinum Success for MAD-HR

HR consultancy MAD-HR has once again been named a winner of the prestigious Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award.

This is the second year in a row that the East of England business has been recognised with the accolade.

Feefo’s Trusted Service Awards acknowledge brands who are consistently delivering a world-class customer experience.

Reviews and feedback are analysed from customers and the rating serves an independent seal of excellence.

For MAD-HR, the 2024 award comes only a matter of months since the company was crowned winner of the EDP Customer Excellence Award, and one year after winning the category in the EADT Business Awards.

The business has grown rapidly in recent years and now has a total staff number of 10, with offices in Norwich, Ipswich and Chelmsford.

Founder and director, Carole Burman, said: “Receiving the Platinum Award for a second year in a row is a great acknowledgment of the huge emphasis we as a team place on delivering first rate customer service.

“We are always speaking to our clients, gaining feedback, and seeking ways we can enhance our service or deliver in a way which is most effective for the scale or situation of the business we are serving.

“HR can often be seen as something quite transactional, but it is so much more. It is about relationships and understanding, and that starts with how we as a team are relating to our clients and recognising what they need – perhaps even before they know it.”

Congratulating Carole and the MAD-HR team on winning this year’s award, Tony Wheble, CEO at Feefo, said: “With customers continuing to build resilience in a time of economic uncertainty, we’re delighted to showcase thousands of our clients who are continuing to go above and beyond for each and every customer.

“The Trusted Service Awards have always been about recognising companies that go way beyond the norm in customer service and in turn receive great feedback from delighted customers.

“A particular congratulations to MAD-HR for winning a Platinum Trusted Service Award by providing great customer service consistently over a number of years. I look forward to seeing them continue to achieve next year and beyond.”

Feefo presents Platinum Trusted Service Awards to businesses that have achieved Gold standard for three consecutive years. To receive a Gold Trusted Service Award, businesses must have collected at least 50 reviews with a Feefo service rating of between 4.5 and 4.9 between 1st January 2022 and 31st December 2022.

You can find out more about MAD-HR at www.mad-hr.co.uk

With offices in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, MAD-HR provides expert outsourced HR expertise, through adhoc, retained and strategic services.

Norfolk Commercial Photographer Represents UK in World Photographic Cup

Norfolk freelance advertising photographer Joe Lenton has been selected for the UK team for the 2024 World Photographic Cup. His image of a Skeleton Watch created for Vision & Time is representing the UK in the commercial section of the competition. Joe is thrilled to be part of the team, which is comprised of some of the UK’s finest photographers. As well as being assessed individually, the images receive scores that go towards the nation’s total number of points. The country with the highest number of points will be awarded the World Photographic Cup at a ceremony in Texas in April. Joe is a specialist in product photography, working with local, national and international clients. He is passionate about creating outstanding images and also loves helping other photographers to achieve excellence. 2024 also sees the launch of “Focused Professional”, his in-depth photography mentoring service that helps photographers to build businesses that suit their personality and passion. His experience as a qualified international judge and international level photographer are available to help others achieve their dreams too. Fingers crossed for the UK in April…!

Support Boom! and make a difference to young people across Norfolk!

Each year, our Boom! Young Carers take a residential trip, helping them escape their day-to-day pressures in a fun and friendly environment! With plenty of activities planned, such as high ropes, canoeing and a trip to the theatre they will have the opportunity to forge new friendships and create amazing memories. By donating or raising money through this campaign, you can make a direct impact and help us fund a residential trip for Boom! Hear from Alice, our Development Manager, on the importance of this annual trip: “I love being able to take young people away on residentials as it’s through shared experiences such as these that we see them forge lasting friendships. By having this opportunity to go away for a couple of nights the Young Carers step outside of their comfort zone and build resilience and confidence to be themselves.” For young people across Norfolk, Boom! Young Carers provides positive activities through specialist groups running throughout the year along with trips, visits and activities in school holidays. These groups develop confidence, independence and give the opportunity to try new experiences. Want to make your impact and support our Boom! Young Carers? Get in touch with us at events@benjaminfoundation.co.uk to learn more about how your business can get involved. You can also directly donate to our campaign here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/boomyoungcarers “That was the best weekend! I made some great friends and it was so nice to be able to get out and do some things I haven’t done before!”

Game for good this Spring and make your positive impact on local children, young people and families!

Game for good this Spring and make your positive impact on local children, young people and families! With our estimates suggesting that 3-4,000 young people are at risk of homelessness across Norfolk and Suffolk, you can get involved and make a real impact on young people in your community! Taking place between 22nd April and 5th May, we are looking for local businesses to get collaborate with us through Gaming for Good! Whether you join The Benjamin Foundation for a gaming tournament, organise a monopoly marathon, take part in a 5-a-side football tournament, you can choose how you want to play! By getting involved in Gaming for Good you can collaborate with The Benjamin Foundation and make a difference in your local community. A charity for children, young people and families, we supported over 3,000 individuals last year, and with your support, we can continue our vital work! Learn more: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/g4g Want to game for good? Get in touch with us at events@benjaminfoundation.co.uk to learn how you can collaborate with us this Spring!

Senior promotion within M+A Partners

The Attleborough office of Chartered Accountancy and Tax Specialists M+A Partners is delighted to have started 2024 with a promotion in its senior team. Jemma Jackson has been promoted to Accounts and Tax Manager. Jemma joined the M+A team in 2020 in the role of Accounts and Tax Assistant Manager, building on her knowledge as an accounts and taxation specialist and working with a broad spectrum of clients. Jemma has over 20 years’ experience in practice and will continue to develop her client portfolio, working with sole traders and owner managed businesses through to larger companies. Jemma commented “I am excited about the future opportunities that come with my role as Manager and look forward to working with the rest of the team to ensure we are best placed to support individuals and businesses within our region.” Partner, Mary-Anne Sargeant commented “Jemma’s promotion is testament to her hard work and commitment and reflects our ethos to encourage career development and progression within the firm. We wish Jemma every success in her new role.”

Technology hub created by leading school

Langley School in Loddon has set up the East of England’s first ever technology hub, with the aim to help state schools across the region embed technology into their curriculum and infrastructure. The EdTech hub, created in partnership with charitable trust, LgFL, is a key part of the government’s Education Technology strategy. To launch the East of England hub, Langley School hosted primary and secondary schools from around the region. The day included a number of workshops on technology, a pilot of TeachMate AI, which helps teachers create bespoke curriculum content, lesson plans, and reports with AI-powered tools and the opportunity to see the effective technology in use in classrooms in and around Langley. Director of Digital Services at Langley, Mr Youngs comments, “It was a pleasure to bring together a number of schools for a workshop and collective discussion about technology. For us, it is not enough to be a Microsoft Showcase School, we want to share our knowledge, resources and experiences so that pupils – not just ours – will benefit throughout the county and beyond.” Headteacher of Exning Primary School, Mr James Clark said “We’re very excited to be part of the EdTech hub. We’ve been on a journey with IT in our school and we’re excited to be able to share knowledge and learning from our own experience as a Primary School with others.” Langley’s digital revolution began in 2022, when its technology investments included One 2 One devices for every pupil from Year 3 upwards. In 2023 Langley was awarded ‘Microsoft Showcase School’ status, a title held by just a few institutions worldwide. As a Microsoft Showcase School, Langley is part of an elite group that exemplifies the best of teaching and learning, using technology. LGfL is a Charitable Trust Whose Mission is the Advancement of Education. They provide fast, filtered and fortified broadband for schools, including resilience and cloud backups.

10 reasons to use offsite storage for your documents

One of the biggest reasons businesses decide to use offsite storage is to make more room available in their premises. Freeing up space is a huge factor but have you considered the other benefits of storing your documents with a professional Records Management company?

If you use a professional storage provider like Archive-Vault, you will not only free up space but you can take advantage of a range of services that will have a positive impact on the way you work. You will also get peace of mind knowing that things are being done the right way.

From improving staff safety to enhanced data protection and greater office efficiency, there are many reasons to use offsite storage for your documents. Whether you’re responsible for Records Management in a law firm, NHS Trust or construction company, read on to discover ten benefits that will make a clear difference for your organisation. 

10 reasons to use offsite storage for your documents

1] Health and safety

Office documents can be stored in a range of premises from office buildings to lockups including self-storage units. Onsite storage could include cellars or basements and offsite lockups could have leaky lights, damaged roofs or challenging staircases.

These can represent a health and safety risk to staff and even more so if they need to use ladders to access boxes. Using a professional offsite facility for your document storage will ensure that your staff are safe and help to prevent accidents in the workplace.

2] Data protection and security

When you think of storage what comes to mind? When we talk about offsite storage, we’re talking about a professional purpose-built storage facility with data protection and security both top priorities.

Wherever you store your documents, you need to check that there is adequate protection. Does the space have CCTV and alarms? If the documents are stored in a basement, does it have the same security measures as the main building? If storage is a garage or a lockup, are security measures in place?

We get it. Every business wants to save money. But economising on your storage could cost you down the line with businesses facing hefty fines from the Information Commissioner’s Office for data breaches.

At Archive-Vault we prioritise the safety and security of your data. Your documents will be stored in our purpose-built secure facility with 24/7 CCTV and intruder alarms. Access is only granted to our DBS checked staff and secure vehicles. We can help to ensure that your business is data compliant and meets the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

3] Safety and security

Paperwork is at the heart of many businesses. What would happen to your business if you lost all your data? Could it function effectively? It’s crucial that there are systems in place for damp, fire and flood protection.

A professional storage provider will ensure that there are effective measures to protect your documents from natural disasters and reduce the risk of loss or damage.

The Archive-Vault storage facility is flood and fire resistant giving our clients confidence that their records are safe and secure. We work with a wide range of organisations, including Law Firms who choose us to store their important legal documents such as Wills and Deeds and the NHS who store confidential medical records with us.

4] Full traceability

Do you have a barcoding system to help to trace your records? if you want a file in your storage room, how will you find it? Can you find the exact box and where it’s located quickly?

Retrieving documents from storage boxes can take up a lot of valuable staff time. They have to get to the storage location which could be in a basement or offsite. It then might take a while to locate the file. Is spending hours searching for documents a good use of staff time? If you’re paying someone on an hourly rate, is this a good return on investment?

You may well have efficient systems in place. However, if you’re limited on storage space it can be really difficult to organise your files. Professional offsite storage providers have the capacity and use barcoding systems giving full traceability.

What’s more, our barcoding system helps to ensure you are compliant with relevant data protection legislation, providing an audit trail of your documents so you have a chain of custody and know where they are at all times.

5] Improve productivity

Are your files organised? Could you benefit from reviewing the way you do things? Storing unnecessary data can cause central database errors and incorrectly storing files that are in regular use can cause confusion. Indexing files so that everyone in the team can find them is a must-do for busy organisations. However, this takes time.

But it doesn’t have to take up your time. A professional storage facility like Archive-Vault can take the task off your hands so that you can focus on other more urgent priorities.

At Archive-Vault, we offer a consultancy service and can advise on the best way to index your data to suit the needs of your business and the way you work. We index, scan and store your records to help you boost productivity in the office.

6] Get easy access to hard copy documents and digital files

Can you access your documents easily? If you’re working in a team it might take two weeks to circulate a paper file internally. An offsite storage provider should have a range of solutions to help you access your files when you need them.

Our secure online Client Portal gives you instant access to an online inventory of your documents and keeps you in control at the touch of a button. You can login 24/7 from any PC or smart device, whether you’re in the office, travelling for work or on your sofa!

Via the Client Portal you can also request the box or file you need and book a same day retrieval to get your hands on an urgent physical document. It could be with you in less time than it takes a staff member to locate it.

With our robust barcoding technology, when you’re ready to return a file this will be scanned away to it’s original box within our facilities. If your staff return documents in a hurry, do they have time to return them to their original box or might they add them to a pile of filing? We can help you work more efficiently.

7] Prioritise your onsite documents

A typical four-draw filing cabinet could hold up to 12,000 pages and a large cabinet could house 30,000 images. What if you don’t need to access all these paper files every day?

The great thing with offsite storage is that you can prioritise the documents you keep in your office while your archive files can be stored elsewhere.

Some offices might want to put all their paper files in storage and work from digital files. Perhaps you need to retain documents for legal reasons but don’t have to access them regularly.

Our clients have a variety of reasons for using offsite storage. However you want to work, it’s likely that storing your files offsite could be beneficial.

8] Store larger documents offsite

For architects, builders and construction companies, storing and accessing large documents can be problematic. Not only do they take up a lot of space but oversize documents need to be available in site offices and easily accessible for a project team who may be in different locations. This is where an offsite storage company like Archive-Vault can help.

The solution. Oversize documents are much easier to view in digital format and can be viewed by more than one person at any time leading to greater efficiency for teams. We offer Large Format Scanning for documents and drawings up to size A0.

If you use Archive-Vault for your storage and need a construction drawing, map or blueprint quickly, we can ensure that you receive it in no time. We’ll locate the hard copy for you, scan it and upload it to our secure Client Portal on the same day you ask for it. So, whether your team is working remotely or in the site office they can all have eyes on important project documents.

9] Secure destruction of documents

Disposing of documents properly is not only the responsible thing to do but it’s essential for your organisation to be GDPR compliant.

Secure destruction is a vital part of efficient Records Management with some offsite storage facilities offering this service. Here at Archive-Vault, we prioritise looking after your documents throughout their entire lifecycle and that includes ensuring they’re securely destroyed when you confirm they’re no longer needed.

10] Full range of support services

If you use an offsite storage company like Archive-Vault you’ll benefit from much more than extra space in your office.

We offer a Consultancy Service to help you find the best way to manage your documents to improve organisation and lead to more efficient ways of working for your business.  

When you work with us our expert team support you from the get-go. We can provide storage boxes, box everything up for you and transfer your files in our secure vehicles to our purpose-built storage facility where we carry out your bespoke indexing.

You can take advantage of other services offered by an offsite storage facility. We offer Back-up Tape Rotation to keep your data safe, Printing and Scan on Demand to mention just a few of the ways we can support your business.

We’re always at the end of the phone should you need anything. As a small family business based in Norwich we offer a personalised service to clients across East Anglia and throughout the UK.

Archive-Vault’s offsite storage ticks all the boxes!

So, as you can see whilst freeing up space is a key motivator there are many more reasons for using offsite storage for your documents.

At Archive-Vault we believe that we tick all the boxes. Why not join the other businesses and organisations that choose us as their preferred offsite Records Management provider.

Want to know more about how we can help? You can call us on 01603 720722 or email info@archive-vault.co.uk.