2014 15 annual review

2014/2015

ANNUAL

REVIEW

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Thank you to our Board of Directors who are as follows:

Mich Stevenson (Chairman) Councillor Malcolm Wood Councillor Sarah Piper Councillor Brian Grocock Councillor Alex Norris

Jo Bradley Dr Tina Byrom Mel Egglenton Peter Ellis

CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD I am delighted to invite you to read and digest the 2014/15 Annual Review of the National Ice Centre (NIC) and Capital FM Arena which is further testament to the importance the venue plays in the City’s sporting and entertainment offer.

As you will note from the departmental reports, it has been a challenging year for the Management team and the excellent staff members, many of whom have been employed at the centre for five years or more. The retention of key staff has been vitally important in ensuring the customers continue to enjoy a consistently high standard of service.

In the two key areas of our business – development of ice sports and the hosting of international music events – there have been some notable successes, not least the continued progress of the GB Short Track Speed Skating squad which resulted in Elise Christie securing the title of European Champion. The squad also achieved 14 medals at the ISU Star Class Short Track Cup competition held at the NIC in January.

It was a great year for Capital FM Arena shows with a diverse and exciting range of artistes coming to the City including The Who, Queen + Adam Lambert, Lionel Richie, Ant & Dec’s Take Away on Tour, André Rieu, Alfie Boe, The Script, Kasabian, Noel Gallagher, Gary Barlow and Little Mix which clearly emphasises there has been something for everyone over the course of the year!

As always, I have had tremendous support from the Board of Directors, a mixture of public sector representatives and private sector professionals who bring so much knowledge and expertise to the strategic direction of the business. In this respect, I am delighted to welcome the appointment of Dr Tina Byrom to the Board. Tina was the Chair of the highly successful Synchronized Skating Club. The club won five out of the six Gold Medals at the British Championships.

Councillor Leon Unczer stood down from the Board this year and I would like to place on record my thanks for Leon’s significant contribution to the business over many years. In Leon’s place, we are delighted to welcome Councillor Sarah Piper.

Despite the economic climate still being uncertain in terms of attracting leisure spend, yet again, the budget targets were achieved and, in fact, 2014/15 was the best financial performance in the history of the venue!

Finally, on behalf of the Board of Directors, may I once again pay tribute to the Chief Executive and his excellent team of managers and staff on yet another successful year in the life of the National Ice Centre and Capital FM Arena.

R Michiel Stevenson OBE DL Hon LLD Hon MA – Freeman of the City of Nottingham

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S SUMMARY OVERVIEW “I want to work for a company that contributes to and is part of the community. I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in” – Anita Roddick – Founder and Managing Director, Body Shop International.

I find this quotation to be inspiring and reflective of how I perceive my role as Chief Executive of the National Ice Centre and Capital FM Arena. I am fortunate in that the vast majority of my colleagues also share this ethos and I believe this is the foundation of what is achieved on a consistent basis at the premier dual role facility in the country.

Whilst, quite naturally, there is a lot of focus on the achievements attained by the sports development programme, and the concerts and events that take place in the Arena, none of these successes could be realised without the ‘behind the scenes’ work of our dedicated workforce.

It is important that time is taken to read the various departmental reports contained in this Annual Review so as to understand the complexities involved in managing and operating an iconic multi-faceted venue.

Thus, breaking a little from my previous reports, I would like to begin my review by focusing on the ‘unsung heroes’ of the operation such as Buildings, IT, HR and those who work to provide environmental services.

One of the main reasons why the venue has increased its turnover by some 400% and improved its financial performance in the past decade has been the continued investment in the building epitomised over the past 12 months by the major capital programme and supervised by the Buildings Manager, Adam Timson, and his team which has seen such projects as the refurbishment of the retail shop, Ice Locker, to create a world class Bauer Pro Shop, the changes to the Platinum Suite to meet the needs of the ever increasing Hospitality business, and the installation of solar panels situated across the entire Olympic Rink roof.

The IT department under the supervision of Tom Peach-Geraghty, continues to develop the Centre’s technical infrastructure which is so important in the management of such a complex building, coupled with the need to remain at the cutting edge of website development.

The Board and Management team take their environmental responsibilities very seriously and this is evidenced by the fact that last year we achieved the lowest ever consumption of electricity, and recycled over 20% of all waste generated by the business, thanks to excellent efforts from the Housekeeping and Catering teams.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S SUMMARY CONTINUED HR continues to be a very important department within the business led by Alison Queen, the HR Manager. In addition to spearheading the recruitment process by reviewing some 1300+ job applications, the team also manage key elements such as staff welfare, absences, pay and conditions.

The absence rate emphasises the commitment and loyalty of the staff with an incredibly low rate of 1.8% (in comparison to the average UK rate of 3.3%). Given the venue is open 20 hours per day for some 363 days per year, this is a remarkable achievement.

This review also includes input from the Marketing & Sales Director, Sharon Lordan, and it is important time is taken to read the reports on these two key areas. Revenue to the business generated by the Sales and Hospitality team is fundamental to our ability to fund the country’s finest ice sports development programme. Moreover, the work of the Marketing team cannot be underestimated as the areas covered in Sharon’s report will testify.

In addition to the departments highlighted above, space does not permit me to go into detail on the work of other departments such as Ice Maintenance, Housekeeping, Event Ticketing and Customer Services, Control Room, Finance & Administration, and the work of our key partners – Levy Restaurants UK (Catering and Hospitality) and Controlled Solutions Group (Crowd Management and Security) but these roles, and others, are of the utmost importance to the financial success we have achieved over the years and as importantly, to ensuring we provide a safe and comfortable environment for our clients and customers.

SUMMARY The last twelve months has consolidated the venue’s position in terms of ice sports and entertainment which, coupled with the business achieving its financial target, has made it one of the most successful years ever. The role the Centre plays in the community is very important, whether that means giving a child their first experience of ice skating all the way through to competing at the British Championships, or by providing lifetime memories when music fans see their idols on stage and it is the role of management and staff to continue developing the business in the coming months and years.

Geoff Huckstep Chief Executive

PUBLIC SKATING Ice skating tends to follow the Olympic cycle and in the absence of major television coverage of this world class sport, public skating income was down by almost 5% on the previous year.

This year we invested in ‘Ice Rink on the Estate’, an ITV production hosted by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. It aired on ITV in a prime time slot over a three-week period in February 2015, attracting an audience of 1.4 million viewers each week. The team has focused on a number of initiatives to try to increase participation including a CBBC observational documentary series, more of which will be discussed later in this review.

OVERVIEW • • • •

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782 public skating sessions, an increase of five on the previous year 123,000 customer visits (down almost 5% compared to 2013/14).

Nationally 2014/15 saw a 5-10% decline in attendance (source Ice Rink Managers Association) 3,200 school children (112 schools) skated as part of the six week school skating programme Almost 18,000 people enjoyed a festive skate and the magic of Christmas at the NIC, comparable with the previous year. We had competition from the Old Market Square ice rink where the dry weather attracted skaters February half-term remained the busiest week of the year recording almost 6,000 visits, down by almost 33% on the previous year, which had benefited from the Winter Olympics 193 birthday parties (up by 17%) with a customer satisfaction rate of 90% 640 skating admissions on the Nottingham City Council Freesport initiative between January and March. This was arranged for City Card holders aged 16+ who wanted to try, return or socialise through sport.

Ice skating proved to be one of the most popular activities The make-up of ticket sales includes 38% adults, 25% children, 12% families, 6% NUS holders, 4% groups, 4% City Card holders and 6% discounted offers Saturday remains the most popular day for skating with the Saturday afternoon session attracting the highest attendance (18%), followed by the Friday evening Disco session (12%), with Sunday afternoon achieving 11% of all ticket sales

Themed sessions were programmed to enhance the fun and enjoyment of skating: Valentine party Christmas foam party Halloween foam party Back to School party

420 skaters 533 skaters 366 skaters 310 skaters

SPORTS DEVELOPMENT The NIC has worked in partnership to develop and deliver a number of innovative programmes for the benefit of the community. Working with Nottingham City Council, our resident clubs, Blue Bell Hill Trust and local and national sports organisations, the NIC has provided pathways from grass roots to excellence in each of the ice sports disciplines.

Drummer TV has been filming children who train at the NIC as part of a CBBC ten-part observational documentary series, ‘Ice Stars’, to be aired summer/autumn 2015. The programme follows inspirational young athletes representing the disciplines of figure skating, ice hockey, short track speed skating and synchronized skating, as well as pupils from Blue Bell Hill School taking part in their six week school skating programme and culminating in the spring Gala.

SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING GB Short Track skaters had their best ever season.

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UK Sport awarded £4.35 million in funding for the four year cycle leading to PyeongChang 2018 Six ISU World Cup medals Two World Championship medals with Elise Christie becoming the first ever Briton to win two medals at this event Elise Christie secured the title of European Champion after she won both the 500m and 1500m and Silver in the 3000m super final 14 medals at the ISU Star Class Short Track Cup in Nottingham Awarded the Nottingham Post Sports Team of 2014

Nottinghamshire Ice Racing Club (NIRC) had one of its most successful years in the club’s history with key achievements including: -

45 new skaters attended club sessions to try the sport (against a target of 50) 56 active racing members (registered with National Ice Skating Association) up by 24% on last year 38 top three results at domestic competitions (against a target of 45) Five international medals and 17 British Championship medals NIRC team of volunteers supported NISA in the delivery of the ISU Star Class Short Track Cup in Nottingham in January 2015. 3,000 school children from 39 schools watched the competition

SPORTS DEVELOPMENT CONTINUED ICE HOCKEY The ice hockey programme has fulfilled participation and development targets across the range.

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The Nottingham Ice Hockey Club (NIHC) registered 232 players making it one of the largest and most successful development programmes in the UK The programme was delivered by 40 volunteer coaches headed by Mike Urquhart and 14 team managers 223 players attended the Learn to Play Hockey Programme (down by 10% on previous year) Nottingham Lions Academy provided 30 talented players with additional training 13 NIHC players selected to represent England and seven NIHC players selected to represent Great Britain The Nottingham Universities Mavericks Ice Hockey Club (NUMIHC) increased player membership by 30% year on year and attracted over 80 new players, including 15 beginners The Varsity match attracted another sell-out crowd All five recreational teams increased membership year on year

FIGURE SKATING -

Academy membership increased to 108 and included 20 Junior Academy members aged four – six years Two skaters were selected for the GB Performance Team and five skaters representing Nottingham held top three positions in the NISA rankings Academy members achieved 53 top three results from eight domestic competitions (18 Gold, 22 Silver and 13 Bronze medals) Eight podium finishes were gained from three international competitions (six Gold and two Silver medals) Six medals were claimed at the British Figure Skating Championships, as well as one Gold at the Adult British Championships and two Gold at the British Solo Ice Dance Championships Joshua Brown represented GB at the European Winter Youth Olympic Festival achieving a top ten finish The Nottingham Synchronized Skating Academy (NSSA) competed with six teams and a membership of around 90 skaters during the season NSSA dominated the British Synchronized Skating Championships with five out of the six teams winning Gold and the sixth team claiming Silver The Junior Academy represented GB at the Junior World Championships achieving 14th place and scoring the highest ever score for the GB team

SPORTS DEVELOPMENT CONTINUED COMMUNITY PROGRAMMES School Skating Programme -

112 bookings for the six-week school skating programme from City and County schools (compared to 115 bookings the previous year of which 60 bookings were funded by Capital One) 3,207 pupils attended the six-week learn to skate programme (a throughput of 19,242 over the year) 95 pupils awarded a six-week scholarship on the Skate UK Learn to Skate programme to continue their progression

Skate UK Learn to Skate Programme -

4,650 skaters enrolled onto the NISA accredited Skate UK course, down by 2% on the previous year; however, there were two less intensive courses The Skate UK Tots course, specifically for children aged two to four years, continues to grow and provide a pathway into the Skate UK programme

Urban Hockey Programme -

28 schools booked two or more of the six-week outreach programmes 1,900 pupils attended the six-week programme (a throughput of 11,400 over the year)

PARTNERSHIPS -

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The NIC joined forces with Notts County, Nottingham Forest, Nottinghamshire Cricket Club, Nottingham Rugby and Beeston Hockey to secure funding to deliver sporting opportunities to young people as part of the Team Nottingham Vs Obesity campaign. 100 pupils from four schools took part in a six-week skating programme increasing their physical activity in a fun and sociable way In partnership with Blue Bell Hill Trust and the GMB Nottingham Panthers, the Skate & Motivate programme was successfully delivered to over 125 families

SHOWS AND EVENTS The Capital FM Arena has, once again, had a very successful year with 51 concerts providing a great range of entertainment for the residents of the City (and further afield) to enjoy.

The range of music has been quite exceptional with appearances by legends such as The Who, Queen + Adam Lambert, Spandau Ballet, Morrissey, Dolly Parton and Kylie Minogue as well as the newer bands/artistes such as You Me at Six, McBusted, Paloma Faith, Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry.

Other notable events have included Dancing on Ice, Strictly Come Dancing and Cbeebies as well as Premier League Darts, the World Baton Twirling Championships and for the 13th consecutive year, the Elite Ice Hockey League Play-Off Finals.

The Arena also hosted the GMB Congress, Nottingham Jobs Fair, the npower national conference and for the first time, an ISU International Star Class Speed Skating competition.

Capital FM Arena reflected the position across the UK, where statistics collated by the National Arenas Association (NAA) reported event performances were up by approximately 5% year on year and attendances increased by 4%. The average attendances for music concerts was 5,691 (up from 5,565) and the average ticket price showed an increase from £38.37 to £40.41 compared with the previous year.

Unfortunately, the Nottingham Panthers could not repeat their ‘Grand Slam’ year but had the satisfaction of retaining the Challenge Cup for the fourth consecutive year. Disappointedly though, they failed to reach the Play-Off Finals for the first time since 2008.

Comedy continues to be ever popular in Nottingham headed by five shows from Lee Evans and performances from Miranda Hart, John Bishop and Jack Whitehall all of which achieved ‘sell-out’ status.

The forecast for the next 12 months is positive with a number of high quality shows that have already taken place or are scheduled for later in the year such as The Prodigy, Dynamo, Imagine Dragons, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Michael McIntyre, Nickelback, Simply Red and Wet Wet Wet.

OPERATIONS TRAINING Annual training for all staff included roll out of the Business Continuity Plan as well as a number of health and safety updates. A desk top exercise chaired by an Inspector from Nottingham Police took place with representatives from all departments attending.

ACCESSIBILITY This year’s accessibility focus was aimed at improving the customer booking experience. This has been achieved with adoption of the nationally recognised Access Card. The membership scheme, through member evidence, provides the customer with a card verifying their access to specific services at the venue, including free personal assistance seats. The customer experiences a quicker more efficient booking service that can be used nationally, removing the need for verification at every venue they attend.

In February, the venue was awarded the CredAbility mark for accessibility, further complimenting the venue as being fully accessible to all. Our Accessibility Officer continues to work with customers and groups, with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) recently delivering visual impairment awareness training to front line staff.

ENVIRONMENTAL This year we achieved the lowest ever overall electricity usage even with additional events nights.

Once again the amount of waste we recycle has significantly increased. We sent just over 20% of all waste to recyclable streams reducing the amount of general waste disposed of via incineration. This accounts for over 20 tonnes, mainly from plastic pint pots, cardboard and glass. We also recycle paper, leaflets, plastic trays and containers, waste oil and used electrical equipment.

We continued with the “Triad” incentive alongside ENVIROenergy. The objective was to use less electricity during high national peak demand periods and receive a financial incentive when achieving this. We received several thousand pounds, as well as reducing consumption during this period.

We successfully received a revenue return of £28,000 from our original PV installation (solar panels) via ROOFIT. We installed another 149KW as part of phase two PV installation and a subsequent second application for ROOFIT (OFGEM accreditation).

2014 gave us our first year total of electricity generation from our solar panels. We generated 222,000 units, which gained us the “First Steps to Sustainability” Award from the Nottingham Post.

We received another ‘A’ rating on our Display Energy Certificate for our building energy efficiency.

Stakeholder feedback is welcomed and encouraged to help the NIC assess its environmental impacts – environment@national-ice-centre.com.

OPERATIONS CONTINUED BUILDINGS The Buildings team completed its most invasive building project to date, creating a new skating entrance and stockroom from empty space above the Olympic Rink. Existing steel work was used, combined with a new steel floor to build a stock room for Ice Locker, complete with new racking. The new skating entrance will be utilised at a later date. Once the stockroom was in place a world class Bauer Pro Shop was created in the existing shop.

While working in the Olympic Rink, the team took the opportunity to refurbish the players benches, put in a wireless audio system, refurbish the bench seating and powder coat the handrails.

The Platinum Suite underwent some changes with a complete refurbishment to incorporate a permanent bar.

We replaced our UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) emergency back-up system with an additional UPS for IT equipment. An electrical audit of every single electrical circuit in the building was undertaken.

We refurbished the disco lighting in the Olympic Rink and installed new LED lighting fixtures.

LEVY RESTAURANTS UK In partnership with the NIC, Levy Restaurants UK has successfully operated over 120 events contributing to the NIC’s overall financial success in 2014/15.

Year on year spend per head growth has been achieved through a number of new initiatives which have also helped enhance overall customer experience. The following has been introduced: • • • • • •

Bar Pass App - a free phone application allowing customers to order and pay for drinks from their seat, and receive notification once drinks are ready to collect Frozen cocktail unit unique to the Capital FM Arena - the frozen cocktails are a hit with customers Beer hawking - pints of cold lager and cider are delivered to our customers during standing floor events New chip units have been installed due to overwhelming demand from the previous year Wireless waiting has been designed for our hospitality guests. This is a touch button call system, where guests in the suites can request a member of the team at the touch of a button New Hospitality kitchen and a newly refurbished suite for restaurants

In addition to the new initiatives, health, safety and environment stays top of our agenda and forms part of Levy Restaurants UK culture. The development of our environmental polices means that we are further recycling PET, glass and cardboard making a reduction in the number of vehicles coming on site as the supply chain has been channelled through one main supplier.

Over 200 part and full time staff have been recruited from the local area and all team members have undertaken a new induction to help improve service.

SALES AND HOSPITALITY It’s been a mixed year for the Sales and Hospitality team in terms of financial results.

SALES Advertising once again outperformed its budget and had a record year, with a 5% revenue growth year on year. High renewal levels were achieved at the start of 2014 meaning over 50% of the budget was secured before the financial year began. A small number of new partners came on board.

HOSPITALITY It has been a record year for Hospitality, with both Annual Hospitality and Single Event Hospitality achieving the highest revenue and profit levels to date.

The success of Annual Hospitality was due to the team optimising all revenue generating opportunities, including selling suites which had not previously been sold on an annual basis, e.g. side restricted view suites. A waiting list was initiated for Annual Hospitality facilities, so despite some annual clients deciding not to renew, new clients were lined up ready to take their place to ensure no revenue was lost.

Single Event Hospitality had an exceptional year achieving a 27% profit increase on its previous record year. One of the key reasons for this significant increase was the high number of sell out shows including: Ed Sheeran, Gary Barlow, Bryan Adams, The Who, Queen + Adam Lambert and AndrĂŠ Rieu. The genre and audience profile for a show plays a significant role in Hospitality sales, with legendary acts and international mainstream bands/artistes proven to drive the most revenue.

CONFERENCE & EVENTS Small conference and events gave an extremely disappointing performance delivering its worst result in years and a 34% revenue decrease on 2013/14. A number of factors contributed to this including a reduction in the number of events held by key clients; several 2013/14 events not repeating and an extremely competitive market in Nottingham with venues offering rates at 50% less than ours.

On a more positive note, the team attracted profitable new business to the Arena including major conferences for GMB, Capital One and npower, whilst working with existing partners to make some of the regular annual events more profitable.

MARKETING There has been a clear shift in marketing strategy from traditional channels, such as press advertising, to new and innovative digital marketing and social media activities.

From an Arena perspective, the team has built on its good reputation with concert promoters, by continuing to develop innovative marketing plans for their artistes to help increase awareness of events and subsequent ticket sales. One activity which captured everyone’s attention was the Kylie Minogue Selfie Campaign, which saw cardboard cut-outs of Kylie created and distributed around the East Midlands with fans encouraged to take a selfie with the star to share on social media. This activity even captured the attention of Ms Minogue, who retweeted it to her millions of followers and took one of the standees up on stage with her to discuss the campaign when she performed here.

Interacting with artistes via the Arena’s social media accounts is a strategy we have followed to enable us to promote the venue to an expansive audience of fans and generate excitement amongst customers who have already purchased tickets for a specific show - some of the acts we have successfully secured retweets from have included The Script, McBusted and Ant & Dec. Twitter and Facebook also “verified” our accounts, a credit that is given to highly sought brands, celebrities and public figures.

The National Ice Centre has been well supported throughout the year, with the team creating a Skate UK Blog to raise awareness of the Learn to Skate programme. A significant amount of PR and TV coverage has also been achieved this year and the highlights include the filming of ITV’s three-part series ‘Ice Rink on the Estate’, and a new CBBC ten-part series to be aired in summer/autumn 2015.

A new NIC Membership Scheme has been introduced to enable us to capture data on regular skaters to enable profiling and targeted marketing to be undertaken. Understanding the profile and behaviour of the NIC’s various customer groups is a key priority for 2015 and essential if we are to increase skater numbers to levels seen previously.

MARKETING CONTINUED Some of our recent digital developments include: the rollout of new email templates and a new communications platform offering enhanced reporting functionality; revamped mobile site offering a greatly improved user experience; introduction of online post-event surveys to monitor customer satisfaction levels across various aspects of their Arena experience, and the online sale of Panthers Season tickets for the first time.

Continuing to measure and act upon the results of web/mobile traffic analysis, social media and email statistics have also remained crucial to the team. This will ensure investment in digital marketing is directed to the most effective revenue generating activities.

Key digital points • • •

Arena email database has risen from 98k to 136k - an increase of 38k subscribers All mobile statistics are significantly up Arena Twitter followers are second only to The O2, London

Year on year social media statistics Capital FM Arena

Year on year % increase

NIC

Year on year % increase

Twitter followers Facebook Fans Instagram Followers Pinterest Followers

59% 30% 151% 63%

Twitter followers Facebook Fans Instagram Followers

18% -3.5% 360%

Decrease is due to Facebook removing inactive and fake accounts from its platform

IT It has been a busy and productive year. The IT team has focussed on consolidating the existing infrastructure and services while working towards ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) qualifications for all team members. The implementation of these qualifications will improve IT service delivery, efficiency and value to the business.

The team has expanded to eight members with the recruitment of a Web Developer to assist with projects to improve various web presences.

Achievements in the past year include the deployment of Airwatch to manage our increasingly large fleet of mobile devices, migration to Microsoft Exchange 2013, a rollout of Windows 8.1 Enterprise in order to introduce ‘Direct Access’ - a technology which enables staff to seamlessly work from anywhere with an internet connection. Microsoft Lync has also been rolled out to provide staff with real-time messaging and collaboration tools.

The Capital FM Arena mobile website was redeveloped this year and has proven to be a great success in terms of providing the right information to customers using various mobile devices, while increasing the conversion rates of website visitors purchasing tickets for events.

HUMAN RESOURCES

HUMAN RESOURCES