East Anglia in Business 02

EAST ANGLIA in business

THE EAST OF ENGLAND – HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION ISSUE 02

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FO REWORD

FOREWORD ‘Innovation’ is something about which we hear often in business – but what does ‘innovation’ mean?

n this issue of East Anglia in Business, the faculty of the Cambridge Judge Business School demystify ‘innovation’.

Enabling businesses to access academic expertise in order to harness innovation is crucial. EIRA (Enabling Innovation: Research to Application) - a network of seven universities and colleges in the East of England – is doing just this by helping businesses embrace the latest developments in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and the digital creative spheres.

Economic development is also fostered by the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) – we hear from them in this issue and we’re introduced to Lindsey Rix, the new Deputy Chair of the New Anglia LEP. In uncertain times, it’s all the more important businesses work as well as they can. Diversity brings striking benefits to businesses – on the board and at all levels of a company, as we learn from Professor Sucheta Nadkarni. Whilst Colonel Adam FraserHitchen explains the importance of developing capable leaders.

Our infrastructure underpins economic development, so we learn about the huge investments taking place in roads, rails and ports around the region. Jamie Burles, MD of Greater Anglia, spills the beans on the single biggest full fleet replacement in the history of rail franchises since rail franchises began.

Energy is central to our essential infrastructure and our energy coast has developed into an epicentre for energy generation with new investment, skilled jobs and a pipeline of projects stretching generations ahead. Making it one of the most exciting and promising times in the energy industry in the East of England A mix of world-leading offshore wind development and expertise, more than 50 years’ as England’s offshore gas hub, another 40 years’ of gas reserves to come through Bacton gas terminal in Norfolk, plus nuclear power generation - makes our region the leading energy growth centre for the UK.

The development and operation of the world’s largest wind farms taking place off the East Anglian coast, is set to create more than 6,000 well-paid, skilled jobs in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft have been described as “honeypots for investment” and regeneration, whilst Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry chose to announce the Offshore Wind Sector Deal in both towns, recognising the impact this industry is having in the region.

Huge opportunities exist in the cessation of production too. The southern North Sea is earmarked as the next decommissioning hotspot, creating an estimated £2.5 billion worth of decommissioning work in the UK sector alone.

Possible developments for our region as a hub of excellence for the decommissioning process are outlined in this edition by the chairs of the ‘Late Life and Decommissioning Special Interest Group’.

Suffice to say, the East of England is a vital hub in the nation’s future energy security literally keeping the UK’s lights on, heating homes and powering industry. You can find out more at our two-day exhibition and conference focused on the southern North Sea (SNS), on May 15 and 16 in Norwich: SNS2019. We hope to see you there.

East Anglia is, and will continue to be, a wonderful place to live, work and to do business. Did you know that the visitor economy of the region, including Essex, is worth more than £10bn? Dr Andy Wood OBE, chairman of the new Visit East of England reveals more in this issue. Turn the page to find out more…

Simon Gray, CEO, EEEGR (East of England Energy Group)

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issue 02

CO NTE NTS

CON T E N TS

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Foreword 03 ‘Innovation’ is something about which we hear often in business – but what does ‘innovation’ mean?

Infrastructure & Transport 06|23 When you start or build a business access to transport and digital capacity might not feature greatly in your business planning process but they absolutely should.

Interview 24|27 Colonel Adam Fraser-Hitchen served as a regular soldier for 30 years having begun his career as a Private soldier in 1986.

Energy Focus 28|39 Imagine an enterprise that has the potential to earn a substantial portion of a projected £15 billion. This is the amount forecast to be spent on oil and gas decommissioning in the whole of the UK North Sea over the next ten years.

Woman in Business 40|45 Named as one of the ‘100 women to watch’ in Cranfield University’s female FTSE board report in 2017 and 2018, it’s no surprise that Lindsey Rix has been unanimously elected as the Deputy Chair of the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Tourism 46|51 Dr Andy Wood OBE, chairman of the new Visit East of England, writes an open letter to tourism businesses and stakeholders in the region…

CO N TENTS

Editor Ellen Rossiter ellen.rossiter@distinctivepublishing.co.uk

Design Distinctive Publishing, 3rd Floor, Tru Knit House, 9-11 Carliol Square, Newcastle, NE1 6UF Tel: 0191 580 5990 www.distinctivepublishing.co.uk

Advertising Distinctive Publishing, 3rd Floor, Tru Knit House, 9-11 Carliol Square, Newcastle, NE1 6UF Tel: 0191 5805990 www.distinctivepublishing.co.uk

Today’s Manager 52|53 What, exactly, do we mean by management?

Different textbooks and management gurus give different definitions. Many are along the lines of ‘achieving desired goals through planning, organising, directing and controlling’. A shorter – and perhaps better – definition is ‘getting results through other people’.

Training & Development 54|59 As the saying goes; ‘people are the life force of a business,’ and nothing is truer when it comes to the staff who make up the workforce of Anglian Water.

Digital & Innovation 60|65 Just what is “innovation” - and is there a dark side to this wave of change that has transformed our lives through technology and other breakthroughs?

Social East Anglia in Business @EAinBusiness

Business Mentoring 66|67

East Anglia in Business www.eastangliainbusiness.co.uk

You started your business a few years ago, it’s going well, you’re paying yourself a decent salary but what now?

Finance 68|71 Every entrepreneur needs an exit plan, says Matt Crawley, partner and head of Corporate Finance at Lovewell Blake.

PR 72|74

Distinctive Publishing or East Anglia in Business cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies that may occur, individual products or services advertised or late entries.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or scanned without prior written permission of the publishers and East Anglia in Business.

Here’s a challenge. Take a pen and a piece of paper and write down your organisation’s objectives.

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IN FRAST RUCTU R E A ND T RA N S PO RT Ne w A ng l i a (L EP )

DRIVING DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL CHANGE

By Doug Field, Chair of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Joint Chief Executive of the East of England Co-op When you start or build a business access to transport and digital capacity might not feature greatly in your business planning process but they absolutely should. Don’t wait until you are expanding to think about where your next tier of customers or talent comes from, consider the quickest routes to market, and access to skilled people and all your suppliers right from the start.

Norfolk and Suffolk have a number of centres of economic activity, with fast growing urban areas, historic market towns and a large rural economy. We are forward-looking and well-positioned to capitalise on the opportunities created by further advances in technology, digital connectivity and improved infrastructure.

Advantageous location We are exploring new models of funding and financing the infrastructure we need, because the evidence shows we can deliver growth and returns.

We have sixteen sites across both counties that have secured Enterprise Zone status, providing benefits from business rate discounts, simplified planning and access to superfast broadband.

Boosting infrastructure is central to delivering our ambitions as determined in the area’s economic blue print; the Economic Strategy for Norfolk and Suffolk. We want this area to be a well-connected place, locally and to the rest of the world, and where high growth businesses with aspirations want to

be. Making the most of our advantageous location with respect to accessing global markets is where our main opportunity lies. In seizing this, we need to ensure that the needs and aspirations of all our communities and businesses are realised. Our road and rail networks can help achieve this by improving capacity and journey times, as well as reliability and resilience.

Investment priorities We must also build on our existing success in delivering growth and continue to increase our contribution to UK plc. In doing so our economic diversity must be maintained and enhanced, and our transport network can help support world-leading competitive clusters in clean energy, ICT/Digital tech,digital creative, life sciences and bio tech to thrive.

Transport and digital connectivity are an integral part of Norfolk and Suffolk’s economy, helping to unlock the area’s substantial resources in land, labour and capital. It is therefore a significant driver of productivity.

So what is happening in Norfolk and Suffolk to make these online and physical routes faster? Recent LEP investments (incl funding through the Growth Deal) are: £10m in broadband for Norfolk and Suffolk to increase the number of premises with access to superfast broadband £2.65m for Snetterton Electricity Scheme to help boost energy capacity in this key employment area

EXPANDING

CONNECTED

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IN F RASTRU CTU RE AN D TRAN SP ORT Ne w A ng l i a (L E P )

£6.6m for the Ipswich Tidal Barrier, protecting more than 1,600 homes and 400 businesses from flooding £10m for the Broadland Northway, improving connectivity around Norwich and reducing congestion in the city centre £10m for the Bury St Edmunds Relief Road, improving access to and unlocking growth opportunities in the east of the town £3.3m to help advance the case for rail improvements in the Ely area to increase freight and passenger capacity.

According to property agents Roche Chartered Surveyors warehousing and logistics businesses are now considering industrial sites north of Norwich since the opening of the Broadland Northway (source EDP, Nov. 2018).

Investment of £2.65m by New Anglia LEP in the upgrade of the power supply to the Snetterton Employment Area will help to improve access to power for up to sixty existing businesses and will support development of the site to incorporate at least 15 new businesses. A number of companies, including pet food manufacturer Natures Menu have recently moved to the Snetterton site with grant support from the LEP to take advantage of the improved transport links offered by the nearby A11.

Following the Greater Eastern Main Line Taskforce’s successful rail campaign in 2014, which was backed by more than 100 businesses and led by the LEP, £1.5bn investment is being made by Greater Anglia.

The funding will transform our railways including new, spacious trains, free Wi-Fi, better timetables and more frequent services, as well as more peak seats into London by summer 2019.

Further focus is on improving the A14 and seven key junctions at Ipswich, Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds, and dualling the A47 between Lowestoft and Peterborough. We are working with businesses, local authorities, chambers of commerce, LEPs and MPs to help secure further investment for the A47.

Chambers of Commerce in Suffolk and Norfolk are leading on the ‘No more not-spots’ campaign aiming to enhance mobile voice and data coverage (www. suffolkchamber.co.uk and www.norfolkchamber.co.uk).

Businesses are essential in taking part in campaigns, developing core plans and supporting local growth plans. The majority of our board members are business representatives and they need your support in driving positive change to make sure we play a role globally in markets where we excel and flourish such as clean energy, agri-food and ICT/ digital.

There are many success stories in the area and with multi-million investments in road, rail, port and digital connectivity, we have an even more promising future.

50mins flight from Norwich to Amsterdam 29m tonnes of freight per year – Felixstowe port is the busiest container port in the UK and 7th busiest in Europe.

Secured rail service improvements will increase connections – 60mins Ipswich to London/ 90mins Norwich to London/ 75mins Cambridge to Ipswich/ 90mins Peterborough to Norwich 92% of businesses and homes have access to superfast broadband 330 rail freight movements into and out of Felixstowe port a week 6% travel using public transport compared to 10% UK average in all non-metropolitan areas.

NEW ANGLIA LEP Find out more on investments, grants, skills and business support on www.newanglia.co.uk and follow us on Twitter @NewAngliaLEP

Priority places for growth include: Ipswich and the surrounding area. Norwich and the Greater Norwich area.

The Norfolk and Suffolk Energy Coast, including Bacton, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Sizewell, with assets on and offshore.

The Cambridge Norwich Tech Corridor growth – connecting two global centres of research. https://www.techcorridor.co.uk/ The critical east west growth corridors along the A47 from Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth to King’s Lynn and the A14 from Felixstowe through Ipswich, Stowmarket, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket and Haverhill to Cambridge.

King’s Lynn - and the A10 and rail corridor to Cambridge.

DIGITAL

LOCATION ROUTES

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IN FRAST RUCTU R E A ND T RA N S PO RT

C a m br id ge s h i re & Pe terb oro u g h Com bi ne d Author i t y

AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR GROWTH Since its official formation in 2017, the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority has had ambitious plans for its local area. From innovative transport solutions to new ways of delivering much needed affordable housing, they are a partnership already making a swift, positive impact.

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he Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority was established in 2017 after partners negotiated a Devolution Deal with the Government that would bring powers and funding from central Government to the local area.

The organisation itself brings together the seven Cambridgeshire and Peterborough councils and is chaired by a directly-elected Mayor, James Palmer.

The Mayor and Combined Authority have statutory powers and a budget for transport, affordable housing, skills and economic development, made up of money devolved from central Government.

In return, the Devolution Deal has tasked the Combined Authority to use these powers to address the significant deficit in transport infrastructure, deliver more homes to help tackle the local housing crisis and meet housing needs, and take action to address skills shortages in the economy. The target

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is to almost double the size of the economy over 25 years.

The 2018 Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Independent Economic Review, chaired by renowned economist Dame Kate Barker, found that growth in the local economy was higher than official figures suggest. It also challenged the Combined Authority and its partners to tackle the challenges that threaten prosperity in the future, including the lack of transport infrastructure, severe pressure on housing, and skills shortages across many sectors.

All of the report’s recommendations will be taken forward by the Combined Authority.

Their vision is clear. The Combined Authority wants Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to be a leading place in the world to live, learn and work. Now and in the future.

IN F RASTRU CTU RE AN D TRAN SP ORT

C ambr id geshire & Pe terb oro u g h Combine d Aut hor i t y

To achieve that vision, the Combined Authority has revealed details of 12 key projects that will be delivered, or moved to the next decisive stage, during the 2019/20 financial year in its new Business Plan.

Mayor James Palmer said: “This Business Plan is an important milestone for the Combined Authority, setting out a clear, deliverable and funded set of priorities and schemes which will help meet the many ambitions we have for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

“We have significant challenges around transport infrastructure, housing and skills, which need to be overcome if we are to ensure our economy continues to thrive into the future. The Combined Authority is already making significant headway. The Business Plan sets out the many schemes we have progressed and delivered since we were established.

“We also set out 12 key projects which will be our focus in 2019/20, as well as a selection of other schemes which will either be brought to delivery or to the next key phase.”

Focus on delivery The 12 key projects that the Combined Authority team will be focused on over the coming financial year cover a range of schemes from transport and housing to Market Town masterplans.

One of the boldest projects is the Cambridge Autonomous Metro (CAM). A key component of the Combined Authority’s vision for the local economy, the CAM would unlock growth across the region through the provision of high quality and high frequency metro services.

This transformational transport option would help to relieve congestion and address severe housing shortages which are particularly acute in the Greater Cambridge area, including through the development of Garden Villages. Over the coming year, the Combined Authority will start work on an Outline Business Case and collaborate with central and local government partners to establish the innovative funding model required for delivery.

Cambridge Autonomous Metro (CAM) A10 dualling between Cambridge and Ely A47 dualling between Peterborough and Wisbech

Running alongside these 12 key projects is a programme of ongoing delivery relating to the Adult Education Budget, Apprenticeships, the implementation of transformational reform to the bus network, delivery of our Growth Hub, the development of Garden Village proposals, developing a Trade and Investment programme for the area, moving forward the Greater South East Energy Hub, delivering improved digital connectivity and supporting businesses to grow via the Business Board Growth Prospectus.

The team will also be producing or updating longterm strategies that will guide future delivery and priorities focusing on the Local Industrial Strategy, Strategic Spatial Framework, Skills Strategy, and Local Transport Plan. This is in addition to the Housing Strategy that was produced in 2018/19.

By setting out this clear programme of activity for 2019/20, the Combined Authority will help to ensure the thriving local economy continues to grow by tackling the challenges that threaten this growth.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE & PETERBOROUGH COMBINED AUTHORITY

In summarising the importance of this Plan, Mayor Palmer concluded: “This Business Plan gives us a clear, budgeted pathway to deliver on our transformational agenda for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.”

cambridgeshirepeterboroughca.gov.uk

Huntingdon Third River Crossing Soham Station Cambridge South Station Alconbury Station Wisbech Rail King’s Dyke University of Peterborough Affordable Housing Market Town Masterplans

Making an impact The Combined Authority is already making a positive difference to the local area with a number of successes to date already. These include improvements to the busy Bourges Boulevard in Peterborough, new affordable homes in Soham, a £4.1 million Market Town Masterplan for St Neots, beginning road and station improvement works in Fenland, stepping in to ensure that construction can begin on the King’s Dyke crossing scheme, and the opening of the Ely Southern Bypass.

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IN FRAST RUCTU R E A ND T RA N S PO RT Gre ate r A ng l i a

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IN F RASTRU CTU RE AN D TRAN SP ORT Gre ater A n g li a

YOUR TRAINS TRANSFORMED Step off the train at London Liverpool Street and you’ll find yourself in one of the busiest stations in the UK. Explore the Greater Anglia network further and you’ll discover idyllic countryside from the Norfolk Broads to Constable Country.

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he sheer breadth and diversity of train operator Greater Anglia’s network is both a joy and a challenge, encompassing major cities, market towns, key transport hubs and rural halts across the East of England.

Covering one of the largest and most complex networks of any UK train operator, over 81 million passenger journeys are made on Greater Anglia’s trains each year – but changes are afoot.

Managing Director Jamie Burles stands at the helm of the company that provides 1,300 train services a day to 133 stations across Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and in London. In this issue, Jamie speaks to Ellen Rossiter about the changes underway and how they’re accomplishing something no train operator has achieved before.

“The investment in the Greater Anglia network totals around £1.4bn, meaning our train services will be transformed on a scale rarely seen in the industry. What we are about to deliver is a once in a career moment and it’s a tremendous project of which to be a part.

“Our new franchise began on 16 October 2016 and it proved a watershed moment for the region. Up to that point, the railway in the East of England had lacked investment when compared to other parts of the country, but this is changing. The longer franchise we received means there’s more opportunity for capital investment.

“The Anglia region has had some of the oldest trains operating on the UK rail network. Over the years, our customers have travelled on trains that are clearly not state of the art, including 40 year old diesel trains that have travelled millions of miles during their working life – but soon this won’t be the case.

“In the single biggest full fleet replacement in the history of rail franchises since rail franchises began, we will replace all of our trains. Our current eight different types of electric and diesel trains will be replaced by three types, which will prove more versatile and make maintenance more straightforward. More than 1,000 new carriages have been ordered, with the first new trains already out and about being tested on the network.

“In just over a year, we’ll be operating an entirely new fleet of trains. Our customers will benefit from more reliable trains, greater capacity, a more comfortable travelling environment and better facilities. Every single train will have air conditioning, plug and USB points, fast free wifi and better passenger information screens.

“The quality of our trains will go from the bottom of the league table to amongst the best on the UK network. No one has achieved this on such a great scale before,” explains Jamie. “Every single service on every route we serve will benefit from new trains, whether they are on the east or west of our patch, on a mainline or a rural branch line.

“On the Great Eastern mainline, the May timetable change will see four services introduced running between Norwich and London in 90 minutes, a long-held aspiration and a substantial cut in the journey time. As more new trains are brought into service, we’ll introduce more of these quicker journeys in subsequent timetable changes.

“The ‘Norwich in 90’ campaign was supported by the business community, stakeholders around the region and underpinned by the work of the Great Eastern task force. The improvement in journey times will make London a more feasible commute from Norwich. 

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IN FRAST RUCTU R E A ND T RA N S PO RT Gre ate r A ng l i a



JAMIE BURLES Managing Director, Greater Anglia greateranglia.co.uk

“On our rural branch lines, customers will go from travelling on one or two carriage trains to intercity style trains – this is the scale of the change that’s taking place. The growth in passenger numbers on our rural routes has been particularly strong and I’m pleased we’ll be revolutionising our customers’ experience.

“We’re also going to have some of the best trains in the country serving our seaside towns in support of the region’s tourism. All in all, the new trains on our network will be good for our customers and good for the growth of the East Anglian economy too.”

“We’re improving the customer experience in other ways too,” explains Jamie. “By making claiming compensation for delays easier and reducing the threshold for compensation to 15 minutes. Whilst we’re replacing all of the customer information screens at our stations, providing better, clearer journey information.

“Almost two thirds of the new trains will be manufactured in the UK at the Bombardier factory in Derby, supporting many UK jobs. These longer, better trains will serve key commuter towns on our network, with the aim that everyone that travels with us will have a seat.

“In addition, our ‘always listening survey’ brings together customer feedback from different streams in real time, so we know how customers feel about our services, every minute of every day. We can see the touch points that need improvement almost immediately, so we can take action promptly.

“Whilst around one third of the new trains will come from Swiss-manufacturer Stadler, including longer intercity electric trains, plus state of the art bi-mode trains, capable of switching from electric to diesel power as the need arises.

“Every year the retail price index announced by the chancellor in June is used by the government to set the majority of fares and as a train operator, we are contractually obliged to introduce price rises in line with this inflationary rise. In East Anglia, our customers know their fares are being reinvested in better train services because they can see the huge amount of physical improvements that are going on around the region.

“The improvements are not restricted to the new trains, for in order to facilitate operating longer trains our Crown Point Depot is being remodelled.

Station platforms are being lengthened and Network Rail is hard at work making improvements to the track, signalling and wires that make up the railway infrastructure.

“In addition, we’ve been focusing our efforts on improving the reliability of our existing train fleet with a £20m investment programme for which we recently received a Golden Whistle Award for ‘Best Performance’ for our intercity services.”

The Institution of Railway Operators measured all UK train services which arrived within 59 seconds of their scheduled time, including at all

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intermediate stations on the journey rather than just at the destination station, for a year up to 8 December 2018. Their findings showed that Greater Anglia’s intercity services achieved the best punctuality score of all the intercity services across the country.

“Running 1,300 passenger train services a day, necessitates having a finely tuned logistical operation in place which is all the more complex given our trains start their journeys at multiple locations across our network and are maintained at a number of facilities around the region.

“Our entire operations are overseen by our control centre, of which visitors are often surprised by the sheer scale – you can see every inch of the rail network and the position of every train. It is the beating heart that keeps our trains running through the day and much of the night.”

IN F RASTRU CTU RE AN D TRAN SP ORT CL E G G Const r uc t ion L i m i te d

Premier Inn, Leeds

CLEGG CONSTRUCTION EXPANDING INTO THE EAST OF ENGLAND Clegg Construction has opened an office in Cambridge as part of expansion plans to develop a regional business covering the East of England.

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urrently Clegg Construction’s head office is based in Nottingham and the company has another office in Leeds.

The Cambridge office is led by Rachel Johns MCIOB, who has 30 years’ experience in the construction industry.

CLEGG CONSTRUCTION LIMITED cleggconstruction.co.uk

She is leading on the delivery of the Scape Regional Construction Framework which provides construction services for public sector projects in the Midlands and East of England. Each partner was selected for their extensive local knowledge and demonstrable experience of working collaboratively to deliver a range of public sector projects.

The framework has been developed to create a model that would offer the public sector an element of choice of contractor and ensure

that they work with a team that has extensive knowledge of the Midlands and East of England.

The new framework delivers projects from up to 750k to £5m and the four-year framework will have a total value of £1.1bn.

Rachel, Framework and Business Development Manager, said she was delighted to have been appointed to lead the Cambridge office. “I have over 30 years’ experience in the construction industry all within East Anglia. I have a strong commercial background working with a number of local main contractors in a variety of surveying and estimating roles. Over the last 10 years I have moved into more client facing roles, managing a number of local, regional and national frameworks, the last 18 months I have focussed on business development in the Cambridgeshire region.”

Clegg Construction Ltd, a subsidiary of Clegg Group Ltd, is a large construction company based in the Midlands and east of England. We are a solution-focused main contractor with extensive multi-sector project experience in Design and Build, Traditional and Framework Contracts.

Each project we undertake is completed with the same high level of professionalism and skill; with a complete emphasis on customer care.

Please contact Rachel Johns, Framework and business development manager 0792 1 471 572

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IN FRAST RUCTU R E A ND T RA N S PO RT Pe e l Por t s Gre at Ya r mo uth

THE PORT THAT

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IN F RASTRU CTU RE AN D TRAN SP ORT Pe el Por t s Gre at Yar mo ut h

NEVER SLEEPS One of the UK’s most easterly ports, Great Yarmouth has established itself as a leading offshore energy port, with more than 50-years’ experience supporting the sector.

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IN FRAST RUCTU R E A ND T RA N S PO RT Pe e l Por t s Gre at Ya r mo uth

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n this issue, we speak to Ranjit Singh Nagra, Sales Manager, about the port’s operations through time and tide, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and learn more about their role in the emerging offshore renewable energy industry.

To date, the largest vessel to enter the harbour has been the GLOVIS SPLENDOR, a vehicle carrier which unloaded a staggering cargo of 3,300 cars destined for dealerships across the UK – but this record may soon be superseded.

Once an important fishing port, famous for herrings, today you’ll find a modern, multipurpose port which integrates the new, deepwater outer harbour with a well-established river port.

Acquired by Peel Ports in 2015, Great Yarmouth now benefits from the expertise of one of the largest groups to manage ports across the UK and Ireland. Their portfolio includes Liverpool, Dublin, Clydeport and London Medway – to name but a few.

What you may not know is that Peel Ports Great Yarmouth offers the shortest North Sea crossing to the northern continental European ports.

Meaning supplies are handled for a variety of industries including the offshore, renewable, decommissioning, agri-bulk, aggregates and automotive markets. Providing deep water berths and a 24-hour piloting service, unlike some other ports, its operations are rarely restricted by tidal times.

In 2007 under its previous owners, Peel Ports Great Yarmouth underwent a huge improvement programme, which saw the outer harbour constructed enabling larger vessels to berth at the port. Now it is one of a small number of UK ports capable of loading vessels over 13,000 tonnes.

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Customers benefit from infrastructure, facilities and services to which they may not otherwise have access. Whilst the well-established logistics and supply chain enables cargo to be transported across the UK, Ireland and beyond, quickly and efficiently.

“We work closely with other businesses,” Ranjit explains, “so our customers benefit from a comprehensive and responsive supply chain.”

Under Peel Ports’ ownership, investment in the port has continued apace. Recently, over £12 million has been invested in upgrades to the outer harbour, including creating a 130,000 square meter supply base for offshore wind farm construction support.

IN F RASTRU CTU RE AN D TRAN SP ORT Pe el Por t s Gre at Yar mo ut h

The investment has also included new cranes in-river and in the outer harbour, allowing greater amounts of cargo to be transferred in a shorter amount of time, and providing a more productive and flexible service for customers.

Since our last issue, the latest investments have included a new Pilot boat and a new crane with an 84 t lifting capacity. The LHM280 crane – which was purchased from Liebherr – is capable of turning over up to 35 Cycles per Hour, providing increased cargo handling capabilities. Thereby allowing for mobilisation and demobilisation processes to be shortened.

Already the port’s operational efficiency and capacity for unitised, non-unitised and bulk cargoes for all commodities has been substantially increased – but further improvements are afoot.

The East of England, as we’ve learnt, provides the perfect mix of physical and locational characteristics such as shallow waters, consistent wind speeds and proximity to key UK and European port locations, creating a favourable environment for offshore wind production.

Whilst Peel Ports Great Yarmouth itself, sits in a strategic position making it the ideal base for reaching the southern North Sea oil and gas fields, plus existing and planned offshore wind farm developments off the east coast. Located on a 40 acre site, the port also offers much scope for development.

This is all the more significant when you realise that nearly 4GW of offshore wind power is operational off the East of England, accounting for 52% of the UK’s current 7.5GW installed capacity – and this is set to grow substantially over the coming years.

Hand in hand with this development comes the opportunity to create more jobs, which is good for the community and good for the regional economy too.

So it’s no surprise that more investment is planned at Peel Ports Great Yarmouth, as part of the East of England’s role in the government-industry Offshore Wind Sector Deal.

Peel Ports themselves, are set to recruit more people in Great Yarmouth. Whilst the next generation of engineers is being encouraged with their apprenticeship scheme.

Through this additional investment, offshore wind farm development will be supported through preassembly, construction, installation, operations and management.

In talking to Ranjit, it is apparent that their skilled team is integral to the port’s success. “We have an agile and supportive team here, who are experienced in everything from engineering to operations.

“We are planning further significant expansion at the outer harbour to create a centre of excellence for operations and management, including 350m of extra berthing space and about 100,000sqm of additional land,” explains Ranjit.

“These facilities will include an extended quayside space with deep water access, a new training centre, and space to accommodate at least one major manufacturer of wind turbine components.

“With our involvement and other businesses across the region, the cumulative capacity in operations and development off the East of England is 14.5GW, enough to meet approximately half of the Sector Deal ambition for 2030.”

“They turn their skills to a multitude of scenarios and are well versed in handling a wide range of commodities through the port, providing clients with all the technical information and support they need.

“Solution driven, they always find a way to get the job done for our customers, facilitating the transportation of cargo between our ports, across the UK, Europe and further afield.”

RANJIT SINGH NAGRA Sales Manager Peel Ports Great Yarmouth

Peel Ports Great Yarmouth it is clear is on the right track, setting sail towards a bright future.

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IN FRAST RUCTU R E A ND T RA N S PO RT Ne t wor k R a i l

NETWORK RAIL LOOKS AHEAD TO THE NEXT FIVE YEARS The Anglia route runs some of the most important rail infrastructure in the UK. Our services connect millions of people to city, town and country in a fast-growing region which is vital to the City of London, and a gateway to major UK ports and airports in London and the South East.

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etween 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2024 we will invest £2.2bn in running, maintaining and improving Anglia’s railway for passengers and freight users. A high performing railway is a key driver to economic growth, making the region a place where people want to live, work and invest. Our investment during this time, known as Control Period 6 (CP6), is critical to achieving this.

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This additional investment will pose challenges to the route, with even greater capacity demands on the network. Anglia is expected to see a significant growth in passenger numbers and the complete replacement of Greater Anglia rolling stock. This means that the route will be stretched to improve performance, and we must deliver even more in CP6 to meet the same robust standards we do today.

IN F RASTRU CTU RE AN D TRAN SP ORT Ne t wor k R a i l

Image credit: Peter Devlin

The plan focuses on making improvements to what matters most to passengers and freight users, targeting punctuality and reliability and working much more closely with train operating companies.

Some of the key work in Anglia’s five-year delivery plan includes: £950 million to maintain and operate our network; £400 million to renew or refurbish nearly a quarter of our track; £350 million to improve our signalling and level crossings, including major works in Clacton and Cambridge; £250 million to renew or repair bridges, embankments, cuttings and structures, including refurbishing the roof at Liverpool Street; £200 million to complete renewals of overhead line equipment on the southern end of the Great Eastern main line, and undertake similar works across the line out of Fenchurch Street.

We are building on a solid base of improvements delivered as part of CP5 which include: £60.4m investment to transform the Felixstowe branch line by installing 1.4km track allowing the line to operate more effectively, giving the flexibility needed to run more freight trains as well as improve the reliability of existing passenger services £170m investment in the Lee Valley Rail programme to increase capacity on the West Anglia Main line to allow two extra trains per hour in each direction to operate between Stratford and Meridian Water, reducing congestion and journey times for passengers.

The major improvements to the Great Eastern main line infrastructure and stations to support TfL Rail services which will eventually become the Elizabeth Line (formerly known as Crossrail) when the central tunnel section opens.

Completion of a £46m upgrade to the overhead wires on the Southend Victoria line and an increase in services across the region supported by new timetables.

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IN FRAST RUCTU R E A ND T RA N S PO RT Ne t wor k R a i l

Investment in the upgrade of the Wherry lines between Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft to transform the Victoria era signalling system to a more modern system, improving safety and operational efficiency.

NETWORK RAIL networkrail.co.uk

A new station at Cambridge North, helping to support the growth of the region by encouraging new business to the area, as well as aid the expansion of the Science Park and St John’s Innovation Centre.

These CP5 improvements, combined with efficiencies in our operation, delivering engineering work with better access and cost planning, as well as a much safer workforce is our focus, however, we know that despite many good days, train performance is not consistently good enough. We know we need to do more for our passengers and freight users, and we are determined to do better.

An ageing asset base and deferral of renewals from CP5 also means an unprecedented level of renewals and refurbishments coming together in CP6 that will make the railway more reliable and reduce delays. This will require us to carefully balance the need to close the railway while we carry out these works to keep passengers moving.

We have joint plans in place with train and freight operating partners to enable us to build on our current day-to-day performance, looking at all aspects of how to prevent delays and respond more quickly to resolve them when they do occur.

We recently announced a ÂŁ10m fund to improve punctuality for passengers. This is part of a campaign to address poor performance head on by identifying the most common causes of why trains are delayed and focusing on finding solutions.

The campaign identified eight of the most common causes that delay trains such as signal and track failures, trespass events as well as the time it takes to respond to incidents.

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Staff were invited to submit suggestions on how we could improve our performance. Some of the suggestions which will be funded include: infrastructure improvements such as upgrading the switches and crossings at the Coppermill junction interchange near Tottenham that will make the train service more reliable with fewer speed restrictions; making the rails more resilient in hot weather to reduce the number of temporary speed restrictions and measures to reduce crime such as making it harder for people to trespass on the railway by improving fences and railings.

We are also committed to proactively working with stakeholders in the access planning process to inform how the plans are to be delivered in 2019-2024. Anglia route will also continue to build on our success in attracting and developing third-party funding for railway upgrades that will deliver passenger benefits. Success here relies on all stakeholders coming together and working collaboratively to deliver the transformation that the region needs.

Earlier this year, we announced changes to the organisational structure at Network Rail. Anglia will be one of 13 routes, which will be supported by five Network Rail regions and Anglia part of a new Eastern region. These changes will enable more local decision making, and enable us put a greater focus on improving train performance and putting passengers and customers first. As these changes bed in, each region will publish updated strategic plans, setting out how we will deliver for our stakeholders under the new structure.

It is an exciting time for the Anglia route. We have a clear vision for the future, and a winning team of 2,500 dedicated employees to. deliver a safe, high-performing railway with greater capacity and efficiency to power economic growth in Anglia and the wider UK.

IN F RASTRU CTU RE AN D TRAN SP ORT Hi g hway s E n g l a nd

TRANSFORMING ROADS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND Eighteen months ago, you would have been standing in the middle of the River Great Ouse floodplain, a few miles south of Huntingdon.

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ast forward to the present day and Highways England have just unveiled an incredible feat of construction as the newly built half-mile long River Great Ouse Viaduct is finished.

The viaduct is the largest of the 34 new bridges that will be part of the £1.5 billion Cambridge to Huntingdon scheme that is transforming one of the East of England’s most vital roads. The A14 provides a crucial transport corridor between the West Midlands and East Anglia, and has local, regional, national and international significance.

Being Britain’s biggest road project currently under construction, the new A14 will open to drivers by December 2020. The new three-lane road between Cambridge and Huntingdon is expected to be a motorway and the existing A14 and A1 will also see a wealth of improvements to improve driver experience.

With construction on time and budget, David Bray, the Project Director, is looking forward

to the opening: “Our amazing team has been working incredibly hard to deliver this upgraded A14, and most days we have up to 2,700 staff working across more than 20 miles to build the new roads and bridges that are needed. This is the biggest road building project currently taking place in the country, yet drivers can only see around a quarter of it from the existing road at present.

“Working on this epic project has been remarkable so far: from seeing the new road emerge as we moved earth into place for its foundations, to the wide array of bridges and structures being built, the fantastic discoveries of our archaeological team and the industry-leading work our environmental team is carrying out.”

This isn’t the only major road scheme taking place in the eastern region helping to unlock a great deal of local and national economic benefits, as well as cutting congestion and journey times for all drivers.

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IN FRAST RUCTU R E A ND T RA N S PO RT H i g hway s E ng l a nd

Late last year, Highways England revealed updated plans for the Lower Thames Crossing between Kent and Essex – which will be Britain’s biggest road project since the M25 was constructed 30 years ago. The 14.5-mile route will nearly double road capacity across the River Thames and almost halve northbound journey times at the Dartford Crossing when it opens in 2027.

A third major scheme that is in the works is the upgrade of the A428, which will create a new 10-mile stretch of dual carriageway between the Black Cat roundabout on the A1 and the Caxton Gibbet junction of the A428, reshaping one of the region’s most congested roads and junctions.

Working on this epic project has been remarkable so far: from seeing the new road emerge as we moved earth into place for its foundations, to the wide array of bridges and structures being built.

The project will create a new, three-lane road connecting the M2 near Rochester and the M25 in Essex between North and South Ockenden. It will also include a 2.5-mile-long tunnel under the Thames between Gravesend and Tilbury – the longest road tunnel in the UK – and, at 50 feet wide, the third largest bored tunnel in the world.

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In a project that will improve a key east-west road link, journeys on the A1, the A421 and the A428 will see a new three tier junction at the Black Cat roundabout, allowing drivers to pass through the junction uninterrupted, while keeping the roundabout clear for vehicles making

turns between roads.

With the preferred route announced in February this year, the public will get a chance to have

IN F RASTRU CTU RE AN D TRAN SP ORT Hi g hway s E n g l a nd

their say on the plans when a public consultation launches in the summer.

Highways England project lead, Lee Galloway, is confident the new A428 will complement other road upgrades in the region delivering shorter journey times: “This major new dual carriageway between St Neots and Cambridge and upgrade for the Black Cat junction will mean quicker and safer journeys for people and will also boost the economy and unlock future housing.

“As well as significant improvements locally, the project will be a vital component in improving the regional and national road network. The improvements will complement our £1.5bn A14 upgrade and form part of a wider transformation of road links between Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Oxford.”

Another planned road scheme that the public will have a chance to express their views on this year is the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway. Home to 3.3 million people, for decades the Oxford to Cambridge arc has been a hub of learning, economic growth and innovation powering Britain’s economy.

issues such as congestion, slow speeds, poor journey time reliability and no single route to travel from end to end. By 2030, Highways England hopes to deliver a fast, high-quality road link between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge filling in a missing 30-mile gap in the network.

As well as the major projects, Highways England also has a programme of work delivering renewals, improvements and routine maintenance to the existing roads in the region. This year, more than £60 million will be spent on enhancing roads in the East of England. This will include work such as resurfacing roads and bridge joint repairs, the creation of cycle lanes, and of course, litter picking and pothole repairs.

HIGHWAYS ENGLAND highwaysengland.co.uk

Safety is at the heart of everything Highways England does, and the company has the goal of ensuring that everyone gets home safe and well.

While working to deliver a more dependable, durable and most importantly safe road network, Highways England asks drivers to show extra respect to its traffic officers and contractors working on the upgrades as they approach and pass through any roadworks.

Despite this, the east-west transport connection between these areas is notoriously poor with

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IN T E RVI E W

DEVELOPING CAPABLE LEADERS - WHAT BUSINESS CAN LEARN FROM THE ARMY Colonel Adam Fraser-Hitchen served as a regular soldier for 30 years having begun his career as a Private soldier in 1986. He has served on multiple operational tours in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

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e is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow member of the Society of Operations Engineers (SOE) and alumnus of RMA Sandhurst and the Windsor Leadership Trust. Adam now owns a business engineering consultancy (Dragonfly Directors), is a serving member of the Army Reserve and is the Deputy Commander (Reserves) of 7th Infantry Brigade (The Desert Rats) – East Anglia’s local infantry brigade.

Throughout my time as a professional soldier, I have always been struck by the business acumen of the officers and soldiers around me; business acumen that is not often appreciated by those outside of the military and, given the military’s often alien language, understood even less.

Let us consider the British Army’s most junior command appointment, the basic building block on which the entire Army delivers its business. We have in our 23-year old corporal an individual who is responsible for the business health, in the widest sense, of seven other soldiers. Our corporal delivers a junior leadership and management function, often in difficult environments, which covers training, equipment, personal development, infrastructure, regulation, IT and logistics. And while we may draw parallels between our young corporal and the emerging manager on the high street, we would all recognise that risk of failure on the high street rarely involves life or death decisions and the potential to make international headlines before teatime.

The Army’s approach to inculcating leadership responsibilities is by necessity almost immediate in an individual’s development path.

And if we go on to consider the deployable Field Army’s most senior command appointment, our 52-year old lieutenant-general has the same responsibilities as our corporal but for a business with some 50,000 people, currently dispersed across 55 different countries, who influences a People/ Equipment/Training budget of some £9 bn per annum, and has a level of ministerial interest that is managed on a weekly basis. The risk of failure, in delivering the Army’s key purpose of Warfighting, is for most almost too significant to even contemplate.

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However, while the British Army’s operating environment is often complex and high risk, the approach to delivering military output has parallels with any other UK business that pursues global reach and seeks to maximise talent. Did you know for example, that the Army has consistently featured in Stonewall’s top 100 employers since 2014, is the largest apprenticeship employer-provider in the UK, and has a system of personal development that I have yet to see an equal to in industry. Additionally, the Army currently has 13.8% Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) personnel and 10% female representation; numbers that are increasing year on year. There is no doubt that the Army can continue to learn from Industry leading practice, although you will appreciate why I think Industry may be able to gain much from the Army’s lived experience and competencies. I hope this article does just that.

Before I cite two specific examples of the Army’s approach that may benefit other businesses in their application, I would highlight the centrality of investing in and developing capable leaders.

Without capable leaders, at every level, the ability for any business to reach its full potential is lost. In this pursuit, I would offer four Army practices that I have both experienced and sought to deliver. Firstly, ‘lead by example’. There are very few situations, if any, where actions do not speak louder than words.

In personally delivering what you ask of others, the need to convince often disappears. Whether morally or physically, personal demonstration speaks volumes. Secondly, ‘delegate leadership responsibility to the lowest levels’. General Mattis, a renowned US Marine leader and former US Secretary of Defense, noted that you should ‘delegate to the lowest capable level to get the job done...’. In doing so, I have seen numerous and hitherto unnoticed team members do remarkable things on very difficult days. Try it.

The third approach is really the product of the first two. ‘Mutual Trust’ between all employees, based on professional competence, doing the right thing at the right time, and placing people at the centre of your operation can generate a pace of activity that is aligned to the business output, outpacing

IN TERVI EW

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IN T E RVI E W

any of your competitors. And finally, a tool designed to unify your people. A flag under which they rally, delivering the product in a way you would wish it to be delivered; the motto. I am seized by the power of the motto. So much so that I set out, with my wife and business partner, to articulate these thoughts in a recently published book1. As we note in the book’s introduction: Mottos have been used as a simple way to link groups of human beings to their deepest values and goals since the Middle Ages. In the same way, with words of inspiration, these mottos helped form the behaviours that moulded the very backbone of those military personnel that have fought to protect the realm for over 350 years. The history of the British Army stretches back to 1660. Raised for different purposes and from different areas across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the regiments’ character and approach were guided by a specific motto. ... the authors seek to provide a view on how historic words intended to inspire a military audience have real resonance in a contemporary business environment. ... Safe to say, these mottos have stood the test of time in austere and complex environments; they have enthused those that have gone before us to achieve the unachievable. There are more similarities between business and war than you may think.

Two specific examples of the Army’s approach to life are noted below. The mottos of the Royal Tank Regiment and the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment belie business insights that are as applicable to the boardroom as they are to the shop floor, and business applications that are agnostic of the environment they apply to (be it military or civilian). Firstly, I would highlight the Royal Tank Regiment whose motto is ‘Fear Naught’.

Business Leadership Insight. Business opportunity presents itself in fleeting windows of time. The ability to forecast and recognise opportunity is best achieved when courage to step into the unknown triumphs over the fear of change.

Fear is a natural reaction to the unknown. Accepting and overcoming this provides the business strength to get ahead of your competitors.

Business Application. Get into the habit of taking yourself out of your comfort zone; if you do not feel fear, question whether you are developing as well you might. Be comfortable with ambiguity and say ‘yes’ to every opportunity presented; a true understanding and appreciation of the opportunity will catch up later.

Secondly, I would introduce the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment whose motto is ‘Unconquered I Serve’.

Business Leadership Insight. It is a reality of industry that the business leader will encounter obstacles at every turn, from reducing resources to

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staff objections to change. The engine that powers through such challenges is an individual’s ‘drive’. The fuel for the engine, ensuring the drive never fails, is ‘ambition’. Ambition, which breeds success, is infectious.

Business Application. Over time, your drive to succeed has the potential to catapult you beyond those with greater skills and experience. Strive to understand the ambition that drives your activity and your approach in realising it. To ensure constructive drive, seek to nest your ambition within the good of the company and the people within it.

The reality of military business and any other Industry-orientated business is that capable leaders at every level are needed to maximise an organisation’s potential. If you choose, as the Army does, to invest in this often-unappreciated foundation, the long-term dividends will only impress. In a business environment that feels evermore complex, placing your people first will allow them to add demonstrable value to the team’s synergy. For good reason, the Army’s insistence on creating a ‘sense of belonging’, underpinned by clearly defined values and standards2, and often catalysed by a regimental motto, is driven by the need for soldiers at all levels to overcome difficult challenges on difficult days. I would implore you to consider these ‘tools’; they have utility in every business space.

1 ‘The Power of the Motto’ available at Amazon Books.

2 Respect, Selfless Commitment, Courage, Loyalty, Integrity and Discipline.

COLONEL ADAM FRASER-HITCHEN Author, The Power of the Motto

IN TERVI EW

Get into the habit of taking yourself out of your comfort zone; if you do not feel fear, question whether you are developing as well you might. Be comfortable with ambiguity and say ‘yes’ to every opportunity presented; a true understanding and appreciation of the opportunity will catch up later.

COLONEL ADAM FRASER-HITCHEN AUTHOR, THE POWER OF THE MOTTO

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EN ERGY FOCUS EEEGR

DECOMMISSIONING Imagine an enterprise that has the potential to earn a substantial portion of a projected £15 billion. This is the amount forecast to be spent on oil and gas decommissioning in the whole of the UK North Sea over the next ten years.

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ook at the southern North Sea alone and decommissioning work is predicted to be worth £2.5 billion in the UK Sector, add the Dutch sector and this spend rises to around £4.5 billion. That’s about £400 million a year over the next ten years.

One region of the UK is particularly well-placed to undertake this work - East Anglia. Working to ensure the region benefits from this opportunity is the ‘Late Life & Decommissioning Special Interest Group’ (SIG).

A joint initiative between the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) and Decom North Sea, the SIG has operator and supply chain membership, in addition, to support from the Oil and Gas Authority and Oil & Gas UK. Julian Manning, the group’s Chair, and Stuart Wordsworth, the Vice-Chair, discuss their work to bring revenue and employment to the region by developing a sustainable decommissioning sector.

Together, Julian and Stuart have over 50 years’ experience of the oil and gas industry and strong links with East Anglia. In this issue, they speak to Ellen Rossiter about the opportunities that exist and the challenge that remains.

First, we need to step back to the 1960s when

gas was first found in the southern North Sea. Over the next few decades, wells were drilled and infrastructure built, but now much of this is coming towards the end of its design life.

“There is a lot of ‘late life’ work going on which aims to extend the use of these assets. This includes Inspection, Repair and Maintenance (IRM) work,” explains Stuart. “In addition, some operators are exploring the possibility of drilling new wells to boost production so a business case can be made to extend the life of the existing infrastructure.

“Another aspect of ‘late life’ work focuses on Maximising Economic Recovery (MER) which is all about hub strategy. Key parts of the infrastructure act as hubs for the North Sea, like the onshore terminals of major operators which many smaller operators utilise too. It’s important we don’t see these decommissioned prematurely as so many companies depend upon them.

“Once all of these opportunities for late life work have been exhausted, the removal of these assets is the decommissioning element. The decommissioning industry has been driven by activity in the Gulf of Mexico, where hurricanes damaged the platforms and they had to be decommissioned, replaced or repaired.

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E N E R GY FOC U S EEEGR

“It’s been estimated that given the age of the infrastructure, the next decommissioning hot spot will be in the UK, in the southern North Sea and this presents a great opportunity for East Anglia.

EEEGR eeegr.com

“Hundreds of platforms and the associated subsea equipment will need to be decommissioned and we want to see this work done properly, efficiently and carried out from this region.

“The people, the engineering, the project management and the vessels all usually come from outside of East Anglia, so the region sees little of the revenue from the work and that’s what we’re trying to change.

We want the region to be recognised as capable of carrying out this work, to successfully bid for it and ideally to use local people to carry it out.

“East Anglia is ideally situated to deliver late life and decommissioning work to the whole of the Southern Gas Basin, for both the UK and the Dutch sectors - we are striving to ensure East Anglia is in a good position to achieve this.

“We’ve been working for a number of years now to understand the size of the challenge and to see

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what can be done to capture this workload in the region,” explains Stuart.

“We want the region to be recognised as capable of carrying out this work, to successfully bid for it and ideally to use local people to carry it out.

“If we can get the project teams to work out of the region, supply the vessels and equipment from the likes of Lowestoft or Great Yarmouth and train the local workforce, we can go about building a sustainable business for the region.

EN ERGY FOCUS EEEGR

“It’s forecast this work will last for at least 20 years when taking into account the UK and Dutch sectors of the southern North Sea, then there is the global export potential too.

“After the UK, the next hot spots of decommissioning activity are likely to be in Asia, West Africa and the Middle East. So if we build up this expertise in East Anglia, we can export it globally – creating a sustainable industry.

“In order to capture this work in East Anglia and to make the most of the export market, there is much work that needs to be done. We need to encourage more companies to invest here, and to do this we need to make the region more attractive to them.

“Investing in the infrastructure, providing the right facilities, creating more enterprise zones with attractive business rates, making better use of brownfield sites, ensuring the right equipment is situated in the region and offering appropriate training - is all part of the work that remains to be done.

“Some operators have invested in the region, with offices, facilities and employees based in Norfolk and as the decommissioning work gathers pace we want to see more companies following suit, but at the moment many are managed from outside the region.

“Some companies relocated to Scotland when oil was found, we want to make East Anglia attractive to them once again, so they’ll work from here and all of these factors; infrastructure, facilities, rates, equipment and training are crucial in achieving this goal.

“We are reaching out to stakeholders across the region including Pete Aldous MP, the New Anglia LEP, the local authorities in Norfolk, Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, the ports, East Coast College and UEA so that we take an aligned approach and make the most of this opportunity.

“We’ve also reached out to the National Decommissioning Centre and the Oil and Gas Technology Centre in Aberdeen, plus the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University to show we want to work in partnership with them, so we develop the right skills here.

“Decommissioning has been underway in the southern North Sea for the last ten years, but generally speaking only a small percentage of spend is secured within the region. This presents an opportunity for change that will have a positive impact for all stakeholders in the region.

“Much additional revenue could be brought into the region - if we prepare properly and invest in the infrastructure and facilities needed to undertake this work.

(L-R) Julian Manning, MP Peter Aldous and Stuart Wordsworth

that we all work together to make the most of these upcoming opportunities. We don’t want them to pass by East Anglia.

“In addition, we’ve reached out to the Dutch decommissioning and reuse body Nexstep to leverage synergies and create efficiencies within the consolidated southern North Sea gas basin.

The consolidated level of work is substantial and provides a basis for work stretching beyond the next 10-15 years. In summary: Over 1,200 wells need to be abandoned and deconstructed Over 250 Marine structures need to be removed Over 5,000 km of pipelines must be abandoned or removed “The region has every opportunity to be pivotal in global shallow water decommissioning activities and be recognised as a centre of excellence to draw resources from in the future. Our aim is to create an awareness of the regions resources whilst establishing the framework to build out a world class capability.”

“Time is of the essence and we don’t have much time to get it right. That’s why it’s so important

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E N E R GY FOC U S

S e a b e d S co u r Cont rol S y s tems Ltd

ENERGY INDUSTRY SUPPLIER’S GLOBAL SUCCESS Seabed Scour Control Systems Ltd (SSCS™) is acknowledged as a world leader in the provision of Frond Scour Protection Systems for the global Oil and Gas and Renewable Energy Industries.

SSCS was established to meet the demand from the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry to address the impact of seabed scour on platforms, pipelines and similar subsea structures installed initially in the UK North Sea, resulting in the successful development and deployment of the SSCS Frond Mat.

SSCS Lifting operates as a division of SSCS and combines expertise with many years’ experience and are not only manufacturers and suppliers of lifting products but additionally offer a genuine problemsolving capability for all lifting and lashing problems covering all areas of testing and certification.

SSCS has since extended its marketing area of operations worldwide and from its headquarters in Great Yarmouth is meeting customer requirements in regions including the Far East, Middle East, the USA and China.

The company operates a quality assurance system to BS EN ISO 9001 which is assessed by LRQA and SSCS Lifting is approved to DNV 2.7-1 for the manufacture of lifting sling assemblies for offshore containers as well as being full members of the LEEA (Lifting Equipment Engineers Association).

To complement the services it was already successfully providing, SSCS subsequently added to this with the acquisition of Marricks in 1993 and Hoistpalm in 1994 and incorporating them to form SSCS Lifting which is now equally acknowledged for its professionalism and ability to rapidly respond to and meet customer demands.

Attention to safety and equipment in every operation is paramount to SSCS and this is maintained by a programme of continuous training and certification throughout its entire operations.

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Testing and certification work is supported by a fully computerised certification management system, which maintains a comprehensive client database with records of each individual item of equipment which can be used to compile factory, site, vessel, rig or platform registers.

An extensive range of test equipment can offer both on-site and a call out service to inspect, test and certify lifting equipment and machinery.

Additionally, Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)

EN ERGY FOCUS

S e a b e d S co ur Cont rol S y ste m s L td

including Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI) and Dye Penetrant (DP) and other forms of NDT including Visual Weld Testing (VT).

SSCS Lifting continue to invest and train staff to the highest level, to always provide the best Lifting expertise and service for our customers. Already this year another one of our LEEA engineers has passed his Visual Testing course.

SSCS Lifting is unique in the fact that all Webbing Slings and Roundslings are manufactured in house with 100% UK sourced materials and hand made by expert machinists. SSCS’s devotion to produce the highest quality products has led to the Webbing department this year manufacturing non-stop producing thousands of slings and buckles for several large orders and bespoke slings for complex projects.

SSCS Subsea has remained busy throughout the winter, the most recent project was to provide scour protection to a pipeline in the North Sea. SSCS have been working on projects in the North Sea for 35 years and in fact, SSCS’s first ever project in 1984 was to protect a pipeline in the North Sea. This recent project was another repeat job that SSCS has been providing to a leading Independent Exploration and Production Company for many years due to the continued success of the SSCS Frond Mats.

The Fronded Concrete Mattress solution was provided jointly by SSCS and Subsea Protection Systems (SPS) – specialists in design, manufacture and supply of concrete – with the concrete mattresses offering immediate impact protection while the SSCS Fronds prevent scour. As world leaders in their respective fields, SSCS and SPS have been working closely together for many years to provide such hybrid Frond and concrete solutions, including for pipeline and cable protection and stabilisation.

Another project SSCS supplied this year was for Total E&P Myanmar (Total) for one of their pipelines in the Yadana field in the Andaman Sea which required freespan rectification and future protection from scour. A ‘freespan’ is a stretch of pipeline where the seabed supporting it has been scoured away leaving the pipeline suspended, increasing the risk of pipeline fatigue and, in extreme cases, fracturing. SSCS supplied Mats in early February with the installation scheduled for end of March, early April. When Total encountered the scour issues, they immediately instructed their installation contractors to use SSCS, due to the success of previous projects for which they utilised SSCS Frond Mats.

SSCS are also taking massive steps forward in the international wind farm market including in China where we have been exporting to for approximately 2 decades. In this time the SSCS Frond Mat has built a successful reputation in the Oil and Gas industry and is widely used by the Oil & Gas majors SINOPEC

& CNPC. This has helped give SSCS the opportunity to work on the new and developing Chinese offshore windfarms.

Last year SSCS were contracted to provide a demonstration of the SSCS Frond Mats for the wind turbine foundations on the Binhai North H2 windfarm, which is located off the coast of Lianyungang in the Yellow Sea. The success of the SSCS Frond Mats was evident from the results of the 3month post installation survey as the turbines at which the Mats were placed had zero scour and had accumulated 15-20cm of sediment creating natural banks and permanently stabilising the seabed.

Not only are the SSCS Frond Mats being used on the other side of the world to protect wind farms but SSCS are in close collaboration with UK and EU windfarm owners and operators. We are currently working with a leading offshore wind developer and a consortium of leading companies within their respective fields on a project to develop and demonstrate a self-installing scour protection system (SISProtect). The £1M project is anticipated to save an average wind farm around £8.6m over its lifetime, based on 2016’s cost reduction monitoring framework. The project is being partially funded by InnovateUK as part of the UK Government’s drive to encourage and promote growth and innovation within the UK offshore wind industry.

SEABED SCOUR CONTOL SYSTEMS LIMITED sscsystems.com

SSCS also support offshore operations by protecting temporary assets from scour, such as Gulf Marine Services (GMS) jack-up rigs used during 2018/19 to provide offshore accommodations for technicians working at East Anglia ONE and Hornsea. These Jack-up vessels have 4 ‘legs’ and when the vessel is in position the legs are lowered to the seabed lifting the vessel out of the water to create a platform.

As the jack-up’s position was in a scour prone environment the leg penetration depth and stability could not be guaranteed resulting in GMS utilising the SSCS Frond Mats to provide immediate and field-proven seabed stability thus eliminating these scouring concerns.

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E N E R GY FOC U S S co t t i s h Powe r

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EN ERGY FOCUS S co t t ishPowe r

SCOTTISHPOWER PLEDGES TO PURSUE MORE OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS IN THE UK Company supports Offshore Wind Sector Deal with pledge to build more offshore wind Plans to engage with Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland on seabed leasing Builds on ScottishPower’s commitment to only generate 100% Green energy Follows record £2billion clean energy investment in UK in 2019 with £6billion by 2022.

150 new jobs being created in UK renewables business alone this year ScottishPower can today confirm that as part of its £6bn investment plan it is actively pursuing future offshore wind projects in England and Scotland to ensure one third of the UK’s electricity can be produced by wind by 2030.

The announcement supports the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, which was unveiled by Energy Minister Claire Perry MP at ScottishPower’s construction and operations hub for its East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm in Lowestoft.

ScottishPower Chief Executive, Keith Anderson, said: “The Offshore Wind Sector Deal will drive the transformation of offshore wind generation, increasing the amount of low-cost, low-carbon generation for the UK and proves that the idea utilities still need to rely on coal and gas is outdated.

“ScottishPower is proof that offshore wind works, we’ve worked tirelessly to bring down costs and, having transitioned to 100% renewable energy, will be building more windfarms to help the UK shift to a cleaner electric economy. Two of our offshore windfarms in East Anglia will replace ALL of the old thermal generation we’ve sold and we are ready to invest more by actively pursuing future offshore projects both north and south of the border.

“We have a fantastic supply chain already in place in the UK, from businesses in and around East Anglia to across England, across Scotland as well as Northern Ireland. The Sector Deal will attract even more businesses in the UK to join the offshore wind supply chain and we are excited to see the transformative impact this will have on our projects.

“Our East Anglia ONE windfarm is the first and biggest project to be delivered under the Government’s supply chain plan and

has the highest UK Content of all, above the current industry average of 50%, ensuring the benefits are felt across the country. We’re pleased the importance of UK businesses is recognised within the Sector Deal investing £250million into the UK supply chain.”

Construction is already under way at the company’s £2.5bn East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm, located 43km off the Suffolk coast. It will see 102 Siemens Gamesa turbines deployed each with a capacity of 7 megawatts, which could in total provide enough clean energy to power the equivalent of more than 630,000 homes annually.

Planning consent has also been gained for its East Anglia THREE windfarm for up to 1,200MW and planning consultations on ScottishPower’s next two large offshore windfarms in the East Anglia zone have begun. If consents are granted, it is anticipated that East Anglia TWO will commence construction in 2024 and East Anglia ONE North will commence construction in 2025.

SCOTTISHPOWER scottishpower.com

Around 3,000 construction jobs are being supported globally by the East Anglia projects and £25million has been spent with suppliers based in East Anglia alone.

Last month ScottishPower set out plans to develop a further 1GW pipeline of onshore wind projects by 2025. Onshore wind remains the lowest cost technology for new electricity generation in the UK and ScottishPower sees substantial opportunities for the continued development of onshore wind projects across Scotland and other areas of the UK.

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E N E R GY FOC U S Have n Powe r L td

WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY – AND CAN IT HELP TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS? “UK businesses should be demanding more from their energy supplier, including support for their sustainability programmes,” says Ipswich-based electricity and services provider Haven Power.

Reducing your costs In 2013, London’s Clapham Junction railway station installed an intelligent lighting system that reduced energy usage by 35% on average. It adjusts the lighting to minimum levels when the station isn’t operational, or switches them off completely when the station’s closed.

The initiative aims to achieve total annual savings of £7–12 million over approximately six years, which means there may be an announcement on the results soon.

Haven Power itself saved 15% on its daily electricity bill within a month of switching its head office from conventional lighting to lightemitting diodes (LEDs). This saving helped fund the installation of 280 solar panels across almost 500 square metres of its south-facing roof. By making the building more energy efficient in these (and other) ways, the supplier targets a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of over 47,000 kilograms a year.

I

n the first of three articles, the company explains what sustainability means and summarises two of the key benefits that it can bring to your business.

Haven Power supplies renewable electricity as standard to UK businesses of all sizes, across multiple industries. Its customers range from local organisations such as Suffolk FA to household names including Thames Water.

Haven Power Ltd www.havenpower.com

According to the supplier, “sustainability embraces environmental, social and economic aspects.

And if a business is sustainable, it shows that it cares about the needs of future generations too. Businesses that align their purpose with a sustainable approach are even more likely to gain the additional advantage of differentiating themselves in the market.”

As part of Drax Group, Haven Power is striving to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future.

It does so by helping businesses to explore their consumption patterns, energy needs and ambitions – and then by finding relevant, affordable and sustainable solutions. Such an approach can help customers to cut spending and achieve their environmental targets, to name just two benefits.

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Achieving your environmental goals Across all sectors, more businesses are using renewable energy to help promote their sustainability and ethical credentials. Haven Power customer Gatwick Airport puts sustainability at the heart of its operations – and has achieved carbon neutral status.

Rachel Thompson, sustainability lead at the airport, said that “Some of our early actions, including the purchase of renewable electricity from Haven Power since 2013, have been important to staying on track with our goals for 2020.”

And next…

Switching to renewable energy is an easy first step for businesses embarking on a sustainability journey. In the next article in this series, Haven Power will consider another of the main benefits – enhanced employee engagement – before concluding with a look at the future of sustainability.

If you’d like to transform your business by adopting a sustainability agenda, or even by switching to renewable electricity, get in touch: contact.us@havenpower.com

EN ERGY FOCUS EV D r i ve r L td

ELECTRIC VEHICLES - ARE YOU READY? EVs have been the biggest disruption to motoring since the combustion engine replaced the horse.

In the last 6 years alone there has been an massive increase in EV registrations of 2400%.

In 2017 Stanford University economist Tony Seba forecasted that in the next 8 years petrol or diesel cars, buses, and trucks will no longer be sold anywhere in the world and the entire market for land transport is going to switch to electrification, leading to a collapse of oil prices and the demise of the petroleum industry as we’ve known it. This is why, as a business, it is imperative that you start planning the phasing out of your fossil fuel vehicles and get ready for the new and cleaner world of EVs and all the benefits that this carries with it.

EVs are a lot cheaper to run than petrol cars, as well as being a clean source of transport.

Because electric vehicles have less mechanical parts than your conventional vehicle, less money will likely need to be spent on maintenance and servicing. As for charging, a full charge will cost roughly £7 in comparison to petrol cars, where a full tank costs around four times that. Tax wise

there are also huge BIK (benefit in kind) savings for your employees and your fleet fuel costs, even if you only have one EV. In fact, you don’t pay any car tax if your vehicle is pure electric, and plug-in cars that emit 75g/km CO2 or less can get up to a 100% discount from the London Congestion Charge.

So, the savings of having and operating electric vehicles ensures cost savings in every respect.

The government currently offers 75% towards the cost of installing work place charging, with up to a maximum of £500 per socket and up to 20 sockets per business, equating to £10,000 per business. This grant is only available until March 2020 or until the pot runs dry. Crucially, you don’t need to have an EV to apply, as it’s about encouraging your employees to switch to a cleaner greener way of driving. Plus, 70-80% of car charging is actually done at home, with home charging grants also being available.

EV Driver specialise in EV charging infrastructure and will help you with every part of the transitioning process to EVs. We’re a Suffolk based business that provides electric vehicle charge point solutions for home, commercial and workplace. But we don’t just install the charging units, we provide charging as a service and we appreciate that every business is different with individual needs. By having an EV charging station you are telling people that you are thinking green and thinking ahead, which is an attractive feature to have and can feed straight into your CSR. It also looks inviting to potential new employees, as helping the environment is a very current talking point - people want to be a part of that.

EV DRIVER LTD www.evdriver.co.uk info@evdriver.co.uk

After all, EVs are the future.

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EN ERGY FOCUS E a st A ng li a O ne

SCOTTISHPOWER RENEWABLES CELEBRATES LANDMARK ‘FIRST BLADE’ FOR EAST ANGLIA ONE WINDFARM The 75-metre long blades are being made at Siemens Gamesa’s Hull factory demonstrating ScottishPower Renewables’ commitment to UK content.

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roduction of the first wind turbine blade for the East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm represents a significant milestone for the project located 43km off the Suffolk coast.

The fibre glass blade has been manufactured by the 850-strong team at Siemens Gamesa’s state-of-theart factory at Green Port Hull, and is the first of 306 which will be manufactured at the site utilising the specialist workforce.

Inspection of the blade, and sign-off by the East Anglia ONE project team, was completed on 7th February. With the blades comparable in length to the wingspan of an Airbus A380, this feat of engineering forms part of the major contract between leading wind energy producer ScottishPower Renewables and Siemens Gamesa to manufacture and install the turbines for the East Anglia ONE Offshore Windfarm.

The £2.5 billion East Anglia ONE project will see 102 Siemens Gamesa turbines deployed, each with a capacity of 7 megawatts; which could in total provide enough clean energy to power the equivalent of more than 630,000 homes annually*.

Charlie Jordan, East Anglia ONE Project Director for ScottishPower Renewables, said: “The manufacture of the first blade from Hull is a fantastic milestone in the development of our windfarm, signalling the start of turbine installation.

“East Anglia ONE will soon be producing clean, renewable energy for the UK, helping to meet the nation’s carbon reduction targets.

“The fabrication of the blades from Siemens Gamesa’s facility in Hull further demonstrates our commitment to spending over 50 percent of the project investment in the UK, ensuring the benefits of East Anglia ONE are felt across the country.”

Following production at the £160 million Green Port factory, the blades will be shipped down the coast to Great Yarmouth, where the turbine components will be pre-assembled following a £5 million co-investment to prepare Peel Ports

Great Yarmouth for construction and installation activities.

Andrew Elmes, Project Manager for Siemens Gamesa, commented: “We are proud to work alongside ScottishPower Renewables in delivering clean energy for the future. The East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm is a world-leading project to be a part of, providing a significant boost to the UK economy and it’s extra special to be able to support it from our amazing factory in Hull.”

This announcement follows ScottishPower Renewables’ £25 million investment in the Port of Lowestoft with the construction of a start-of-the-art operations and maintenance building. The base, at Associated British Ports’ Hamilton Dock, Lowestoft, will see 100 full-time employees manage the day-to-day operations and maintenance activities for East Anglia ONE.

EAST ANGLIA ONE spreastanglia.co.uk

East Anglia ONE is the first of four offshore windfarms ScottishPower Renewables is developing in the region. For more information about East Anglia ONE visit: www.spreastanglia.co.uk

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WOME N I N B U S INES S L ind s e y R i x

STRIKING THE RIGHT NOTE Named as one of the ‘100 women to watch’ in Cranfield University’s female FTSE board report in 2017 and 2018, it’s no surprise that Lindsey Rix has been unanimously elected as the Deputy Chair of the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

“Stepping outside of your comfort zone and taking the opportunities you’re offered, even if they feel too great a challenge, is important when you’re developing your career,” observes Lindsey. “Taking bigger bolder steps can really pay off, broadening your knowledge and experience.”

The wide-ranging experience Lindsey gained provided the springboard that saw her move to Santander in 2008, where her remit was to be part of the leadership team building an SME bank in the UK. “It was a fantastic opportunity,” explains Lindsey. “We were trying to do things differently by offering a new proposition to small and medium size businesses, but it was also a challenging time.

“We were in the heart of the banking crisis. It was a difficult time to be growing a business, but I had a great couple of years building up the team, reaching out to new customers and developing the business.”

Later transferring to work on product marketing and strategy, Lindsey then moved to the private banking division of Santander around the time she had her second child and moved back to Norfolk.

“I wanted my children to benefit from the life that Norfolk has to offer,” explains Lindsey. “Santander were very supportive, so I achieved a good balance between work and my family life.

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indsey’s journey to become an executive within a FTSE 100 company, however, may not have taken the route you’d expect. For having grown up in Norfolk and attended Norwich High School for Girls she initially moved away to pursue a different career.

“As an undergraduate, I studied music in London,” explains Lindsey, “but as my studies progressed I became increasingly interested in a career in the financial services rather than music.” A journey which may not come as a surprise to those of you aware of the much-mooted link between musical and mathematical ability.

Lindsey’s career began when she Joined Barclays graduate leadership programme in 2001, after which she spent eight years in corporate and commercial banking, taking on a variety of roles, including leadership responsibilities from an early stage.

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“In 2014 I joined Aviva as Chief Operating Officer for our UK General Insurance Business, and also being site lead for the 5,500 people we have based in Norwich. After which I became Managing Director (MD) of our personal General Insurance business, before moving to be MD of our Savings and Retirement business.”

When it comes to business it is clear that Lindsey brings a fresh perspective to each new role she accepts, whether it is getting new businesses off the ground, galvanising growth or bringing about change.

To put things in perspective, Aviva has around 15 million customers in the UK and over 30 million worldwide, with a strong presence in Canada, Europe and Asia. They are the UK’s largest composite insurer, whilst their Savings and Retirement business alone has over 4 million customers in the UK.

WO M EN IN BU SINESS L ind s e y R i x

“What I love so much about my role is its diversity,” observes Lindsey, “it takes in every aspect of running a business from risk management to financial control, the challenge is to prioritise my time.

“The very fact that my role is a general management role, means there are individuals in my team who have more expertise in particular areas of business than I do. That’s why it’s so important to listen to your team – they very often have the solutions you require.”

“Building the right team of people is crucial.

Diversity of skills, thought and experience is important in any team, as it helps to make the business the best it can be. You want to challenge your team to win together by embracing diversity.

“Earlier on in my career, I sometimes found I was the sole female sitting on a board or management meeting and I’ve learnt that diverse groups make better decisions. We are here to progressively change the environment in which we work and the business in which we work.

environment that supports a good work life balance for my team too.

“I’ve learnt from experience that it’s easy for your working days to grow longer and your mornings to get earlier – so now I’m very structured about how I approach my week. Working away from Norwich most weeks on Mondays to Wednesdays, I make sure I’m back in Norwich on Thursdays and Fridays, leaving on time to be with my family.

“At Aviva, our biggest focus is on our customers – making sure we deliver for them, providing financial certainty. Our core purpose is to help protect people and to be there when they need us.

“How we look after our customers is also about making our products relevant for them. The pension business is changing rapidly; we have to adapt to a future in which people are working and living longer.

In large organisations, it’s easy to become distanced from your customers, but giving them the opportunity to share their experiences with you first hand is one of the most beneficial things you can do.

“Your team and your customers are why you get up in the morning.

Having the best team, developing a good relationship with them and helping them to flourish is really important.”

Lindsey is mindful of creating a supportive environment at work. “We’ve created an open and supportive environment which enables people to do their best work for our customers and for themselves. Our office design reflects these principles, it’s open plan, so the whole team is approachable.

“Wherever possible we support flexible working too, as we want our team to find the way of working that’s best for them. We’ve also recently introduced equal parental leave to men and women at Aviva – up to 12 months in the UK, including 26 weeks at full pay.

“Striking the right balance between work and family can be a challenge and I’ve been fortunate in the support I’ve received from my employers.

So it’s important for me in turn to create an

“Losing the human touch in the digital age is something which must be avoided. Ensuring we are visible and it’s easy for people to do business with us is crucial.

“In large organisations, it’s easy to become distanced from your customers, but giving them the opportunity to share their experiences with you first hand is one of the most beneficial things you can do.

LINDSEY RIX Deputy Chair, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

“My most valuable time is spent listening to our customers, it’s where I learn the most. If much of your role is office based, I’d always advise getting out on the frontline.”

With her expertise in the financial services, it’s no surprise that Lindsey’s been a valued member of the LEP board since joining the team in 2015.

Now Lindsey is taking this work forward in her new role as Deputy Chair of the LEP board, applying her energy, ideas and expertise to support the region’s business community and delivering the Economic Strategy for Norfolk and Suffolk.

Lindsey is also a great ambassador for the region.

“East Anglia is a fantastic place to live and work, it has a lot to offer,” she explains.

“From a business point of view, there’s a wonderful combination of large businesses and entrepreneurial, innovative and creative start-ups.

It’s a fantastic combination that makes it a vibrant and exciting place of which to be a part.”

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C a m br id ge J ud ge B u s i nes s S cho ol

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C ambr id ge J ud ge B u siness S cho ol

BRINGING DIVERSITY TO THE BOARD TABLE – AND BEYOND The underrepresentation of women on executive boards has garnered media attention in recent months.

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hat’s gained less attention are the striking benefits diverse boards bring to businesses, so we thought it was time to redress the balance.

In this issue, Professor Sucheta Nadkarni of Cambridge Judge Business School speaks to Ellen Rossiter about what diversity brings to the board table. Sucheta’s research focuses on how top management teams shape companies, why some firms outperform their rivals, and identifying the sources of their competitive advantage.

It is research that saw Sucheta invited to join the Cambridge Judge Business School in 2014 as the Sinyi Professor of Chinese Management, and she is now also Director of the Wo+Men’s Leadership Centre and Head of the Strategy & International Business subject group.

After studying for her master’s degree in India, Sucheta taught for some time, before moving to the University of Kansas to research her PhD. Sucheta then joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, before becoming an Associate Professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“There are many reasons it’s important that women are better represented on company boards,” explains Sucheta. “Companies are there to offer their products to the market and this market is very gender balanced.

“It’s not good for a company not to be well connected with their market and in effect to exclude 50% of that market. Recruiting women to corporate boards and top executive roles helps businesses reach key consumers and find the best people.

“There are a number of indicators that diverse boards perform better, from increased market share to better return on company assets, as well as turning around profitability more effectively. In addition, greater gender diversity improves board behaviour and governance, resulting in better preparation for meetings and better attendance at board meetings.

“There is also evidence to suggest that in challenging times, like during the banking crisis or when the oil price fell, companies with diverse boards outperform companies without them. Different people bring

different perspectives to the table and in essence diverse boards make more robust decisions – and this is particularly telling when times are tough.

Whether we should be looking for gender differences in leadership styles and whether these differences do indeed exist is open to debate, but one academic who maintains they do is Professor Alice Eagly of Northwestern University.

As Sucheta explains, Eagly’s research suggests that men have a ‘transactional’ leadership style, focusing on getting things done, whilst women have a transformational style which is more people based.

This transformational style comes into its own at a time of crisis, bringing out the best in people, galvanising ideas, innovation and bringing about change.

“There’s a lot of sensitivity about companies having boards without women. Many businesses unconsciously take it for granted that if they have a single woman on their board they’ve played their part in creating gender diversity. What they don’t realise is that this tokenism doesn’t truly bring balance and can lead to a dysfunctional dynamic.

“The issue is not just counting how many women sit on boards - but about making those numbers count.

Where women sit on boards – do they stay long term and are their voices heard?

“Female board members can find it difficult to be heard and to have their ideas accepted. We know of women with extremely good credentials and a lot to offer, who’ve walked away because they didn’t feel their ideas were valued.

“Selection processes need addressing if diverse boards are to be created. They need to be much more open. All too often the process is narrow and inward-looking, about who knows who rather than who will bring most to the role.

“Once senior appointments are made; we know that mentoring plays a significant part in their success. Where there is a change of CEO, for instance, mentoring by the exiting CEO is extremely important, as this helps establish the new CEO’s credibility.

“Research shows that male directors receive more mentoring than females and more support to

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perform well. So we not only need to increase the number of senior female executives but ensure they receive support too.

“To have more representative boards, we need more representation at all levels of an organisation.

Evidence shows that firms with fewer women on their board make fewer offers to women at a junior level too and don’t make the effort to develop or retain them.

“Too many firms take a short-term approach and don’t do enough to develop leaders internally and they don’t put the infrastructure in place to support women, like flexible working hours.

SUCHETA NADKARNI Professor, Cambridge Judge Business School jbs.cam.ac.uk

“As well as being underrepresented at board level, Women are significantly underrepresented in particular industries like the tech sector. Even women who study STEM subjects tend to build their careers outside of technology companies, in areas such as finance or consulting.

“Women typically have to work at more firms to reach senior appointments than their male counterparts – and they have to prove themselves at smaller firms first. Even once women are in senior positions, lower offers are made to retain them.

“That’s why we’ve launched our ‘Women in Tech Challenge’, which is about encouraging our female students to consider tech careers and build the necessary skills. We’ve got tech companies visiting the university to engage students in working for them.

“Involving men in the conversation is really important. Male engagement in diversity programmes is crucial for their success; the greater their engagement the better the programmes work.

A good example of which is engaging men in peer mentoring schemes.

“We need to work on the problem of perceptual barriers too, and to achieve this you need to start early. That’s why it’s so important the Government plays a greater role by improving the education system and encouraging more children to study STEM subjects from an early age.

“Diversity is about more than men and women - it is about everyone working together in a much more holistic way so that companies are more representative of society as a whole.

“What I love about working here at Cambridge Judge Business School is that it’s so dynamic: it’s far from being academia in an ivory tower, and we strive to make a difference whether it’s inspiring the next generation, mentoring companies or sharing ideas and best practice.

“The regulation requiring businesses with 250 or more employees to report their gender pay gap has definitely made a difference. Although it’s important to use this data judiciously, the gender gap revealed shows just how important it is to promote greater diversity.

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“Reputation-wise, it’s not good for a company to report a gap, as it leaves them open to pressure from shareholders and other stakeholders – from their customers to prospective employees. Effective stakeholder pressure, like shareholder activism, can play an important part in galvanising greater diversity on company boards.

“Our Wo+Men’s Leadership Centre was inspired by two of our MBA students who founded a conference on the subject of women’s leadership and it’s gone from strength to strength.”

WO M EN IN BU SINESS

LOOKING FOR EMPLOYMENT LAW ADVICE? Elizabeth Whitehead is an experienced specialist Employment Solicitor with 20 years experience in advising on all aspects of Employment Law. Employment law is increasingly complicated, with potential claims arising from the date the advertisement is placed. In order to avoid claims employers need to take legal advice before problems arise. The Employment Contract is a legal requirement, but additional Policies and Procedures help to protect Employers. Your employees must read, understand and comply with them. This is important because the Company is liable not only for the actions of its Directors but also for all its employees.

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TOUR I S M

V i s i t E a s t o f E ng l a nd

GROWING THE VISITOR ECONOMY OF THE EAST OF ENGLAND

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TO URI SM

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Dr Andy Wood OBE, chairman of the new Visit East of England, writes an open letter to tourism businesses and stakeholders in the region…

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hink of tourism locations across the UK and what comes to mind? Cornwall.

Yorkshire. The Lakes. The Peaks. Scotland and Wales. Certainly not the East of England. And yet, the visitor economy of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire is worth more than Yorkshire’s.

Norfolk’s alone has a higher value than the perennial focus of Sunday supplement travel features and home of Poldark that is Cornwall.

Yes, you read that correctly.

We’re not a top-of-mind destination and yet the visitor economy of the region, including Essex, is worth more than £10bn. It attracts over 140m day trips a year, close to 10m staying visits, and directly employs around 200,000 people. It’s the largest sector and probably the biggest employer.

Imagine what we could achieve if we were top-ofmind?

And that is one of the objectives of the new Visit East of England that launched recently at Holkham Hall in north Norfolk with myself as Chairman and Lord Leicester as the new President.

But as well as being more top-of-mind with travellers, this region must also be more visible with government bodies and national tourism organisations.

South West and their success in pulling up a chair at a national level. They have made that possible for themselves by speaking with one voice and one message.

That’s what we need to achieve too. And that’s why this new Visit East of England is required, particularly with a national Tourism Sector Deal in the offing. The East of England should not get crumbs from the table, while other regions dine out.

We are working closely with the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership to ensure we meet the criteria set out in the Sector Deal for a Tourism Zone. Together, we are liaising with educational establishments and the private and public sector to develop a Sector Skills Plan, to boost recruitment, skills, productivity and long-term careers in tourism and hospitality.

We believe that if the industry works together it can help grow jobs, productivity and wealth; improve skills and training; create the landscape to increase accommodation occupation. It can write a new positive narrative to overcome the perception that tourism is seasonal, low skilled and low paid. We can encourage talent into the sector and for them to believe they will have a rewarding career.

In the next five years, the visitor economy is projected to have double digit growth – the only sector to do so.

Every 1% of growth would create more than 1000 additional jobs. That is the prize we want to secure.

As far as Visit Britain are concerned, when the East of England Regional Development Authority was closed in 2011, and with it East of England Tourism, this region disappeared from the national radar.

In the time since, what has come out of the East has been fragmented, with lots of great activity by local destination marketing organisations and huge investment in product by the private sector, but nothing joined-up. The canvas has always been present, but a bigger picture wasn’t being painted.

In the meantime, we have looked enviously at the collective approaches of the Northern Powerhouse, Midlands Engine Room and the

Dr Andy Wood OBE Chairman, Visit East of England

VISIT EAST OF ENGLAND visiteastofengland.com

The sector needs to work strategically with key transport providers and hubs to improve connections, accessibility, and bring more people here.

London Stansted, the International Gateway to the East of England, is the fastest-growing airport in the country and has ambitious development plans. Norwich International is one of the bestconnected airports in the country, with daily flights to and from Schiphol Amsterdam. Greater Anglia are making the biggest investment in new rolling stock and services since Victorian times. 

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

Another issue for the sector is that it can’t communicate with itself, dominated as it by SMEs. The old database of East of England Tourism is chronically out of date, particularly since the closure of most tourist information centres, who were the eyes and ears.

So, to that end, we are offering every tourismrelated business and service a free listing on the new Visit East of England website. That way we can have two-way communication with the industry.

I’m reminded of a story about a new Bishop of Norwich who had a question for the previous incumbent.

‘Tell me,’ he asked. ‘How do you get the people to follow you?’

‘Oh that’s easy,’ said the outgoing cleric. ‘You just find out where they’re going… and walk in front.’

And that’s what we want to do at Visit East of England. We want to engage with businesses and stakeholders to find out what is necessary for the sector to further prosper in the coming years.

We want to help grow the value of the sector by converting day trippers to higher-spending staying visitors and we want to develop a yearround visitor economy.

We want to promote responsible, sustainable tourism and for that purpose our new website

also provides a free booking mechanic for all accommodation providers. Working with Staylists, a tech company based at BT’s Adastral Park near Ipswich, we are providing a real-time alternative to the global Online Travel Operators.

Importantly, we will only charge 10% commission on hotel bookings, unlike the OTAs’ 15%+. So not only will accommodation providers get more for themselves, but 100% of the value of any booking stays in the local economy.

We believe this is an ethical and transparent booking model unlike, dare I say it, some of the OTAs who have been in the headlines recently.

In the next five years, the visitor economy is projected to have double digit growth – the only sector to do so. Every 1% of growth would create more than 1000 additional jobs. That is the prize we want to secure.

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to galvanize ourselves, to work together, to forge a new relationship between ourselves and with national agencies that will bring more visitors, more wealth, more jobs, and more skills to the East of England.

That is why we look forward to working with you in the future. And for the East of England to be more top-of-mind.

Punting in Cambridge

Corporate Annual Tickets / Events / Days Out www.scudamores.com | 01223 359750

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book online

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S e ck ford Hal l Ho te l & S pa

MEET DIFFERENTLY AT SECKFORD HALL HOTEL & SPA Seckford Hall offers an escape from the norm, in a time of uncertainty, you will find a calming space to breathe and ignite those ideas and find your inner inspiration.

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ith plentiful grounds, a variety of hidden nooks and awe-inspiring conference rooms it really is an idyllic place to make business a pleasure.

Mindfulness and mental wellbeing are such important topics right now, with troubles in the government, consequential decisions in the air and questions over Brexit, it’s important to look after yourself and your team.

Step away from that pesky box and find imaginative ways to rebuild, regroup, celebrate achievements and get away for those all-important business retreats.

Seckford Hall has the space and ability to host all types of functions. From Yoga and Meditation Days to Health and Fitness Breaks.

With summer coming up, why not host a company summer party or take part in a ‘walking meeting’?

Seckford Hotel’s unique gardens and countryside location offers itself to beautiful trails and picturesque walking routes. Ask at reception for their specially designed walking trails, ready for you to enjoy.

It’s always great to do something a little bit different from the average working day.

The hotel can be sectioned off exclusively for you and your team. Escape the outside world and keep your ideas within, so you can carry on your day/ week without interruption.

These areas include spaces for the occasion itself, dining and a bar, everything you need for a successful event.

Why not turn your day into a business retreat?

Spread your business over a couple days, so nothing must be rushed, and you can enjoy the benefits of having a hotel and spa as your venue of choice.

Let’s not forget the important things…

Nestled within Seckford Hall, you will find the tranquil ambience of the Hotel’s Pool and Spa. Here they offer a well-equipped gym, relaxing pool area and a calm inducing jacuzzi and steam room.

If you manage to get a moment to yourself, why not treat yourself to a delightful beauty treatment or

massage. There is no better way to ready yourself for the next day than a bit of pampering.

When work is done for the day…

Once you have finished for the day, and you are prepping to start again, take some time to rest and unwind.

With their first-rate chef cooking incredible cuisine, deliciously comfortable beds waiting for you to rest your head and a well-stocked bar, you can work creatively, play hard and rest well.

SECKFORD HALL HOTEL & SPA seckford.co.uk

Finish off your evening in their lounge area, with comfortable leather sofas, roaring log fire and unique quirks like their antique chess board.

The ultimate place to hatch plans, mull over ideas and solve problems, all with a glass of your favourite tipple in hand.

To book your business event at Seckford Hall Hotel and Spa, call 01394 385 678 or events@seckford. co.uk and our business and events team will be on hand to offer advice, ideas and hatch exciting plans.

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DIVERSE VENUE IN THE HEART OF NORWICH Located in the heart of Norwich, OPEN has a diverse range of bookable spaces for conferences, live music, club nights, parties, weddings, together with a suite of meeting rooms. The venue is also home to a climbing wall, dance studio, café and gym which are also available for hire. With the best technical facilities and largest projection screen in the City we can stage anything from a small meeting or business breakfast to full scale theatrical productions, award ceremonies, launches, film screenings or major conferences.

With in-house catering OPEN can offer menus for any event from canapes and buffets to gala dinners or fine dining in the privacy and splendour of the former Bank Manager’s Dining Room. If you are thinking even more out of the box, OPEN have an activity programme which can be tailored to incorporate their Climbing Wall, Gym and other creative spaces for team building away days.

OPEN

But don’t take their word for it…. Here’s a couple of testimonials:

The event was excellent, we were so pleased with how everything ran and had no issues at all. The team are so professional and extremely helpful and helped us to deliver a smooth a seamless event – with great catering too! Samantha Brown, Conference & Events Manager, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce.

OPEN was the perfect venue for the internal launch of our new brand FATHOM. From start to finish the team were accommodating, friendly and knowledgeable. As we walked in we were blown away, not least with the lightning and digital facilities. OPEN will be our first choice for any similar events. Matt Cater, Owner / Director, Creative Displays.

Every penny of profit from the venue goes directly to young people in Norfolk via their youth charity (OPEN Youth Trust), holding your event at OPEN is a compelling proposition for any organisation interested in corporate social responsibility - with the added benefits of a top chef, top tech and top team dedicated to making your event a success.

Make a booking before end of August 2019 and receive 10% of room hire and a complimentary serving of refreshments – just call 01603 252123 or email conference@opennorwich. org.uk to make a booking or visit opennorwich.org.uk/venue-hire/ conference-venue/ for more information.

OPEN Norwich, 20 Bank Plain, Norwich, NR2 4SF

GAME-CHANGING AN INDUSTRY the VisitEngland quality assured visitor attraction marque and were the first punting company to gain an alcohol licence to create a Champagne Punting Experience for their customers.

How has this been achieved in such a short time?

The brand was created from the start to focus around customer experience. Each Rutherford’s service is designed around the desires of the target audience, prioritising experience first.

Punting in Cambridge has been around since the early 1900s and in recent years has morphed into a thriving industry, boosting income for many local businesses.

Enter Rutherford’s, the newest punting company in the UK and, starting from scratch, Emma Wynne has built an amazing brand in the face of strong competition.

This is no small feat as in two years, Rutherford’s have pushed the whole industry to up their standards, partnering with local businesses to share success and landing the number one spot on TripAdvisor. Rutherford’s are accredited with

Cambridge is a natural hub for startups and innovators, and boasts possibly the most famous university in the world. The beauty of the city is something straight from a fairy tale.

If you’re looking for a day out locally, then heading to Cambridge to see for yourself could add new ideas to your future strategies. Try out Rutherford’s shared tour punting experience, the bread and butter of the Cambridge tourism industry, and see for yourself the difference customer experience focus can make. It’s no hardship as you’ll also get to see the world-famous College Backs, admire King’s famous chapel, appreciate St John’s very own Bridge of Sighs, puzzle over the Mathematical Bridge and more.

SHARED PUNTING EXPERIENCES rutherfordspunting.com/ shared-tours

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TODAY ’S MAN A G E R W h at i s Ma n a ge me nt?

WHAT IS MANAGEMENT? What, exactly, do we mean by management? Different textbooks and management gurus give different definitions. Many are along the lines of ‘achieving desired goals through planning, organising, directing and controlling’. A shorter – and perhaps better – definition is ‘getting results through other people’.

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n organisation may have an inspiring mission statement, clear goals, a compelling strategy, realistic and challenging work targets, and excellent systems and procedures. But none of these count for much unless it has enthusiastic, committed people.

Motivating people is at the heart of effective management.

TONY ROSSITER Author, Effective Negotiations in easy steps

People skills are the most important attribute of any manager. Of course, they are not enough on their own. There are a number of core competences that any manager, working at any level in any organisation, needs.

I’ll identify and explain these in subsequent articles. People skills, the subject of this article, help you to put them all into practice.

Honesty is important. Don’t mislead people or make promises you won’t be able to keep. If you have to pass on bad news, don’t shirk the responsibility. Choose the right time and the right way to do it. Do it carefully and sensitively. But do it. Occasionally there may be circumstances that prevent you from telling your people as much as you know yourself. If that is the case, just tell them what you can and stop there. They make not like it, but they will like it even less if you mislead them.

You don’t have to know the latest management theories to be an effective manager.

You don’t have to know the latest management theories to be an effective manager.

Theories and fashions come and go. The essential qualities have been around for years and years, and are likely to endure for many more years: honesty, integrity, truthfulness, industriousness, reliability, accountability, loyalty, trustworthiness, dedication, resilience. And there’s one more thing to add to the list: plain common sense.

If you’re a manager, it’s vital to set a good example. If you tell your staff one thing, and then do another yourself, that won’t do much for their morale. For example, tell them that you expect everyone to be in the office by 9 o’clock on the dot; then roll up yourself at 10. You need to model the standards of behaviour you expect of others. Showing respect for the people you work

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with – not only the best and brightest, but every member of the team – is really important. The kind of behaviour that may have been tolerated 20 or 30 years ago – bullying, sexual harassment, racism, homophobic or other bad language – is no longer acceptable.

Management by walking about (MBWA) is one of the best management tools around. If you’re closeted in an office, hunched over a desk or have your eyes glued to a computer screen, you won’t see half of what’s going on. MBWA is the way to see what’s really happening and to find out how people really feel.

A manager should do everything possible to cultivate informal networks: look beneath the surface and you’ll find them everywhere – in your own department, in the rest of the organisation and in the outside world. The grapevine often tells you more about what is really going on than anyone will dare tell you openly or officially.

Making a real effort getting to know the people you work with – their interests and families and

TO DAY ’S M AN AGER W h at is Man a ge me nt?

lives outside the office – always pays dividends.

An occasional get-together after work, with an opportunity to talk in a more relaxed environment, can be good for building personal relationships; and sometimes it can be the best way of getting to grips with a work-related problem that is just too sensitive to discuss in the office.

The more you can let people manage both themselves and their own work, the better. Don’t be afraid to let go. You need to keep an eye on things, of course, to make sure that things are running smoothly and that people are on course to meet their targets. But if you can’t see the wood for the trees, you’re never going to be an effective manager.

There may still be a few top managers around who like subordinates who carry out their wishes without question. But most organisations today value managers who think for themselves. Don’t be afraid to say what you think – provided, of course, that you have the facts and the arguments to back up your opinion. Once your views have been heard and a decision has been taken, it’s your job as a manager to implement that decision, even if you don’t like it.

bound to be made. That’s when you need to be there to support them. If something has gone wrong, the most important thing is to establish exactly what has happened and why – and to take steps to prevent it happening again. Avoid apportioning blame – especially in public. It’s never a good idea to humiliate someone or undermine their self-respect. It’s always better to build people up rather than knock them down.

In any organisation, a manager is in the space somewhere between top management and staff who are carrying out day-to-day tasks. That can be an uncomfortable place to be – especially when ridiculous edicts come down from the top of the organisation. You may have to stifle your own reservations (or, at least, not groan too loudly) and persuade your people to accept or do something that everyone – except those at the top – knows is nonsense. But that’s your job.

Finally, don’t be afraid to show some passion about your work. If you care – really care – about what you’re doing, some of that passion is bound to rub off on those around you. That can be a powerful way of motivating people.

A new edition of Tony Rossiter’s Management Basics in easy steps was published earlier this year

However brilliant your staff, they are all fallible human beings. From time to time mistakes are

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T RAI N I N G AN D D E V E LO P M E N T T he O p e n U ni ve rs i t y

HOW OPEN UNIVERSITY APPRENTICESHIPS ARE DEVELOPING THE WORKFORCE OF TOMORROW In 2019, The Open University (OU) is celebrating its 50th year and has empowered over two million students across 157 countries to transform their lives through learning.

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he OU has a strong heritage and pedigree in work-based learning – working with employers to understand their business challenges and provide outstanding learning and development solutions.

The OU is ideally placed to be the higher education partner of choice for employers. The OU reaches people who would otherwise have had no opportunity to access higher education and change their lives – for example, carers, people with disabilities, geographically isolated and people with no prior qualifications. This allows employers to upskill and reskill both new and existing employees and benefit from a wider, more diverse talent pool.​ Since 2016, higher and degree apprenticeships have been a key way the OU has delivered its mission. In England, employers are able to use apprenticeship levy funds to upskill and reskill both new and existing employees. IBM, for example, chose three Open University degree apprenticeship programmes which are playing a key part in the company’s learning and development strategy.

Paul Milner, Senior Early Professionals Manager, IBM explained: “The OU has got a proven track

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record for delivering skills and knowledge to a business environment that works. We found some universities were quite rigid in how they deliver their business. That does become problematic in the long run, and so for employees who are midcareer, we find the OU to be very beneficial in that respect.”

Lee Webb, who is on the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship, added: “The delivery model itself is unique compared it to the normal academic learning format. It’s very flexible, it’s adaptable.

There are online tutorials as well as classroom tutorials which you can attend. You learn at your own pace and there’s a lot of information online to help you. The tutors give you great guidance, hints and tips on what you should be preparing for assessments, so it’s a completely different concept to in-the-classroom learning.”

Open University apprenticeships are delivered flexibly to fit around needs of employers. The programmes are scalable for consistent training across multiple sites and provide high quality workbased learning, to allow apprentices to make an immediate impact in the workplace.

TRAIN IN G AN D D EV ELO PMENT T he O p en Uni ve rsi t y

OPEN UNIVERSITY APPRENTICESHIPS Whether you’re looking to develop new or current employees, The Open University offers a range of Higher and Degree Apprenticeships in England, Graduate Apprenticeships in Scotland and Degree Apprenticeships in Wales that are designed around employers’ needs.

Open University apprenticeships are delivered flexibly to fit around your organisation’s demands, scalable for consistent training across multiple sites and provide high quality work-based learning for real organisational impact.

Find out more at: openuniversity.co.uk/skills-england

Nursing Associate Higher Apprenticeship

Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship

Laboratory Science Degree Apprenticeship

Senior Leader Master’s Degree Apprenticeship

Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship

Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship

Social Worker Degree Apprenticeship

Healthcare Assistant Practitioner Higher Apprenticeship

Graduate Apprenticeships (Scotland)

Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeship

Degree Apprenticeships (Wales)

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY openuniversity.co.uk

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T RAI N I N G AN D D E V E LO P M E N T A n g l i a n Wate r

James Weedon

ANGLIAN WATER’S APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMME SUCCESS As the saying goes; ‘people are the life force of a business,’ and nothing is truer when it comes to the staff who make up the workforce of Anglian Water.

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mploying over 4,000 people across the region, the local water company is always on the hunt for the next generation of engineers to help keep taps running for its four million customers. Future graduates, apprentices, interns and trainees will play a major part in the companies continued success, which is why Anglian remains committed to investing in staff training and continued development.

demand, and over 220,000 additional new recruits with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths backgrounds will be needed across the utilities sector by 2027. Also around a third of Anglian Water’s workforce will retire in the next decade and apprenticeship schemes enable the company to target budding engineers, technicians and scientists from the next generation and give them the right skills and experience to join the business.

Experts estimate that the UK needs to double the number of recruits into engineering to meet

The various schemes are carefully designed to encourage candidates who believe in Anglian

TRAIN IN G AN D D EV ELO PMENT A ng l i an Wate r

Water’s vision, and to allow them to gain the maximum knowledge and experience while working as part of a team, to solve real world problems within a paid role in the business. They can typically last anywhere between 18 months and four years, depending on the type of role, with a mixture of classroom and practical handson learning.

The candidates development doesn’t stop at the end of a scheme. The water company believes in life long learning and so there are ample opportunities to study for further qualifications and take further development.

This approach to development has lead in part to the water company recently being voted as Glassdoor’s ‘Best Place to Work in the UK’ for 2019, an award which is voted on purely by existing or former employees. This is a significant endorsement of the company’s culture and demonstrates why people want to join it.

The Apprenticeship Levy introduced in 2017 encouraged Anglian Water to review the apprenticeships it offered, and has fully embraced its introduction and has successfully achieved total recovery of its levy payments. The company now runs two strands of activity; the first recruiting new hires to the company and the second up-skilling existing staff.

As of today, Anglian Water now has 18 different programmes ranging from HGV drivers to Masters Degree in Strategic Leadership.

Programmes which are largely targeted for the harder to recruit skill areas and new or growing skill requirements are key; including programmes for data analysts, project managers, a range of digital skills, customer service and quantity surveyors.

Joining forces with Cap Gemini, Anglian Water has recently started to offer undergraduate degree apprenticeships in digital skills run at Aston University. Although the scheme is in its early stages, it is proving to be highly successful with some great new hires who will add a lot during their studies and hopefully join the company once they have graduated.

Anglian Water are planning to continue to expand the range of programmes on offer for apprenticeships after successfully hiring over 64 apprentices from the region last year into Operational, Maintenance and Engineering roles.

To join any of the Anglian Water technical apprenticeship schemes, candidates need five GCSEs, including Maths and English, at grade C or above. They must also be able to demonstrate IT, communication, and time-management skills, along with a commitment to learning. In return, apprentices will receive the company’s full support throughout the programme, plus a salary that increases as they progress.

Brianika Greenaway

James Weedon recently completed a 4-year apprenticeship and is now a qualified electrical technician: “I came out of college at 18 and I wanted to pursue a career in electrical and mechanical engineering. The apprenticeship was really challenging but you get so much out of it and it was great to earn while you’re learning.

“I’m now a qualified electrical technician trusted to work on my own and I really enjoy the role. I can be on standby and I have to respond in an emergency - the last time I was called out it was 1am and a pump was down, I had to go straight away to get it back online and prevent a pollution incident. By 5am we got everything working again - that sort of job is a big challenge but really rewarding.”

ANGLIAN WATER anglianwater.co.uk

Brianika Greenaway recently completed an apprenticeship as a Leakage Technician: “My job was to search a given area for any leaks on our network which is really important because I find leaks on our pipes, which are not always visible to the naked eye. By finding leaks early, we can prevent pipes from bursting and interrupting our customers’ water supply or causing flooding. It also means we waste much less water, which is vital for the wider environment. Anglian is the best in the water industry at tackling leakage, and I’m proud to be part of such a great team.”

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T RAI N I N G AN D D E V E LO P M E N T

NORFOLK’S APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR ANNOUNCED AT INSPIRATIONAL APPRENTICESHIPS EVENT Apprentice Peter Savory was crowned Norfolk Apprentice of the Year at an apprenticeships celebration event on 7 March run by Apprenticeships Norfolk (an initiative from Norfolk County Council) and the University of East Anglia.

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upported by the Eastern Region Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network and Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach (NEACO), the competition was run to help celebrate National Apprenticeship Week (4-8 March) and entrants were asked to outline what their apprenticeship means to them and highlight any activities that demonstrate how they are an ambassador for apprenticeships.

Eight shortlisted entrants took part in an afternoon of activities and presentations at County Hall in Norwich on Monday 4 March. Richard Bridgman OBE, former chairman of Warren Services and strong advocate of apprenticeships, judged the competition alongside Natasha Waller, Skills Manager at New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership.

APPRENTICESHIPS NORFOLK Anyone interested in becoming or employing an apprentice can find out more at www.apprenticeshipsnorfolk.org Employers wishing to find out more about Degree Apprenticeships should contact Apprenticeships@uea.ac.uk

Cllr Stuart Clancy, Apprenticeship Member Champion for Norfolk County Council, said: “All the competition entrants showed themselves to be great ambassadors for apprenticeships. By celebrating the work that apprentices do, we can help to raise the profile of apprenticeships and this competition was a great way of doing that. It’s all about identifying and showcasing the tremendous breadth and depth of talent Norfolk apprentices have to offer.”

The judges were particularly impressed with 18-year-old Peter Savory, a Level 3 business administration apprentice, who is employed by Apprenticeship Training Agency TrAC and hosted

by Norwich-based social enterprise The Missing Kind. Peter suffered from ill health throughout his time at school and, even though he managed to achieve the grades he needed, wasn’t sure that a classroom environment would be right for him to continue his education. The breakthrough came when he was referred to TrAC Apprenticeships Norfolk (TrAC AN), an ESF and Skills Deal funded project that gives specialist support to vulnerable young people by employing them as apprentices whilst they spend time in industry placements.

Through TrAC AN, Peter was put on a two-week work experience placement with The Missing Kind and was then offered a business administration apprenticeship with TrAC, hosted by The Missing Kind in September last year. As well as carrying out his day-to-day role, which includes looking after their social media channels, answering enquiries and helping to manage their tours, Peter also helps to promote apprenticeships to businesses and young people by speaking at business breakfasts and creating informative videos.

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On winning the award, Peter said: “I’m really proud to win this award, especially as the other entrants were so inspiring. I wanted to be a part of Norfolk Apprentice of the Year not only to share my story, but to encourage other young people who may be experiencing similar issues or who haven’t explored the option, to seriously consider becoming an apprentice.

“It’s been so beneficial for me and both my physical and mental health. I know from experience how isolating, daunting and overwhelming the prospect of dealing with chronic illness, mental health and your future can be. Even if my story reaches one young person who’s struggling with similar issues, that’s enough for me. If it inspires someone to choose an apprenticeship route, that’s even better.”

The announcement of Norfolk Apprentice of the Year came at the end of an event held last week (Thursday 7 March) at the UEA’s Enterprise Centre and hosted by Prof Neil Ward, UEA’s Pro-ViceChancellor Academic.

It was a chance to hear from apprentices and those working to actively promote apprenticeships locally and nationally. Speakers included Cllr Stuart Clancy (Apprenticeships Member Champion, Norfolk County Council); Adrian Anderson (Chief Executive, University Vocational Awards Council) who spoke about the benefits to offering apprenticeships and the challenges on the road ahead to improving the delivery of apprenticeships nationally; and Chris Starkie (Chief Executive, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership). In addition, Stephanie Attew, a nursing apprenticeship at UEA, and Toni Kelly, a business analysis apprentice, talked about their apprenticeships experiences.

Host, UEA’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof Neil Ward, said: “It was great to see such a strong turnout to celebrate Norfolk apprenticeships. It’s significant that growing interest in apprenticeships was celebrated on a University campus.”

Kerry McConnell, Apprenticeships Operations Manager, said: “Apprenticeships mean you can ‘earn while you learn’, getting on-the-job experience while studying for a degree, with the employer covering the cost of the course. Lots of our apprentices tell us that they would never have studied for a degree and gone into the profession, without the opportunity to go down this route.

Apprenticeships are opening doors for a lot of people.”

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NEW INDUSTRY FOR A NEW GENERATION OFF THE EAST ANGLIAN COAST

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rowing up in Lowestoft, Suffolk, Jordan Halliday was no stranger to the offshore energy industry with both his father and brother working for oil and gas companies in the North Sea. “The offshore energy industry was something I was very aware of when I was younger,” he explained.

“My brother and dad always told me it was a good career option as there is lots of room to develop personally and professionally.”

With a booming offshore wind industry off the coast of East Anglia, Jordan was inspired to take a slightly different career path into the offshore renewable energy sector.

During his time as a student, at Sir John Leman High School in Beccles, Jordan took a keen interest in subjects such as science, maths and design technology: resistant materials which further inspired him to pursue his career choice. Following his GCSE studies Jordan continued his education at Lowestoft College, studying the EAL Level 2 Diploma in Engineering (Electrical route), before beginning the Siemens Mechatronics Advanced Apprenticeship Course in September 2017.

He said: “I am more of a practical learner, so after hearing of the Siemens Apprenticeship I was very keen to undertake the course and develop myself further.

“The energy sector is important as it influences our everyday lives and through working in the renewable energy field I will be assisting with keeping the lights on in an environmentally friendly way.”

Jordan attends the four year Siemens Mechatronics Advanced Apprenticeship Course facilitated in Newcastle at the Tyne Metropolitan College. The apprenticeship serves as an introduction into the world of engineering, covering topics including hydraulics and health and safety in the workplace, with graduating students receiving an NVQ Level 3 qualification.

“Since starting my apprenticeship I have gained so much knowledge and it should be a great gateway into an engineering career in the offshore energy industry. We learn both in the classroom and through real life work scenarios, as a result I am gradually feeling more prepared for what working life will be like,” added Jordan.

“As part of the course we will complete 82 assignments covering a range of topics. As I have an analytical mind, a particular highlight for me was learning how to create a computer programme and trouble shoot issues which could occur on a windfarm.”

During the second year of his apprenticeship Jordan will gain workplace experience by returning home

to Lowestoft and working on the East Anglia ONE windfarm, being developed by world leading wind energy producer ScottishPower Renewables, off the East Anglian coast.

East Anglia ONE will see 102 Siemens Gamesa D7 wind turbines installed in the southern North Sea, approximately 30 miles off the coast, as part of an overall £2.5 billion investment to meet the annual electricity demands of the equivalent of almost 600,000* homes.

With construction work having commenced for East Anglia ONE’s operations and maintenance base at Hamilton Dock in Jordan’s hometown of Lowestoft, the evolution of the offshore wind industry in East Anglia is in full swing.

SIEMENS

Jordan said: “The development of East Anglia ONE brings so many exciting opportunities in an industry which is at the forefront of innovation and in the future I hope to work on the windfarm carrying out system diagnostics. It really has the potential to be a career for life which, as a young person, is a unique opportunity and one I want to take full advantage of, especially as it is being constructed close to where I live.

“I cannot wait to start my work placement on East Anglia ONE as it will give me vital industry experience, preparing me for a career in the energy engineering sector.”

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DI GI TAL & I N N OVAT IO N

C a m br id ge J ud ge B u s i nes s S cho ol

WHAT IS INNOVATION? Just what is “innovation” - and is there a dark side to this wave of change that has transformed our lives through technology and other breakthroughs?

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n this edition, faculty from Cambridge Judge Business School discuss the definition of innovation, the role of platforms and connectivity, and the role of government in providing the right practical and legal framework.

Michael Kitson, University Senior Lecturer in International Macroeconomics is joined by Sucheta Nadkarni, Sinyi Professor of Chinese Management; Simon Stockley, Senior Faculty in Management Practice and Jeremy Hutchison-

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Krupat, University Senior Lecturer in Operations and Technology Management to discuss “innovation”.

Innovation is one of those buzzwords that dominates corporate and economic discussion. So what is it?

Michael Kitson: “We’re continually hearing the mantra that firms have to be more innovative to thrive and prosper. But what is innovation: is

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C ambr id ge J ud ge B u siness S cho ol

it all about technological change or something broader?”

Jeremy Hutchison-Krupat: “Innovation is something, first, that is new, but it needs to be more than that: it has to be something useful, something that adds value, and the last part, something that people generally tend to forget about it, it has to be implemented.”

Simon Stockley: “One of the best definitions I’ve come across is that it’s the product of invention and commercialisation. If one of those doesn’t exist the result is zero.”

Sucheta Nadkarni: “There are different ways to look at innovation, but one of the challenges that has changed significantly is this either-or debate: incremental versus radical innovation.

The challenge is for companies to do both simultaneously – that’s the idea of ambidexterity.”

What is the role of tech platforms and other types of connectivity in innovation?

Michael Kitson: “We increasingly now say that firms have to be much more open rather than closed, and it’s not just the organisation – it’s connectivity to the supply chain, their customers, to other organisations, to universities.”

Jeremy Hutchison-Krupat: “The MP3 player is a good example. The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player – but Apple was the first with MP3 and the iPod and the whole system. With a lot of these really successful innovations we tend to forget all the other innovations that didn’t work quite so well, so we need to look at the path that led to that big breakthrough.”

Sucheta Nadkarni: “Some companies introduce everything themselves, while others have lots of different alliances. Traditionally, innovation was seen as an R&D (research and development) – driven activity – all these super-scientists driving innovation through R&D – but now you’re seeing alliances driving this.”

Innovation isn’t just about companies Michael Kitson: “We’ve talked a lot about innovation systems at the level of the firm or the organisation, but what about innovation at the level of the city or the region or the county. How do you build a local or, perhaps more importantly, a national ecosystem of innovation?”

Simon Stockley: “One of the best case studies is here in Cambridge, where there is some really remarkable practice. If you look at the development of so-called Silicon Fen, many of those businesses were started by a relative

handful of serial entrepreneurs and innovators, all of whom know each other. So they are sort of meta-connectors within the ecosystem.”

Michael Kitson: “You also have two universities (Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin) and a world-class hospital (Addenbrooke’s) here that serve as important anchors.”

Sucheta Nadkarni: “The government plays a role as well, to create an infrastructure to allow these institutions to thrive. Institutions can attract, but in order for companies to sustain it you need the basic infrastructure to allow the companies to do business.”

Jeremy Hutchison-Krupat: “It’s not by mistake that Silicon Valley is upset by how difficult it is to get visas in the US. People with the talent and ability have to be able to get there. So government is very important.”

Innovation is often seen as changing our lives for the better, but are a few companies getting too powerful?

Simon Stockley: “We had a fascinating debate in an MBA class about how society is becoming more and more polarised, perhaps through social media and these big online platforms, with views on the left and right hardening considerably.”

Michael Kitson: “That’s a worrying dimension of the concentration of power, arguably, in some platform technologies. If you take the big tech companies, you’ve got the dominance of the big five – Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook – they’re innovative firms but are they good for consumer welfare? We see lots of new firms developing, but they consolidate, and then we end up in a very monopolistic situation.”

Sucheta Nadkarni: “There is the emergence of new companies, not just these five, including Alibaba and Huawei in China. So innovation gives way to new companies emerging as well, including from Asia, and they can bring very different perspectives.”

Simon Stockley: “There’s one thing we can be sure of: that at some point in the future what happened to Nokia will happen to Google, will happen to Apple, it’s just that we just don’t know when. If I were a betting man I’d bet that that threat to them will happen from China, because the rate of innovation in Chinese companies right now is quite remarkable.”

This debate was first broadcast as a podcast by the Cambridge Judge Business School and you can find the edited transcript on their website: www.jbs.cam.ac.uk

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DI GI TAL AN D I N N OVAT IO N EIRA

THE DAWN OF AN EIRA In April 2018, Research England announced the recipients of its Connecting Capability Fund. Amongst them, £4.7 million was awarded to a new collaborative network of seven universities and colleges in the East of England to drive innovation and growth in the region.

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his is EIRA (Enabling Innovation: Research to Application) and it serves a growing market need across this part of the UK. Offering support to businesses across three key themes: digital creative, biotechnology and artificial intelligence, EIRA provides businesses with access to academic expertise, consultancy, specialist facilities and funding opportunities.

opportunity that’s right for your business. Through Innovation Vouchers, Research and Development Grants, i-Teams, Hothouse and other events, Startup Microfinance and Innovation Internships, EIRA can help businesses to overcome issues and boost productivity. Funding opportunities are available towards smaller projects which cost up to £7.5k and for larger projects costing up to £50k.

The network is led by the Times Higher Education (THE) University of the Year Winner, the University of Essex and other Eastern ARC partners including the University of East Anglia and the University of Kent. The University of Suffolk, Harlow College, Norwich University of the Arts and Writtle University College are partners too. Business partners that further support EIRA include BT Group, TechEast and AgriTech East, Digital Catapult, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (NALEP) and South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP).

Dr Kirstie Cochrane, Director of EIRA, said “EIRA is aiming to support the development of businesses in the East of England which are taking full advantage of the opportunities offered by these fast moving sections of our economy.

Artificial intelligence is transforming all sectors of our economy, biotechnology is having an impact on everything from food production to medicine and the East of England is recognised as a centre of excellence in the digital creative sector. With a range of majority-funded grants available, EIRA will help businesses of all sizes develop new products, services, and solutions.”

With such an extensive network, EIRA has something to offer businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a start-up, SME or established larger business. EIRA can work with you to find an

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Don Shaw Case, University of Kent: As KE Lead for the AI theme, can you tell us some of the ways in which businesses across different sectors can use AI? Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bring great benefits to business through increases in efficiency and productivity. AI covers a range of methods and techniques developed over the last 60 years that enable programs to analyse, adapt and learn from the data they are exposed to, improving the programs performance when solving problems.

AI techniques can be applied to a variety of problems, there are no limits to its application.

For instance, in construction AI is being used to better manage resources and reduce costs. In more general business environments, AI is being applied to gain understanding from the wealth of data being collected using “Data Mining” techniques.

In the field of health care, AI is used to measure biometrics, for example, measuring heart rate and blood pressure to look for the early signs of heart disease or searching for cancer cells. Consumers even use AI devices at home in the form of voice activated speaker systems like Amazon Echo and through mobile technology.

As is common when a new advance in technology gains popular interest, there is a lot of excitement and speculation as to what impact the technology will have. AI offers great potential to improve the speed and accuracy of tasks, enhancing the activities undertaken by the work force and so improving productivity. There are many new and novel ways of using AI that will support commercial activities to better utilise and target resources, bringing considerable benefits to every sector of business.

Dr Kenny Lang, University of East Anglia: As KE Fellow for the Biotechnology theme, are there any activities that are being supported by EIRA that you feel are particularly exciting for the region’s development?

The East of England has significant strengths in sectors that are underpinned by biotechnology. The advanced agrifood and drink sector has a combined workforce of 79,000 and generates £3.6 billion for UK plc. Norfolk and Suffolk’s life science sector has significant strengths in agribiotech, food and the microbiome, bioinformatics and industrial biotech.

Valued at £1 billion, it employs a highly skilled workforce of 10,000 and around 660 businesses.

The sector is entering an exciting new phase with investments in the new £76 million Quadram

Institute at Norwich Research Park, underpinning world class research and innovation.

EIRA is helping to make a difference through a variety of activities, including a recently funded R&D project that is evaluating the effect of introducing paper crumble - a product from the paper recycling industry - into arable soils, for enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC). The ultimate aim of the project is to increase soil quality and improve food security. Another example of how EIRA is supporting innovative products to be a commercial reality and bring public benefit to the region is by funding a novel targeted drug delivery system for existing cancer drugs to be targeted to tumour sites with greater accuracy and have a built in imaging system to monitor progress of the treatment.

Emma Wakeling, University of Essex: AS KE Manager for the Digital Creative theme, can you briefly explain the process a business goes through from generating an idea to going through the application process for funding?

If an entrepreneur or organisation has an idea for a project then initially you need to get in touch with the EIRA programme team through our website to see the different support mechanisms available.

Your details will be shared with the relevant KE Manager(s) (KEM) for your area of interest and someone will get in touch to talk through your ideas and share some more information about EIRA, while checking that you are eligible for the support on offer. The KE Manager will then identify academics across the network who have the relevant expertise and are keen to be involved.

Once basic information about the project has been agreed and academics are in place, you will be invited to a meeting with them and your KEM to develop your idea further – these can be really quite exciting and help you consider things you may not have even thought about for your project.

EIRA For more information about EIRA and how the project can help your business, please contact the team through the website at www.eira.ac.uk or call 01206 876015.

You will then be sent the application form to complete, which you will do in partnership with the KEM, who will liaise with the academics to devise a timeframe and associated costs. When a final application has been completed and signed by you it will be submitted by the KEM. If it is an Innovation Voucher you will only have to wait 2 working weeks to know if it is approved and there are no deadlines. For R&D grant applications, there may be questions or queries from the review panel that you and your KEM will respond to. Your KEM will let you know the outcome of your application within 6 weeks of submission, and, if it’s positive, will do work behind the scenes to get a contract instructed. After the draft contract is agreed by all parties it can be signed and the project can begin!

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DI GI TAL I N N OVAT IO N SocialB

HOW TO STAY AGILE IN THE DIGITAL SPACE – ARE YOU A DIGITAL TRAILBLAZER OR A DIGITAL DINOSAUR? Digital marketing today isn’t an ‘add on’ or a ‘maybe’. Whether you work in the digital space or you run a busines­s you will be using digital. As a fundamental, contemporary and fruitful marketing tool, that reaches worldwide, the question is ‘how to do you stay up to date with digital marketing?’.

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n such a fast-paced industry with many different components and facets, how do you know what the latest changes are or what is most effective for your business and the objectives that you are trying to achieve? – if you’ve read a book on the subject – the principles will likely still be valid but what channels you use and how you maximise them is most definitely a moving goal post.

One thing we can all agree on, is that when digital is used correctly it can be your best sales person, but on the flip slide, when it’s not, it can be a total zap to you and your business. Having worked in digital since 2001, I’ve seen an awful lot of changes and developments in this space and know only too well that staying ahead of the game is a mission in itself.

The other prominent problem I often see is non digital people recruiting and struggling with digital recruits. Digital skills are a high priority for organisations but in many instances, they don’t actually know what they are looking for when recruiting digital talent. This frequently can result in the blind leading the blind scenario. There’s also the additional issue of companies relying on those within the business who are more familiar with digital technology rather than upskilling the digital skills of their wider workforce.

So how can you stay ahead in digital?

First things first this article isn’t a magic wand, its takes time, dedication and a constant want to learn. Even going on holiday for a week means extra catching up – yes, things really change that quickly!

Unfortunately, there isn’t a digital holy grail or one place that you can go to read about all the latest digital changes. Keeping up with digital trends, channel updates, the latest digital advertising strategies and not forgetting advances in the technology we use, is all a mammoth and daunting task.

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S o c i a lB

Whilst there are websites and blogs that may help, it becomes even more difficult when the digital channels themselves (e.g. Google or LinkedIn) do not always announce the changes they make themselves. Often these changes are noticed by chance when people within the industry come across them and report on them.

Over the years, I’ve formed some simple habits in order to stay ahead and prevent feeling overwhelmed by such a fast-changing industry.

Here are my six favourite tips to stay updated and educated in the digital marketing industry.

Tip One Dedicate time – book time in your diary each week to learn something, upskill yourself with an online qualification, reading articles or watching videos.

When you are busy it can be easy to not see these as a priority, but digital marketing is likely (or could be) the life blood of generating you business so it needs weekly investment. On top of weekly dedicated time if you find an article that might be of interest either save it for reading on a train trip you might have planned later in the week or take 5 mins out of your day that day to read it.

Tip Two Make a plan – review what you are looking to achieve with your digital marketing – and use this information to identify questions you can’t answer. This simple action not only helps to create a learning plan for you, but also ensures you keep on top of your digital goals. For example, if you don’t know how the traffic gets to your website and how to measure the number of enquiries you should upskill yourself on Google Analytics.

Tip Three Be curious – I’m always asking ‘why’ – why did ABC website not generate the traffic it was due to? Why did we beat the client’s revenue objective by over 100%? When you ask why it gives you a reason to search for the answer enabling you to take the appropriate action, while adding to your knowledge base through the learning process.

Tip Four Use Google – type in to Google the questions to your problems – for example – How can I measure

traffic to my website? How can I reduce the cost of my Facebook ad? There is a plethora of websites, blogs, YouTube channels and podcasts out there on these subjects and 99% of the time this information is absolutely free. The internet is a great resource for this, providing endless amounts of material, so don’t feel you will get better information by paying to read articles or watch videos. While training courses can be hugely valuable and give you amazing foundations, you will still need to stay up to date once you have completed a course.

Tip Five Sign up – when you find content sources you trust subscribe and sign up to their emails that way you can save time by reading articles or watching videos when they arrive in your inbox. Remember ‘Tip One’ - make sure you set aside some time out of your working week to read them.

Tip Six Digital recruiting - whether you are managing someone in a digital role, or you are doing it yourself, make sure you set some KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Too many people who recruit for a digital role without digital knowledge look at vanity metrics (i.e. the number of likes on a Facebook page). Focus on your business objectives – for example, increasing revenue by 20% and share that objective with the digital team member. If you are at interview stage ask them for an example of how they increased revenue using digital, what digital channels they used and how they rolled this out. You can then ask them as part of the interview, having reviewed your businesses digital channels (which having come for an interview with you you’d like to think they would have done this), how and what would you do to help us achieve a revenue increase of 20%.

Lynsey Sweales CEO & International Digital Marketing Strategist

SOCIALB socialb.co.uk

If you work in the digital space, you simply don’t have the luxury to rely on one channel or a single technique for long. Digital is galloping along at such speed if you want to stay ahead and stay successful you have to keep your eyes and ears wide open in our constantly shifting and evolving digital eco system. The quote ‘change is the only constant in life’ by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, has probably never been truer than within the world of digital.

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MANAGING GROWTH You started your business a few years ago, it’s going well, you’re paying yourself a decent salary but what now?

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o you want your business to remain all about you or do you want it to grow? Are you turning down lucrative pieces of work due to time pressures?

When you get to the end of your working life in ten or twenty years what will become of your business – will it retire with you?

Now is the time to consider your exit strategy, however many years ahead it is. Building your business and planning with the help of your accountant, will mean your company will be worth selling when the time is right for you.

You may not want to manage a team. However, there are other ways of expanding your business that will provide you with the income you deserve for building up a sustainable business. A company which has value for someone interested in buying.

Mentor Support Working out how to expand your business can be lonely, so finding yourself a trustworthy person with business acumen who can be a sounding board for your thoughts, concerns and ideas can help. You may have to pay for a mentor, but it could well prove worthwhile. Just remember that you know your business and clients best - all decisions remain yours.

MENTA www.menta.org.uk info@menta.org.uk

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Make sure you own your website, as it’s often a valuable part of the business. If you used an off the shelf website template, it’s likely to belong to the provider and not to you. Consider what the website looks like to a potential employee. Do the content and imagery reflect your ethics, brand and mission statement?

Whether you set up your business four or 14 years ago, social media cannot be ignored or ‘dabbled’ with. If you aren’t using it, you’re missing out on most potential clients under the age of 35. Gain a basic understanding of it and appoint a freelancer to cover this area of your business, supplying them with regular material to post. You may find a great blogger in your midst or someone who with the right support can become your social media ‘guru’.

Apprentices Consider apprentices and internships. Don’t discount this way of growing your business as there are plenty of ambitious young people out there – your job is to find them.

Use the wide number of apprenticeship companies which find and place people, and provide the training required too.

Be honest with yourself as to what size of business you want. Are you going to hire office space and employ staff or continue as you are? Would you prefer to use freelancers and contractors to provide the services you need? Consider how you will grow the visibility of your brand and business too.

Ask friends and family for recommendations of young people and once you’ve found them, place them on an apprenticeship scheme to help them gain further qualifications whilst they work for you. Remember by going down this route, you not only have staff, trained your way from the start (and not joining you from other firms with ‘bad habits’) but your monthly salary costs will be lower too.

Marketing

HR

A marketing strategy and plan will help you pull ideas together and set targets. You may require a marketing or salesperson to fulfil this role if this isn’t your forte.

Now may be the time to refresh your website (most are out of date after two years). Ensure you use professionally produced images and text that is written with Google and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in mind.

Which leads us rather nicely onto HR (human resources) and possibly service level agreements (SLA’s). Find yourself a freelance HR person who can help you to recruit and manage your new staff. They’ll help you look at job roles and descriptions – a difficult thing when up to now it’s all been you. It’s hard to let go of aspects of your business and it is essential you plan a strong reporting structure to ensure you remain in overall control.

A user experience (UX) company could provide you with live market research giving you a clear idea of what potential clients love and loathe about your present site. This way you’ll avoid making costly, ineffectual updates to your present website when it might make more sense to have a new one designed.

Finding, recruiting and retaining loyal, knowledgeable staff is not all about the pay structure. What else will you be able to provide for your employees? A fun workspace, pizza Friday’s; paid training days, coffee and cake team meetings, a cycle to work scheme – are all ways of adding value to your offer.

BU SIN ESS M EN TORI NG

You may decide employing staff is not for you but using contractors and outsourcing the mundane and administrative processes of your company could be the way forward.

Virtual Assistants There are excellent, virtual assistants available who will work on a regular basis, dealing with everything from PAYE, MTD (Making Tax Digital) and remote phone answering to invoicing, sales and marketing.

Your contractors will be your ambassadors, representing you as they deliver services to your clients. Ensure you have watertight service level agreements (SLA’s) in place to protect your company.

For instance, you want to protect your business from clients being ‘stolen’ by your contractors. Use a solicitor to draw up the necessary documents or, if you belong to a professional trading body, they may have paperwork you can use.

Finance You may be wondering how you will fund this growth?

This is where sitting down with an accountant is useful. Most accountants will give you an initial hour of their time for free, so take the opportunity to ‘interview’ a few, as it’s imperative that you trust and respect them.

Tell them your plans, what you are trying to achieve and why, then ask for their help with how to achieve realistic cash flow forecasts. They may ask you for additional information, which may feel is more work, however, building up this data will help you to better understand what turnover (sales) will need to be achieved to meet ongoing business costs.

Funding Once you have these working documents and a strong marketing plan, you’re in a position to look at funding routes. Dependent on your sector and location there may be grants available to support growth, though typically these are for 20% of the sum required and you’ll have to find the remaining amount.

Other options include finance houses, mainstream banks, funding circles, angel investors and crowdfunding. Do talk to your accountant and financial adviser about raising capital against your personal assets and whether this is the right option for you to explore. They may have contacts and experience of good routes to funding and introductions they can make.

Once you have everything in place, how do you actually take the leap? Sometimes it’s a case of finding the premises, appointing staff and finding the work. But it is scary and that’s why you have to be honest with yourself as to whether it’s a world you’re ambitious enough to enter.

Personality Profile Good bosses know their strengths and weaknesses and surround themselves with people who have the necessary skills they lack, but sometimes it’s hard to admit, even to oneself, what your bad ones are.

Consider using a cost-effective personality profiling system to understand yourself better. They can also prove a fantastic tool when appointing new team members, saving your company from costly errors and time wasting.

Advice and Information Some useful government-backed business organisations exist that are worth checking out.

In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) help lead economic growth and job creation within a local area. LEP’s are worth speaking with when you want to grow your company, as they may have grants available and oversee angel investor schemes.

Check out your local Chamber of Commerce or Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) as they provide advice and information too. Whilst some larger libraries can give you access to useful business information such as marketing and business plans.

There are many independent enterprise agencies too, these not for profit business organisations provide a wealth of independent, local business knowledge and advice. Mentoring services, business skills training; social media and marketing support, personality profiling services and financing growth fall within their remit.

The National Enterprise Network has a directory of enterprise agencies which you can locate at www.nationalenterprisenetwork.org. If you are based in the Cambridgeshire, Norfolk or Suffolk areas, take a look at MENTA www.menta.org.uk.

There is plenty of advice and information out there – the question is, are you cut out to be an entrepreneur?

Only you can answer that.

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L ove we l l B l a ke

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MAKE A SMOOTH EXIT Every entrepreneur needs an exit plan, says Matt Crawley, partner and head of Corporate Finance at Lovewell Blake.

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hether they plan to run their business long-term until retirement, or they start up their business with a view to selling it on in a shorter timeframe (as is the case with many tech start-ups), every entrepreneur will eventually need a plan to exit their business, pass it on to a new set of leaders – and maximise the value they get out of it.

This inalienable fact does sometimes seem to surprise some business owners. Perhaps it’s because we don’t want to confront the finite nature of our own existence, or maybe it’s because running a business is itself all-consuming, but too many entrepreneurs fail to plan for their exit from the business, with the result that when the time comes, they either end up not realising its true value, or else experience difficulty in finding a way out at all.

As with so many things in life, preparation is the key. Every entrepreneur should have in the back of their mind a plan, not just for their business, but for them personally as well. And an integral part of that plan should be what will happen when the time comes to exit the business.

It’s never too early It is not uncommon among millennial entrepreneurs in particular for the exit to be the driving force behind a business start-up itself.

Influenced by media stories of short-term riches being made, some go into business with their exit being the number one aim.

That is, of course, an extreme view; most people who start a business do so because they believe in it, and the success of that business is their number one aim. But these are the very people who get so wrapped up in the running of their enterprise that they don’t start thinking about what comes next until it’s too late.

However, no-one is immortal, and the time will certainly come when someone else has to take

over the reins. There is more to the process of transferring a business than most people think: getting the company to a level of success which will attract new investors, ensuring the right people are in place, or removing an over-reliance on the business relationships of the original owner.

In most circumstances, this takes time, and a period of five years during which the original entrepreneur prepares for their exit is often about right, so don’t leave it too late to start thinking in terms of an exit.

People are key Whether the route to exit is a trade sale to another company or a management buy-out, having a strong team in place is key. For the trade buyer, the knowledge that the success of the business is not over-reliant on the original entrepreneur is important, and obviously an MBO can only succeed if the right management team is in place in the first place.

An integral part of planning for succession is to identify what skills will be required once the owner has exited the business, and then ensure that the right people are in place to provide those skills. For an MBO, someone with sound financial skills is a huge advantage as part of this team.

But it’s not just about the skills – attitude is important as well. That team needs to have the energy and drive to take the business forward.

Some entrepreneurs fill key positions with people similar to them, in outlook and in age. If you are exiting the business because you have reached retirement age, you need the succession team to be at least a generation younger than you, to give them time to make their mark once you have gone.

This is particularly important if the exit is funded via an Employee Ownership Trust, whereby the sale of the business is essentially deferred, and funded through future profits – something which 

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

will only happen if the business goes into that future in safe hands.

A personal plan as well as a business plan

During the period leading up to the owner moving on, it is important that the new management team is increasingly trusted to run the business on a day-to-day basis, with the owner taking a more strategic role – basically a phased exit.

Too often entrepreneurs get so caught up in planning for their businesses that they forget they need to plan their own future as well. A crucial part of an exit strategy is thinking about what the individual entrepreneur wants to achieve - an immediate exit; a phased way out; a financial lump sum; an income for retirement; perhaps even the opportunity to go on and start another business.

Look at the risk factors MATT CRAWLEY

Partner, Lovewell Blake m.crawley@lovewell-blake.co.uk lovewell-blake.co.uk

Any potential new owner will look at a business through a rather less emotional filter than the person who established that business, and will be more ruthless in assessing potential risks. That means that during the preparation period for the owner’s exit, a similarly dispassionate view of the business needs to be taken.

So, for example, what is the situation with the lease on the company’s premises? Is there a big deficit in the pension scheme? How robust is the supply chain (for instance, is it over-reliant on manufacturing overseas, where the supply plug could be easily pulled)? How diverse is the customer base, or is the business over-reliant on one or two big contracts? How watertight are those contracts?

Now is also the time to conduct a thorough competitor analysis (as any potential buyer will do). Is your current competitive advantage about to disappear because of, for example, a patent expiry or a competitor development?

All of these risk factors could get in the way of a successful sale or MBO, and many of them will take some time to mitigate. So forward planning is again important.

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For many entrepreneurs, the exit is not just about money. If you have given decades to building up a business, you will have an emotional attachment, and so finding the right buyer who will take care of your ‘baby’ might be important – perhaps even more important than financial considerations.

I have known entrepreneurs to turn down compelling financial offers for their business in favour of less lucrative solutions which preserve the integrity of their life’s work.

In these circumstances, an MBO might seem the most attractive solution. But you must consider your options in the right order: attempt an MBO and fail, and your business will then have a demotivated management team which won’t be terribly attractive to an external trade buyer.

The keys to as successful succession and exit for entrepreneurs is to have a well-defined plan – both for the business and for the individual – and to take the time to implement that plan properly.

Whatever their motivation for going into business, every entrepreneur has to face the exit sooner or later; the worst thing they can do is put their head in the sand and hope it won’t happen to them – because it will.

F IN A NCE

MEMBERS VOLUNTARY LIQUIDATION One of the services we provide to our clients is a Members Voluntary Liquidation (MVL).

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his is a corporate procedure used to close a company when it is solvent (i.e. it can pay all of its debts). The procedure allows a tax efficient way to withdraw funds from a company, instead of salary or dividends. The process is fully approved by HMRC. An MVL is often used when a company is no longer required – this could be due to a retirement or business sale, or when the company no longer has a purpose, such as a fixed term contract having ended.

Clients may consider an MVL following a discussion with their accountant or financial adviser about their options, however it must be a licensed insolvency practitioner who formally liquidates the company.

Clients using an MVL will often claim “Entrepreneurs Relief”, which allows shareholders to pay an effective tax rate of just 10% on the funds due to them. This is a much lower tax rate than withdrawing the funds as salary or a dividend,

although there is a limit that each shareholder can claim during their lifetime of £10 million.

The MVL process usually starts with a discussion with one of our licensed insolvency practitioners, to assess whether the company can pay off all of its liabilities. The directors are required to swear or affirm a statement containing the company’s balance sheet. Following this, the company will hold meetings of the directors and shareholders and the directors will sign the necessary paperwork.

We liaise with the company’s accountant to ensure all HMRC returns are filed and paid, and that all other liabilities are paid before distributing the remaining funds to shareholders, which can be a fast process, with funds usually paid out within 24 hours of the liquidation commencing.

LEADING UK leading.uk.com 0800 246 1845

We pride ourselves on providing an outstanding service every time, so if you are considering closing your company using an MVL, contact us on 0845 246 1845.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT TAX RELIEF SPECIALISTS

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Call COODEN TAX CONSULTING NOW!

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INVEST IN GOOD COMMUNICATIONS AND PR AND REAP THE BUSINESS BENEFITS Here’s a challenge. Take a pen and a piece of paper and write down your organisation’s objectives. suppliers or investors doing or saying something and their perceptions of your organisation are therefore very important to your success.

This is especially true if your organisation wants to grow, when it will be essential that these groups are brought along on the journey with you. The odds are stacked in your favour if you have built strong relationships centred on trust which means listening, understanding and meeting expectations. This is sometimes easier said than done for organisations. If there is a gap between what your organisation says and what it does, its reputation is undermined. Good communication and PR bridges this gap.

“Public relations helps businesses to communicate value, tell stories and manage their relationships with their stakeholders. A strategic approach to PR is crucial for businesses aiming to establish and strengthen their reputation” says John Foster of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

But what does good communications and PR look like? It can take many forms but with one thing in common: Connecting with audiences.

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our organisation will have a few broad aims or specific targets, even if you are ‘between strategies’. How many of those objectives rely on other people if they are going to be delivered fully?

I would be surprised if it wasn’t every single one.

Most will involve your employees, customers,

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When The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP), a Government consortium which aims to create economic growth, was undergoing rapid change in 2017 it needed to communicate its new vison, ambition and identity. They set up a public engagement campaign called ‘Our Big Conversation’, aimed at getting more people involved in finding solutions to the Cambridge growth phenomenon. They wanted to raise awareness, boost dialogue and gather evidence for future investment strategies. Their in-house experts worked with an agency, Social Communications, to run a campaign that targeted residents, students, commuters, local businesses and all sections of the community. They set up a website and social media campaign, produced tailored leaflets and organised events including their launch event at a high-profile Cambridge United game which gained a lot of local media coverage.

The campaign reached over ten thousand people across Cambridge and generated a similar number of individual comments to ‘Our Big Conversation’, building an evidence-base that can be drawn on to help develop growth policy in Greater Cambridge for many years to come. And the success went

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beyond this, providing a longer-term business benefit by boosting reputation and credibility, and building stronger relationships with a number of community and residential groups.

Mike Cherry OBE, National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) understands that good communications and PR makes a difference. “Increasingly competitive markets, new export opportunities, diversification of audiences, fragmented and diverse channels of communication, as well as challenges posed by regulations and cyber crime all create an environment of both opportunity and threat. PR is needed to seize the former, and minimise the latter. Many small businesses can also increasingly be affected by consumer user generated content – from online reviews, to social media debate. This alone can make effective PR a must.”

Vindis Group Ltd, a family-owned motor business spanning East Anglia, wanted to be recognised for its commitment to exceeding customer expectations, to meet the challenge of increased competition from online retailers and comparison websites. They appointed local agency Mobas to execute a social media campaign to raise and maintain brand awareness with potential customers and to clearly communicate their points of difference - progressive leadership, cherishing customers and valuing employees.

Mobas conducted a comprehensive social media audit and found that competitors were all posting similar bland manufacturer content, creating the opportunity for Vindis to stand out from the crowd. ‘Driven to Excite’ was a campaign designed to emphasise new products; happy customers; ‘Vindis people’ and lifestyle content. They came up with behind the scenes and ‘Meet the team’

Becky Hall MCIPR, Chair of CIPR East Anglia

videos, beautiful artwork and imagery, guide to help potential customers, information about the company and engaging competitions. Mobas made sure that each social platform had a comprehensive monthly plan, supported by newsworthy stories to make the most of the public mood, such as union jack coloured cars in the Bentley garage to recognise the royal wedding. The key was to encourage visits to the Vindis website to discover the range of cars they sell.

The company got a massive social media boost which resulted in greatly improved traffic to their website. Vindis head of marketing Paul Woodhouse said “the team at Mobas helped us to

Public relations helps businesses to communicate value, tell stories and manage their relationships with their stakeholders. A strategic approach to PR is crucial for businesses aiming to establish and strengthen their reputation

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better understand our audience through targeting and profiling and give us the confidence that our strategy to be more customer-centric rather than sales-led was the right decision.”

CIPR cipr.co.uk

As well as delivering benefits to organisations, communications and PR can help tackle wider issues in society. It is estimated between 30-50% of food produced for human consumption is wasted globally and, last year, UK households threw away £13bn of edible food. The Co-op identified the need for bolder moves to tackle food waste.

They support food banks and collection points for donated goods are available in all stores. However, the majority do not accept food past its ‘Best Before’ date.

They worked with Pier PR & Marketing, coming up with a simple, newsworthy idea to sell produce when it is past its ‘Best Before’ for a nominal price, reducing food waste and empowering customers to better understand the meaning of dates on food purchases. Marketing and positioning was an important part of the strategy, and the light-hearted, ‘Co-op Guide to Dating’ brand was devised. With clever straplines including ‘don’t be a binner, have it for dinner!’ and ‘don’t leave me this way’ each store carried clear messaging about what ‘Best Before’ meant, which dates were important (‘Use By’) and how the food was perfectly fine to eat. The scheme was picked up by trade, local and

national media, with interviews on television and radio. The Times said “The world just got a little more sensible with the decision by East of England Co-op to sell off stuff that is past its ‘best-before’ date for 10p.”

The scheme will save an estimated 150,000 food items from being wasted – 50% better than the initial target of saving 100,000 items.

Good communications and PR is good for business.

The connecting factor of the three case studies I have given is a solid strategy and plan linked to the organisation’s goals, which is just one of the reasons they all won gold awards at the most recent Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ PRide Awards for the East Anglia, Thames and Chiltern regions. Good communications and PR starts with an organisation’s leaders understanding that they need to build trust and strong relationships with people in order to thrive.

Communications and PR professionals offer a wide range of services and it is important to work with the professionals who offer the right skills and solutions for you. If you are considering seeking support from an agency or an independent practitioner, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ Client Guide could help you find the right support. Visit www.cipr.co.uk to learn more.

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