Sunderland: Open for Business

2 SPECIAL REPORT: SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

CURRENT ACTIVITY

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BANDING TOGETHER

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A great past, a bold present, and a plan for a brilliant future

The city is at the hub of an industry with almost limitless potential

The music sector that’s making noises in the national scene

Sunderland University is a big player in the city’s economic revival

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Sunderland

we’re here to support your business

Whether you are looking to set-up or expand your business in Sunderland, support packages are available to help your business keep its competitive edge.

In this changing economic landscape, Sunderland City Council’s Business Investment Team is maintaining its support packages for local businesses working to create new jobs.

Available support includes specialist advice, grants and practical help with issues such as identifying premises. Our team is staffed with experienced people who can help to secure the best possible package of support for your business.

Contact the Business Investment Team for up-to-date information on how we can help on 0191 561 1210 or email business.investment@sunderland.gov.uk www.investinsunderland.com

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05 NEWS Enterprise is alive in Sunderland

12 CURRENT ACTIVITY The plan for the future is in place

20 ELECTRIC AVENUE At the hub of an entirely new industry

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WELCOME Sunderland, as One North East chairman Paul Callaghan points out elsewhere in these pages, once accounted for a quarter of the UK’s shipbuilding and now, from a standing start, it manufactures a third of the cars produced in the country. Building an entire industry, with its attendant supply chain, is no mean feat and is something of which the city can be justifiably proud and from which it can draw much confidence as it faces its economic future.

In this edition of BQ2 we take a look at that future in the light of the City Council’s recently published economic master plan. It is a plan that has been drawn up at a time of economic uncertainty with the prospect of serious challenges lying ahead. It does not, therefore, come across as a wish list of where, in an ideal world, the city would like to be, but rather it is, as this supplement demonstrates, firmly grounded in the real and the realisable. This is not to say that the aims it sets out will be easy to achieve, but, as will be gathered from the features in this edition, Sunderland is very much up for the challenge.

24 CENTRE FORWARD Regeneration is leading economic revival

28 UNIFIED SUPPORT Sunderland University – a big, big player

32 NEW TECHNOLOGY Paul Callaghan’s global businesses

36 BANDING TOGETHER Making a noise in the music scene

42 HEALTH SERVICED Opportunities for growth

44 COMMON GOALS

Christopher March Managing Director e: chris@room501.co.uk George Cheung Director e: george@room501.co.uk Euan Underwood Director e: euan@room501.co.uk Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk EDITORIAL Peter Jackson Editor e: p.jackson77@btinternet.com DESIGN & PRODUCTION room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk Chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotogaphy.com ADVERTISING If you wish to advertise with us please contact our sales team on 0191 537 5720, or email sales@room501.co.uk

How the City Council is supporting and promoting the software industry

48 THIS PORTING LIFE The Port of Sunderland has several advantages in serving the world

room501 Publishing Publishing House, 16 Pickersgill Court, Quay West Business Park, Sunderland SR5 2RA www.room501.co.uk

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room501 was formed from a partnership of directors who, combined, have many years of experience in contract publishing, print, marketing, sales and advertising and distribution. We are a passionate, dedicated company that strives to help you to meet your overall business needs and requirements. All contents copyright © 2011 room501 Ltd. All rights reserved. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork or advertising materials while in transmission or with the publisher or their agents. All information is correct at time of going to print, February 2011.

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We considered several locations, but Sunderland had everything we could ask for and the city council provided fantastic support

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A big name in Sunderland goes global, an elevator company gets a big lift, the city takes a football focus, trainee chefs work in a top Swiss kitchen, and a redundant teaching assistant goes back to school >> Attractive packaging Photographic image printing and recyclable packaging company Intelpack has relocated to premises in Washington with support from Sunderland City Council in a move that represents a £500,000 investment.

The company, which employs more than 50 staff, has moved to the city’s Stephenson Industrial Estate, Washington as it gears up for expansion.

The move enables Intelpack to improve efficiencies so that it can fulfil an increased demand in orders. The company is winning new business with organisations looking to reduce their environmental impact by using its direct-to-product printing process.

Bill Mapstone, Intelpack’s managing director, said: “These new premises provided us with the opportunity to design the layout of the factory to maximize the efficiencies of the production operation in order to service competitively our core markets. It will enable Intelpack to meets its growth aspirations both in the UK and Europe, as well as new projects in Australia and the US. “Intelpack was considering a move to new premises when our previous tenancy came to an end and we considered several locations, but Sunderland had everything we could ask for and the city council provided fantastic support.

“Sunderland City Council offered practical support and relocation assistance which has assisted us in our long term aims of growth and cost effective manufacturing.”

Intelpack produces a wide range of containers for products such as fresh soup, yogurt, ice cream and ready meals, and also makes pots for ‘ready to grow’ seeds for the horticultural industry.

The company invested in the premises to install a new cooling and ventilation system and to create a sterile manufacturing environment.

Councillor Paul Watson, leader of Sunderland City Council, officially opened Intelpack’s premises. He said: “We are delighted that

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Intelpack chose to move its entire UK operation to Sunderland. It is fantastic news for the city.

“The company has a long history of supplying some of the country’s biggest brands with food packaging and as the business looks to grow it can tap into the city’s highly capable, skilled manufacturing workforce.”

Intelpack called on local companies to support its move to Sunderland and the refurbishment of the factory. These included Datim, Dickinson Dees, MASS North East, NTG Precision Engineers, Hayley North East and Vanguard 2001.

Mapstone added: “It’s important for local businesses to work together and to support one another and we have been incredibly impressed by the level of service we’ve received from the companies we’ve brought in to help us so far. They’ve given us the best possible start here in Sunderland and we are very grateful.”

oversee the global direction of the brand, with dedicated regional business units in markets around the world.

The international board will be led by brand president Richard Cotter. In addition, Berghaus is recruiting for a new role of chief operating officer who will be based in Sunderland and will run the global operations and supply chain functions. The chief operating officer will also sit on the Berghaus international board.

The global management of the brand will continue to be directed from the Berghaus headquarters in Sunderland, led by the international board.

Berghaus is creating distinct regional business units, managed by dedicated teams, in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia. The EMEA unit will incorporate two individual units, for Europe and the UK. The EMEA business unit will be directed by Richard Leedham, who has been appointed to the position of vice-president EMEA, sitting on the international board. He has been working at Berghaus for 15 years and has most recently fulfilled the role of UK sales director.

>> Lateral thinking

Global focus: Richard Cotter

>> World expedition Sunderland-based outdoor clothing company Berghaus is restructuring its business to meet the demands of global growth.

This will combine an international board to

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A North East creative agency has been named as one of the top ten in the country outside of London.

Sunderland-based Lateral Advertising has been ranked at number seven in the top 100 agencies by the Recommended Agency Register, a national, independent organisation that helps companies source and select top level suppliers.

Agencies can only be added to the register if they meet the criteria, which include recommendations by a number of clients.

The RAR annually produces a list of the country’s leading agencies, the result of months spent collecting and collating the financial data from its database of UK >>

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marketing agencies operating outside of London.

The top 100 highlights not only the companies which are held in the highest regard by their clients, but also have the strongest financial rankings covering the last year.

Lateral, which has carried out campaigns and design for a range of national companies including Thomson Holidays, NHS and Primula Cheese along with organisations across the North East such as Washington Galleries, was recently added to the register.

“We are proud to have been rated as the number seven marketing services agency by the Recommended Agency Register,” said managing director, Alex Giles.

“The honour of making the top seven is a tribute not only to our creative and client service team but also the faith shown in our ability and kind comments from our clients.

“We were delighted that clients thought so highly of the work we do for them that they’ve took the trouble to recommend us to the RAR. “Although we already have a range of household names as clients, this is obviously a great opportunity to highlight what we can offer to an even wider audience.”

>> Welcome lift A Sunderland business is being elevated to new heights after securing major contracts shortly after starting.

Elaine Terry and Jonathan Wilde have combined their industry experience to set up their own enterprise, Exel Elevator, specialising in lift maintenance, modernisation and repair. And just five months on, the business is achieving real success after securing contracts with clients including local authorities, prestigious office blocks and nursing homes.

The opportunity came about earlier this year after Elaine was made redundant following 22 years in senior sales and customer service roles within the industry, and Jonathan, a former colleague and experienced engineer, was looking for a new challenge.

Jonathan said: “I was already investigating

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B . ack of the net: How the new football facility will look

>> City scores in football focus A new £2.5m five-a-side soccer complex is opening in Sunderland.

Located at the City of Sunderland College, Durham Road, this new state-of-the-art football facility has 10 floodlit arenas featuring the very latest 3G artificial grass as used by the top professional clubs in Europe.

The centre will become a focus for football within the city and will be running FA-affiliated five-a-side and seven-a-side leagues open to everyone. The facilities are also available for one-off and block bookings seven days a week.

This innovative facility is a joint venture between Goals Soccer Centres and the City of Sunderland College. The project has been funded by five-a-side centre operator, Goals Soccer Centres which has around 40 centres across the UK and the US. Sir Rodney Walker, chairman of Goals Soccer Centres, said: “As the UK’s leading provider of quality five-a-side soccer centres, we are delighted to be working with the City of Sunderland College on what will prove to be a valuable addition to sporting activity within the region. The facilities are open to everyone.”

Angela O’Donoghue, principal, said: “We are very excited about the opening of the new Goals facilities at our Bede site. Our partnership with Goals has enabled the college access to fantastic new sports facilities which will benefit our students and the community for years to come.”

Goals Soccer Centres have a range of opening offers including playing for only £10 during the opening week and a chance to win free football pitch hire for a year.

A Goals centre typically comprises between nine and 14 floodlit five-a-side courts set in an area of at least 2.5 acres. A modern “pavilion” provides quality changing facilities and a licensed lounge catering for post match refreshment. Parking is provided for approximately 100 cars. the possibility of setting up my own business when Elaine was made redundant. Between us we have the right combination of sales experience and technical ability, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to form a partnership.”

Having identified a niche market for a business that offers a personal service combined with the experience and systems to attract larger clients, Elaine and

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Jonathan launched Exel Elevator last summer at the North East Business & Innovation Centre (BIC), offering a full range of lift maintenance, modernisation and repair services with a call-out service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to a growing client base.

Councillor Bryan Charlton, portfolio holder for Prosperous City, at Sunderland City Council said: “Starting up in business here

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in Sunderland is a real, viable option for anyone with the right idea and the determination to succeed. We have some fantastic support services and I hope that many more people follow Elaine and Jonathan’s example and take advantage of the practical help that’s available to help new enterprises to start up and succeed.”

Chris Craig, business adviser at the BIC said: “From my first meeting with Elaine and Jonathan it was clear that they had the right combination of skills in place for a successful start-up. They were also very willing to take on board the advice and support we were able to offer them.”

>> Put to the Test One of the North East’s fastest-growing software companies is on the brink of opening its fifth office, having seen the size of its workforce quadruple in just three years.

Since setting up near Sunderland in 2007, The Test Factory has seen staff numbers swell to more than 20 to meet demand for its services from major international clients who include HSBC, the BBC, Vodafone, the NHS and Microsoft.

The company, based in the eVolve Centre, Rainton Bridge, helps firms set up custommade and secure online tests for staff.

The results of these tests can then be used to identify skills gaps, accredit training, deliver certification programmes, ensure and demonstrate compliance and carry out staff inductions and training.

Managing director Kevin Beales said: “Software is an industry where it is possible for companies to expand rapidly with the right product, the right staff and the right support but even so we’ve been delighted at the progress we’ve made in such a short time – especially when you consider the economic conditions we’ve been trading in.

“More and more companies have begun to recognize how online assessments provide them with the vital information they need to make accurate and intelligent business decisions.”

The Test Factory has been supported in its growth by Sunderland Software City, the regional initiative assisting the growth

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of the North East software industry.

Bernie Callaghan, chief executive of Sunderland Software City said: “The Test Factory is a terrific example of the kind of world-leading software firm with which Sunderland and the wider North East is quickly becoming synonymous around the world.

“Their innovation and expertise means it has been able to attract major international blue chip clients, and we’re immensely proud of the small part we’ve been able to play in its success.

Kevin Beales said: “To be honest, we set up in Sunderland because of Sunderland Software City. It was something we wanted to be part of and something we’ve really benefited from.

“They’ve not only given us their expertise but also the introductions to the right people, sources of funding and networks which has helped us become the company we are today.”

Power situation: Roof spaces can harness energy for electricity

>> Solar exploration Property business Gentoo has launched a service for home owners to improve energy efficiency, reduce bills and earn money by generating their own electricity with its new PV fitting service.

PV technology works by converting sunlight into electricity. It is applied to roof

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tiles so the roof space of the home can be utilised to harness the sun’s solar energy, turning it into electricity which can be used to run household appliances and lighting.

Feed-in Tariffs (FITs), became available in the UK from April 1 2010. Under this scheme, energy suppliers make regular payments to householders who generate their own electricity from renewable or low-carbon sources such as solar electricity (PV) panels. Customers not only enjoy a monthly reduction in electricity bills, they will also then receive an income from the feed-in tariff provider.

Sally Hancox, director of Gentoo Green, said: “With energy bills forecast to increase by 60% by 2016 now really is the time to invest in renewable energy. This, coupled with Government-backed feed-in tariff incentives, gives a typical return on investment much better than those offered by banks at the moment.

“Solar PV really is a great investment and it’s good for the planet too which makes it even better. Moreover, because Gentoo is a profit-for-purpose organisation you can be sure you’re getting the most out of your investment and that any profit made will be reinvested into giving the planet a little something back.”

However, feed-in tariff rates will decline over time therefore Gentoo is urging buyers to act now to make the most of this investment opportunity and benefit from the higher payments.

As a typical example, for a one-off payment of £8,500 a householder could receive a cheque from an energy company of up to £685 a year for 25 years – this is index linked and tax free.

They could also receive around £92 of free electricity each year.

Gentoo offers customers a complete MCS-accredited PV service including design, supply, installation and maintenance at competitive prices.

To find out more about how you could you could benefit from solar PV or for a no commitment home assessment contact the Gentoo Green Energy team on 0191 525 5000.

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>> Outstanding delivery

Degrees of success: University of Sunderland graduating students at Intel College, Kenya

>> Positive partnership The first Kenyan-based University of Sunderland Business School MBA students recently graduated at a special ceremony held at the Intel College, Nairobi.

Students successfully studied the postgraduate part-time programme in their own country through a partnership between the University of Sunderland’s Business School and Nairobi’s Intel College.

The ceremony also saw 150 students graduate in BA Business and Management and BSc Computing from the University of Sunderland.

Chris Marshall, head of the business school at the University of Sunderland, stressed the importance of international partnerships when he presented certificates to graduating students of the University’s Business School.

He said: “The effect of positive partnerships such as the well-established association we have with Intel College in Kenya impacts not only on the lives of students but on local businesses and the economy.

“All of the MBA graduates are working full time, as business owners, private sector managers and government officials.

“High quality postgraduate study like the MBA is very useful in improving the quality of leadership and management in a region. The advanced studies our first Kenyan MBA graduates have completed will help to build an enterprising, outward-looking culture in Nairobi.

For example, one student, chief executive of an IT company, chose to complete his final project on how to drive business development to the area. He is now implementing the results of his study with success. Students in Kenya have worked incredibly hard to achieve their undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, often combining full-time employment with part-time study. Their dedication is admirable, and the hospitality we have received during our visit has been outstanding.”

There are another 15 MBA students at Intel who will graduate next year. In the last five years there have been 132 BA Business and Management students who have successfully completed their degrees from the association between the University of Sunderland Business School and Intel College.

The Business School has built strong associations with higher education institutions across the world including Trinidad, Malaysia (five centres), Vietnam, Singapore, Cyprus, Germany, Philippines, Morocco, Zambia and Hong Kong.

Marshall said: “Intel is a commercially-minded college run in the professional way we expect. We are now talking with Intel about growing our business and management programmes to benefit potential students outside Nairobi through distance learning.”

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City of Sunderland College is celebrating after being granted Beacon status by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS).

Beacon status is awarded by invitation to exemplary learning providers who promote and pursue excellence.

Angela O’Donoghue, City of Sunderland College principal, said: “2010 has been a great year for the college which has seen us gain the Queens Anniversary Award for our work around basic skills, celebrate academic excellence with an A-level pass rate of 99%, achieve numerous outstanding comments in the recent Ofsted report, and help 883 of our students to go onto further study at university.

“The status highlights a fantastic year at the college and the ongoing hard work of our students and staff to ensure learners are continuing to gain the best possible education from a world-class provider.”

The LSIS uses published inspection reports as well as advice to identify which institutions to grant the status. It celebrates outstanding delivery in the further education sector from a range of learning and skills providers across England.

It is awarded to those funded by the Skills Funding Agency and/or the Young People’s Learning Agency and inspected by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

Representatives will celebrate their achievement at an awards ceremony hosted by LSIS at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull.

Dame Ruth Silver, LSIS chair, who will present the awards, said: “All of the Beacon winners are doing a magnificent job in helping learners of all ages to achieve their full potential.”

The latest award brings the total number of Beacon providers nationally to 179, and demonstrates the full range and diversity of organisations in the further education and skills sector.

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>> Photo finish A Sunderland pensioner is proving she is picture perfect, after launching her own business.

Vera Boulton, from Ashbrooke, set up VIP Personalised Portraits and Gifts in June, after returning to Sunderland from Florida where she had lived for eight years. And the 65-year-old has got the company off to a successful start, specialising in personalised gifts, including photographic prints – applying her clients’ favourite pictures on a range of materials from canvas, to metal, wood and glass.

Vera, who runs the business from home, said: “I have always liked photography, and when I returned to Sunderland, I had the idea of setting up my own company, selling prints and personalised gifts.

“I attended some trade shows and events to learn a little bit more about the market, and decided that it was something I wanted to progress with, so took steps to get the business off the ground.”

Vera met Chris Craig, a business adviser at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC), last March.

With assistance from Chris, Vera was able to develop her idea, and draft a clear business plan which she used to access financial support from the City Council’s New Enterprise Fund.

Vera said: “Chris’s support was invaluable in helping me form a business plan and access much needed funding to get the business up and running. The business has already got off to a really strong start, and to think that this was just an idea less than six months ago is quite amazing.”

Vera has already attended trade shows to sell her products, and has launched a website www.yourvipgifts.co.uk where her pictures and gifts can be bought.

Chris Craig said: “Vera is a genuine entrepreneur, who had a strong business idea, and the passion and ability to make it work.

“It was a pleasure to support her with her business plan and signpost her to funding that has been a great help in getting the company up and running. I wish Vera every success as she continues to grow the business.”

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Gold standard: Three of the University of Sunderland Business School lecturers who will be training the Olympic Games-makers. William Hunter, left, Derek Watson, centre, and John Hind

>> Olympic fame for volunteers The University of Sunderland Business School has been chosen as the only organisation in the North East to be involved in recruiting the region’s volunteer games-makers for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Four lecturers from the University of Sunderland Business School, William Hunter, Derek Watson, Kim Drady and John Hind, have been trained by The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), to carry out the selection and training of Selection Event Volunteers (SEVs), in the North East.

At least 56 University of Sunderland undergraduates and postgraduates, as SEVs, will in turn interview and select the games-maker volunteers. The games-makers will carry out a variety of roles, from specialist medical roles to athlete escorts, stewards and translators, all of whom will help to ensure the Olympics and Paralympic Games run smoothly at all venues.

William Hunter said: “It’s a fantastic honour to be chosen as the only North East venue to train the games-makers. The University of Sunderland team is hugely enthusiastic about its role. As we are all chartered members of the Institute of Personnel Development we have the skills and the commitment to train key people who will help to make the Games run smoothly.”

He and the other three Business School lecturers set aside two weeks in January to interview the selection event volunteers. Each student was assessed in these two sessions to identify their enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, the Olympics and their understanding of volunteering.

Those selected to go forward as SEVs will then take part in a five-day programme – mainly practical – which will take place over five to eight weeks in 2011.

The selection event volunteers will have to interview potential games-makers over a two-week period in the spring. The games-makers will be required at St James’ Park, which is one of the football venues for the Olympics. They could also be located at London and other Olympic venues.

Steve Cram, chancellor of the University of Sunderland, and an Olympic medal winner, is delighted that the university is playing an active role in the preparations for the 2012 Games.

He said: “The Olympics and Paralympics are going to be extraordinary occasions for the whole country. It’s great news that the university’s highly-skilled staff and students will help to put in place well-trained games makers who will ensure the events are smooth-running and successful.”

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>> On a Swiss roll City of Sunderland College had a treat in store for its cookery students when chef to the stars David Gill offered them the chance to cater for celebrities.

He gave them the opportunity of a work placement in a top Switzerland ski chalet, cooking for luminaries which included the Duke of York, the Beckhams and JK Rowling.

David, originally from Sunderland, teamed up with his sous chef Roger Dickson to challenge 21 NVQ Level 3 students studying a qualification in Professional Cookery, to tantalise his tastebuds by cooking their own signature dishes.

The students sent their CVs to David who shortlisted eight finalists. Each Delighted: City of Sunderland College then prepared a mouth-watering meal students, Chelsea Jamieson and Craig to be tried and tested by the top chef.

New with chef David Gill Chelsea Jamieson, 17, from County Durham, and Craig New, 17, from Ryhope, were selected as two of the three worthy winners and since December are now on a five-month placement working alongside David in the luxurious Chalet Eugenia in Klosters.

Alison Maynard, director of curriculum at the college’s Hylton Skills Campus, said: “We were thrilled when David and Roger approached us with this fantastic opportunity. As you could imagine, he received a high volume of entries, all of which were of an exceptional standard.

“The winners were looking forward to working in the chalet kitchen for five months while also continuing their NVQ Level 3 via email and blogging. They will report into a member of the cooking staff and will also receive a visit from our college to see how they are settling in.

“We are hoping to strengthen our relationship with David, who has proved to be a fantastic role model and inspiration to our students. We look forward to working with him again in the future.”

Student Chelsea Jamieson, said: “I am delighted to have been selected by David, hopefully there will be some famous faces popping in.

“To reach the final, I prepared a gooey chocolate brownie with home-made vanilla ice cream which was accompanied by roasted hazelnuts and a tuille biscuit which is a very thin, wafer-like biscuit. I am looking forward to my experience abroad and hopefully it will lead to the start of a successful career for me.”

Student, Craig New, said: “I was amazed to find out I had secured a place to work in the chalet. I prepared my signature dish of roasted vegetables with honey drizzled over a tuna steak and chips which went down pretty well.

“This is a life-changing opportunity for me. I am sure working in Switzerland alongside David will be an experience I will never forget. This is a great start for us all. I would love to continue working around the world in the best restaurants with top class chefs.”

Daniel Francis, also an NVQ Level 3 student secured a placement in Switzerland and will be looking to sizzle his way to success alongside Craig and Chelsea.

The College offers a range of vocational courses including, Catering and Hospitality, Travel and Tourism, Health and Safety or Retail Management. Courses are available to study on a part-time or a full-time basis.

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>> Back to school Sue Fraser didn’t let redundancy get her down but became her own boss, setting up a business providing IT support services to local primary schools.

Sue, from Washington, set up Primary IT Solutions in November after being made redundant from her role as a teaching assistant last summer. And the 50-year-old, who has spent more 10 years working within the education sector, has got the company off to a flying start.

Primary IT Solutions provides a range of services including after-school and lunchtime computing clubs, staff training in a variety of software programmes, as well as creating and updating websites for schools. In just two months the business is already working with four primary schools across the Sunderland area – including Sue’s previous employer Barmston Village Primary School, who have employed her to continue to keep the school website up-to-date as well as other aspects of support – and Holley Park School in Washington where she has recently designed a new website.

She said: “After being asked by my previous employer to set up and maintain the new school website, I found that I had a talent for this kind of work and really enjoyed it. When I heard I was being made redundant earlier last year I realised there was the potential to make a full-time job of it.”

Berni Whitaker, enterprise manager at Sunderland City Council, said: “Having faced the challenges of redundancy Sue has taken control of her own career path and is already starting to reap the benefits.

I hope we are able to help many more people follow here lead by taking advantage of the excellent network of support available throughout the city.”

Ron Anderson of SES said: “Sue has the talent and determination to make a real success of Primary IT Solutions and has managed to capture a niche in the market offering IT support to both teachers and students alike.”

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OVERVIEW

Sunderland has a great past and now has a plan for an even greater future, as Peter Jackson reports “I wouldn’t start from here.” This, in the old joke, is the response to a request for directions.

And the same person might tell you that this is not the best time – post credit crunch, post recession and pre public spending cuts – to be drawing up an economic masterplan.

But that is precisely what Sunderland City Council and its partners have done.

Joking aside, this is not only exactly the kind of time where a plan is called for as a guide and compass in economic hard times, but, as the City Council points out, a plan framed in such circumstances is heavily influenced by cold

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reality, designed for tough times.

One cold hard fact, for instance, which those who wrote the Sunderland economic masterplan have had to bear in the forefront of their minds is that axe which is poised to fall on public sector spending.

It is estimated that the state-funded sector, in the shape of the NHS, local government and education, currently accounts for about a third of Sunderland’s economy and that will probably fall, in employment terms, to about half of what it is now.

That is a grim prospect to contemplate but one gets a sense that Sunderland’s leaders,

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while certainly taking it seriously, are not about to be paralysed by it. The city has, after all, been here before.

After years of decline, shipbuilding and coal disappeared as industries in the late 1980s and there were further shocks to come, such as the closure of Groves Cranes Pallion plant and Vaux Brewery. But new industries have replaced them, most notably a whole automotive sector, on the back of the highly successful Nissan plant, but also contact centres, mainly in the financial sector.

Together, these have soaked up all the jobs lost in the old industries. >>

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However, Sunderland wants it to be different this time: It wants a different standard of jobs and its wants less exposure to a small number of sectors. That is not to say that the jobs in the automotive sector and in the call centres are not of high quality. Nissan trains and provides work for highly-skilled engineers and the call centres tend to do a lot of intrerpretative work.

But, as Sunderland City chief executive Dave Smith says: “The vision is all about creating a diverse economy driven by the private sector, supported by the public sector that ensures that we not only retain employment in the city, which we have done very well over the last 15 years, but, more than that, we create careers in the city.

“So, we both have mass employment but we have also employed them on a career basis so people can progress into increasingly value added roles and bring more prosperity, both for the individuals and for the city as a whole.

“The great difference between where we are taking the economic masterplan now, compared with how we developed the economy over the previous 15 to 20 years, is that the driver in the first period was all about replacing jobs in traditional industries and ensuring there was the basis for mass employment in the city.

“But everybody would acknowledge that while in volume terms we were very successful, two problems came with it. One, it was still centred on a small number of sectors – automotive, contact centres and public sector. The second problem was that that it did not create career-based jobs.’’

To make a reality of this aspiration, the Sunderland economic masterplan seeks to play to the city’s strengths and to encourage development in those areas where it already has an advantage, or where it potentially could.

It does, for example, identify electronic vehicle production as an economic opportunity. Nissan has already famously announced that Sunderland will be the first European plant to manufacture the company’s electric car, the LEAF, and that it will invest £200m in building an electric car battery factory on the Washington site. Little wonder then that the Government announced that the UK’s Low

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Vision: Dave Smith, chief executive Carbon Economic Area (LCEA), for ultra-low carbon vehicles would be centred on Sunderland. As part of the plan, therefore, companies will be encouraged to use low-carbon vehicles as part of their fleets and the city will seek to develop a low-carbon technopole hub for electric vehicles, clustered around Nissan and its test track. It’s on the lines of Silicon Valley’s technopole, a distributed network of linked companies collaborating in R&D. Vince Taylor, Sunderland City’s head of strategic economic development, says: “So it changes from us having Nissan and its supply chain to having a set of manufacturers – not on the same scale as Nissan – around electric vehicles and a whole set of expertise around it, from cars through to commercial vehicles and public service vehicles and even motor bikes.’’

On the same low carbon theme – and the masterplan seeks for the city to become “a national hub of the low-carbon economy” – the ambition is for the Port of Sunderland to

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become a key part of the infrastructure for offshore wind. The Port believes it is ideally placed to service that industry; in the pre-development survey work, the establishment of a supply chain, the manufacture and assembly of various components of the wind turbines, supporting installation, and the ongoing operations and maintenance work.

A third key sector which the city wants to attract and encourage is software. Again, this is a growing sector which will be of crucial importance long into the future, and it is one where Sunderland already has considerable strengths. It is already home to a burgeoning software sector, supported by Sunderland Software City, a strategic partnership which aims to drive productivity and innovation within the sector and the commercialisation of R&D activity in universities and businesses.

The three low-carbon sectors – electric vehicles, offshore energy and software, are seen as being in the vanguard of the economic opportunities. Two complementary sectors are health and wellbeing and the creative industries.

Healthcare is a growth market for services with the elderly forming an expanding proportion of the population and with children now surviving longer with health and disability problems. Consequently, the services supporting those people, at various levels of professional skill across the spectrum of medical and nursing support, social care and education face ever-increasing demand. There is also a requirement for an ever-increasing skill level. This means there is a growing market and meeting its demands is critical to the wellbeing of increasing numbers of people who will have personalised care budgets.

The plan envisages training people with the necessary skills through the college and university and by promoting the development of social enterprises and businesses that can deliver the necessary services. It also sees the local authority acting as the broker between the individual with a need and the market.

“These are not mere concepts, in certain areas we are already doing that,’’ says Dave Smith.

“In certain areas of disability we have developed markets to provide services to people with physical and learning disabilities

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OVERVIEW

Well placed: Sunderland is fortunate in that it has several key sectors in which the city can develop its underlying strength and some of those people with a disability are now running companies themselves providing services to other people.’’

Similarly, with the cultural or creative sector, the plan envisages a growing cluster of small businesses, building on an already existing and thriving sector. Traditionally, Sunderland has been home to the production of glass and is the base for the National Glass Centre. Every year the City Council takes 20 or 30 small glass and ceramic art businesses to a massive exhibition in Washington DC, with which Sunderland has a friendship agreement.

This, by the way, also underlines the importance of Sunderland’s international links.

Apart from traditional town-twinning arrangements – with St Nazaire in France and Essen in Germany – it has, in recent years, signed a number of friendship agreements.

One of the most high profile is that with Washington DC which is five years old and which covers business opportunities and also education and schools.

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“We have had interchanges involving heads of schools in learning from each other. We have managed to learn from each other and share our knowledge,’’ says Vince Taylor.

Software company 4Projects, for instance, has visited and has set up an office in Washington DC to profit from federal government construction contracts.

Less traditional in the creative sphere, but growing in importance, is the Sunderland contemporary music scene, which entrepreneurs have been working hard to develop in the city with its increasingly influential young bands. The Split Festival now attracts internationally-recognised bands, including Sunderland’s own The Futureheads.

SAFC is staging concerts which have grown in scale and quality from the initial concerts with Take That to a long weekend of Take That, followed by the Kings of Leon, with hundreds of thousands of tickets sold in a year.

This provides obvious material benefits to the city’s traders and its economy, but there are, of

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course, other, less tangible benefits.

Manchester and, before that, Liverpool, established reputations as music centres, which did wonders for the image of both places.

“You get known to be a music venue,’’ says Dave Smith. “The stark reality of Liverpool or Manchester is that they have no more talent per head of the population than anyone else, but what they have got, is the ability to exploit that talent and showcase it and a commitment to go on and make it sustainable and that’s what we are developing.’’

Another potential driver of Sunderland’s economy, which might more appropriately fit into the category of opportunity rather than strength, and which is a sector in geographic rather than industrial, is the city centre. Clearly its development is heavily reliant on the state of the commercial property and financial markets, but Sunderland arc has already done much of the heavy lifting in terms of acquiring key sites and it looks as though the long- >>

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There is no sense in which Sunderland seems to be daunted by the economic challenges it faces. There is a great feeling of partnership

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running dispute with Tesco over the Vaux site is finally within sight of a resolution.

A drawback with the jobs created in the automotive and contact centre industries is that they are located almost entirely on the city’s edges or suburbs. The result is that only about 16% of Sunderland’s total employment is in the city centre area and this compared to about 25% in Leeds or even 33% in Newcastle. It is estimated that development of the Vaux and Farringdon Row sites could add between 5,000 and 6,000 city centre jobs and this could have a transformative effect, drawing in high quality retail and professional services.

A major partner in transforming the city centre and in the economic master plan is the University of Sunderland and Aim 1 of the plan is to create “a new kind of university city.” It is recognised that universities are vital in the creation of knowledge-based cities and a skilled workforce. A university city also implies a vibrancy and cultural buzz as well as a degree of physical attractiveness. It is planned, therefore, that the university should become more integrated with the city’s economy, helping businesses to grow.

None of this plan has been designed, nor will be implemented in ideal times, which is where we came in.

But, there is no sense in which Sunderland seems to be daunted by the economic challenges it faces. There is a great feeling of partnership and the plan itself is a product of working together by the City Council, businesses, government agencies, schools, colleges and the universities and other partners.

And they are up for it.

As Dave Smith says: “For me, it has always been part of the DNA of Sunderland to want to solve its own problems, to never see itself as the victim, to take hold of issues and find solutions for itself. Through what will be an incredibly difficult period for this city – along with every other urban area of the country – what we are doing, through the economic masterplan, is getting hold of that DNA and making it work and saying, we can have a huge influence over our own destiny, if we act early and if we act in a planned and co-ordinated way.’’ n

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Sunderland INTERVIEW Winter 11

open for business

In Sunderland, we始ve worked closely with partners to establish a new smart and sustainable vision for the city始s economy, identifying a small number of clear economic priorities for the city.

We have a real passion for the city, its people and its businesses and it shows, with an enviable record of inward investment, good relationships with city employers and many new opportunities in the pipeline.

A clear idea of how we want to grow and the knowledge of exactly what we can offer means we really are open for business, your business.

For more information call the Business Investment Team on 0191 561 1171 or visit: www.sunderland.gov.uk/economicmasterplan

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The city is ďŹ rmly at the hub of a new industry with almost limitless potential; an industry that requires an extensive supply chain of cutting-edge companies SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

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electric avenues Nissan brought a major new industry to Sunderland and, with the decision to manufacture electric vehicles, it is set to put the city at the forefront of a whole new technology, as Peter Jackson reports

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A quiet revolution is under way in the North East and it is a revolution that could have the most profound implications for Sunderland.

The first commercially available 7kW domestic charging points for electric vehicles have been installed in homes across the region, helping drivers switch to low-carbon transport.

One North East has appointed POD Point to install 55 domestic charging units into homes which are the first of their kind.

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The units are being installed at the homes of those taking part in the region’s Switch EV trial which involves a host of new electric vehicles all delivered by North East companies including the Nissan LEAF, the AVID Vehicles CUE-V, the Liberty E-Range and a mini bus from Smith’s Electric Vehicles.

This has a national, if not global, significance, but it has a particular significance for Sunderland in the wake of a couple of eagerly awaited announcements made a year to 18 months ago. In March last year, Nissan announced that the LEAF will be manufactured at its Sunderland plant. The Nissan LEAF is the first in a range of forthcoming Nissan electric vehicles (EVs), and will be the world’s first affordable, massproduced, zero-emission car.

This followed an announcement the previous year that it would construct an advanced lithium-ion battery plant on-site. This plant will have the capacity to produce 60,000 units a year, support 300 to 350 jobs, and will start manufacturing batteries next year for both Nissan and Renault.

The production of the LEAF and the batteries represent a total investment of more than £420m in the Sunderland plant and is expected to maintain about 2,250 jobs at Nissan and across the UK supply chain.

The investment will be supported by a £20.7m Grant for Business Investment from the Government and a proposed finance package from the European Investment Bank of up to £197.3m.

With those kind of figures, this is clearly not a side issue for Nissan. Indeed, the head of Renault-Nissan Carlos Ghosn is on record as saying that his hopes for the future of the company rest on the development of the electric car and, proving that these are not empty words, the company has invested some £3bn in electric vehicles.

Production of Nissan LEAF began in Oppama, Japan last year, to be followed

by Smyrna, Tennessee, in the US, this year and Sunderland will come online in early 2013 with an initial annual production capacity of about 50,000 units.

In December 2009, Nissan and One North East signed a definitive agreement on zero emission mobility. The agreement includes the

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development of a regional network of charging points, supply of Nissan LEAF to the region from early this year and a range of incentives for early adopters of EVs, such as a period of free charging and use of dedicated EV lanes. The Government also announced that the UK’s Low Carbon Economic Area (LCEA), for ultra low-carbon vehicles would be centred on Sunderland.

This all puts the city firmly at the hub of a new industry with almost limitless potential; an industry that requires an extensive supply chain of cutting-edge companies employing a highly skilled and educated workforce. Some idea of the potential can be gained by

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INSIGHT

remembering that Nissan already employs some 4,000 people directly in the North East and, according to estimates, it supports another 9,000 jobs in the supply chain.

It is against this background that Sunderland City Council wrote into its economic masterplan that the focus should be on those low-carbon industries where it enjoys a competitive advantage, exploiting their economic benefits.

The City Council is drawing up a sector plan for electric vehicles which will analyse the sector’s needs. This will include supply chain mapping and looking at physical infrastructure and financial support. >>

The plant will have the capacity to produce 60,000 units a year, support 300 to 500 jobs, and will start manufacturing batteries next year SPECIAL REPORT | Winter 11

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It is believed that developing a low carbon technopole hub – a network of companies such as exists in Silicon Valley – around Nissan will make the city a leader in electrical vehicle technology. This will include an R&D facility alongside the test track at Nissan.

An ultra low-carbon vehicle strategy will also support the use of electric vehicles across the city, with their use promoted by the provision of charging points.

Public sector partners will also be encouraged to use ultra low-carbon vehicles in the delivery of public services and public transport.

Trevor Mann, senior vice president manufacturing, purchasing and supply chain management for Nissan Europe, is optimistic and is on the record as saying: “The market is definitely moving this way, the big question is how quick and who will be the leaders, and what we have been trying to do is position ourselves as global leaders in terms of zero emissions mobility.

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“We are in the course of designing purposebuilt electric vehicles from scratch, not modified vehicles, so the platform, the infrastructure and the power train is uniquely designed for electric vehicles, so there’s no compromise at all.

“We believe we have got the best available technology in terms of battery and therefore

the performance that goes with it. We’ve got the technology, we’ve got the right style of vehicles for real-life use; if we can work together with the regions of the UK, and if the UK Government gets behind it as they have been doing, I can see no reason why the UK can’t also be a leader in electric vehicles mobility. It’s all looking good.’’ n

We believe we have got the best available technology in terms of battery and performance

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Sunderland City Council deputy chief executive Janet Johnson

centre forward

Physical regeneration of Sunderland’s city centre forms a key part of the economic masterplan, as the city council’s deputy chief executive Janet Johnson explains to Peter Jackson SPECIAL REPORT | Winter 11

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A major milestone in Sunderland’s physical development was reached last summer with the resolution of a long-running battle.

It was announced that the 26-acre former Vaux Brewery site – subject an often rancorous dispute between Tesco and Sunderland arc since 2002 – would be sold by Tesco to One North East.

This clears the way for the realisation of the arc and city council’s ambitious scheme to develop the site as a major inner city business quarter.

This is a key component in the council’s plans for the city centre. Currently, something like 16% of Sunderland’s employment is in the centre, compared to double that percentage for Newcastle. This has obvious implications for other activities in the area, such as retail and leisure.

However, it is believed that development of the Farringdon Row and the Vaux sites into a riverside central business district could, over 15 years, bring 5,000 to 6,000 jobs to the centre, increasing its share of total employment to more like 20%.

This would be done gradually in partnership with a private developer and perhaps involving the relocation of a major public sector facility such as a courts complex.

The aim is that the business district would be home to professionals working in a range of occupations, creating a critical mass and virtuous circle for attracting restaurants and upmarket retail. The city centre would then itself become an economic motor, playing a strong role within the city’s whole economy.

The Vaux site alone is half the size of Doxford, giving Sunderland a rare asset among UK cities.

“Tesco agreeing in principle to sell the Vaux site was a major step forward for us,’’ says Sunderland City Council deputy chief executive Janet Johnson. “One of the key drivers of the economic masterplan is to prioritise investment in the city centre, to make the city centre punch its weight and even above its weight.

“A huge part of that approach is to get extra jobs in the city, creating a site where quality jobs will be located, getting more people working in the city, spending in the city, living in the city, and enjoying their leisure time in the city.

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“Having a large site to allow us to develop a business park right in the centre of the city was really important to us. I can’t think of any other city of our sort of scale that has a site of that size slap bang in the middle of its centre that would allow a very significant business park to be developed that over time would help in the creation of some thousands of jobs.’’

She says that the council can now move to the next phase of planning the development of the business park, which, while being predominantly office, would also probably have elements of retail, leisure and even residential.

“There clearly will be a whole range of works that are needed to be done, remediating the site, dealing with site servicing, road alignments and so on,’’ she adds.

In common with other urban regeneration companies across the country Sunderland arc is being wound up. An economic leadership board is now the driver of the economic masterplan.

Johnson explains: “The officer delivery side will be organised from within the council but will call heavily on partners which are deeply involved with all of the delivery teams, whether that’s the university or other partners.’’

A big task facing them now that the Vaux site issue appears to be finally resolved is that of the question of an iconic new bridge over the River Wear. This is a key element of Sunderland’s Strategic Transport Corridor, linking the A1231 close to the A19 to the old Groves Cranes site on the South Bank.

The proposals received a provisional green light from the Department for Transport and planning permission from the local authority and the land is being acquired. But public

INTERVIEW

spending constraints mean the project is one of 64 across the UK put on hold by the Department for Transport while it reviews funding.

Johnson says: “We are still saying to the DFT; this is still needed, this is still a priority, we still want to go forward into the next stage with the bridge. That was put to them just before Christmas.

“We have put a very strong and now significantly strengthened economic case because of the economic masterplan which was not fully formed at the time of the original submission.

“The bridge is an absolutely crucial element of redirecting and refocusing economic prosperity on – and priority for it – on the city centre. As I said, for the city to punch its weight, and potentially over its weight, we have to have more people working in the city, living in the city, crucially spending in the city and, in order to do that, we need to open up a string of sites, to bring forward the business park-type sites, the improved city centre housing sites, and improved retail sites.’’

The bridge would provide a better link between the A19 and the port as part of the Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor.

“But the bridge is as much about opening up a string of sites that will run along the southern bank of the river,” says Johnson.

“Without the bridge, you can still have a way of accessing those sites but it would open up a whole string of very good quality brown field sites that will provide all of the land we need in this city to bring forward a variety of increased uses.’’

Another victim of the economic crisis were plans for the Farringdon Row 12-acre cliff top site, which was to be developed with a hotel, office accommodation and apartments. >>

A huge part of that approach is to get extra jobs in the city, getting more people working in the city, spending in the city and living in the city

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Vibrancy: It is planned that more people will be attracted to live and work in the city centre However, the banking crisis meant the developer could not get funding and had to pull out.

Fortunately, HM Courts Services, which was looking for a site ready for development in the city centre for an £80m courts complex, bought the site and is working on its planning application.

It is still a priority for HM Courts Services, but, like so much else, it has been put on hold until funding becomes available.

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“Clearly that would be a major first step in getting a business park and a professional quarter developing in the city centre of a scale that can bring the size of financial boost to the economy that we need for the city centre,’’ says Johnson.

A change in the banks’ attitude also affected the proposed development of the Holmeside Triangle.

This area was earmarked for retail, leisure, food and drink and some residential use but,

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again, the developer was left without funding and had to withdraw. Now the site and options for it are under review.

“The council and our two main partners, the Homes and Communities Agency and One North East needed to reassess in a changed market what might be possible and what would be desirable for the Holmeside development,’’ says Johnson.

“We are going through that process now and we have commissioned a study for what options work on the site and that will report into the council shortly.

“It is still the aspiration of the economic masterplan and the council to expand and improve the retail offer of the city and a prime candidate for where that investment was likely to go to bring forward this improved retail offer was the Holmeside site.

“Whether the Holmeside site is still retail led I won’t be able to know and consider until we have this piece of work finished.’’

The council-owned Port of Sunderland, with its proximity to the city centre, is regarded by the City Council, in the context of the masterplan, as a “city centre jewel”.

“We have lots of opportunities for the port to bring forward a large number of jobs of a different make-up almost into the city centre itself,’’ says Johnson.

Across the city centre, on the western edge, in the Minster Quarter, the council envisages a cultural and leisure area with restaurants and bars and providing more appealing access from the university’s City Campus to the city centre.

Clearly there is much to do in Sunderland city centre and the speed of progress will, to a large extent, depend on the state of the national economy and the willingness of developers and banks to invest.

But the City Council and Sunderland arc can point, with some satisfaction, to what has already been achieved.

More than £120m of private investment has been attracted into the city centre, in Sunniside public spaces have been refurbished and businesses encouraged with grants, making this a hub for creative industries.

Now, with the acquisition of the Vaux site seemingly within its grasp, the City Council can look forward to the next stage. n

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There is much to do in Sunderland city centre and the speed of progress will, to a large extent, depend on the state of the national economy and the willingness of developers and banks to invest

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INtERVIEW

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UNIFIED SUPPORT Sunderland’s university figures large in the city’s economic masterplan. Sue Reece explains its role to Peter Jackson

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We recognise the role that the university has within the city, as an economic driver for the city, but also its social responsibility in terms of support Its university is, by any terms, a big player in Sunderland’s economy.

With a turnover of more than £100m a year and about 18,000 students, it is an economic force in its own right. Also, as many of these students are from outside the region and about 2,000 are overseas students, there is a considerable indirect impact.

As Sue Reece, director of student recruitment and business partnership, says: “We recruit students from more than 70 countries. It brings student exchange, academic exchange, it brings cultural diversity to Sunderland and allows our students to get a global perspective and it helps in terms of internationalisation within the city and we work very closely with the City Council’s inward investment team.’’

Little wonder then, that the university is one of the City Council’s main partners in the formulation and implementation of its economic master plan. Indeed, its vision is to turn Sunderland into “an entrepreneurial university city at the heart of a low-carbon regional economy.”

How do we define “a university city”?

“The view was, we were a city with a university, rather than a university city,’’ explains Reece. “It is felt the university could have a bigger impact on the city centre itself.

“It’s also about our student experience and the large number of students from around the country and overseas who mix in and engage with the city, our engagement with business, it’s about our research agenda, it’s about our partnership agenda. If you look at a university city, it has that knowledge economy, that growth, that it not only brings opportunities to develop and grow the economy but it makes for a hugely attractive city.

“Part of it, particularly on the City Campus, is about integrating the university much more with the city and we are redeveloping the

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campus to encourage people onto the site, so we have a new City Space building which has general public access and people come in and use facilities to promote health and sport and healthy living. Generally, we recognise the role that the university has within the city, as an economic driver for the city, but also its social responsibility, in terms of supporting the city and the wider region.’’

She goes on to say that the university is keenly aware its role within the city and the wider regional economy and is keen to play its part in their development, through education, research and business engagement.

The university is an active member of the Sunderland Partnership – and partnership, she explains, is a core value of the university, being represented in the regional health authority board, and it has a partnership with Sunderland AFC and the college.

Reece says: “It’s interesting when, for example, the Chinese commissioner came to Sunderland to meet the university and some of the schools which had been working on Mandarin language skills, we put a joint programme together with the city and had discussions.

He remarked that of all the places he had visited in the UK, this was the first time that the local authority and the university had done the visit together.’’

Aim 1 of the masterplan is for Sunderland to be “a new kind of university city” and Reece chairs the Aim 1 group, but as she emphasises, the university is involved in the masterplan at all levels and across all its aims.

This is natural, given that the economic opportunities identified for Sunderland in the masterplan largely mirror the university’s own research beacons or centres of excellence – creative and cultural practices, culture and regional studies, digital innovation and health sciences and wellbeing.

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INtERVIEW

“We are looking at sectors, where you can take that sector and look at a whole range of skills that are needed at various levels where jobs would be required,” says Reece. “So you could work with the schools sector and young people on the choices they make. You work with the college to ensure that they have the right courses and programmes for those students to feed into and then that the university provides opportunities for progression to higher level skills.

“We are identifying key industries where we could put investment in but then we are ensuring that the people of Sunderland will >>

Case study Lamasatech is the brainchild of Sunderland Software Enterprise graduates, Mahmoud Elsaid and Husam Ramadhan and computing graduate Adam Clements who have developed new technology that introduces touch-screen dining tables to restaurants.

The multi-touch screen system enables diners to order food from up-to-date menus, to provide feedback and pay their bill on screen. Users will have access, among other things, to the internet, emails, on-line games, advertisements, social networking and a whole lot more.

Established as a limited company in 2010, Lamasatech secured £600,000 finance in Februrary 2010 from Al-Najah Advanced Technology Company, based in Saudi Arabia, to cover development costs and product commercialisation.

The company has grown substantially over the past 12 months and now employs seven people from larger office space at the university’s flagship incubator St Peter’s Gate.

In October 2010 managing director Mahmoud Elsaid attended a successful trade visit to China with Sunderland City Council and Sunderland Software City which has identified new markets and suppliers for the product.

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benefit because we will be giving them the skills to access those jobs.’’

In health sciences, for example, the university can point to its Pharmacy School, the only one in the region and established for about 90 years.

“We don’t try to compete with or replicate what other people do in the region,” says Reece. “In our wider engagement with the regional economic strategy, we were very clear what our particular strengths were and we focus on those. The university has also established a track record of researching low-carbon vehicles and safety testing.

In implementing Sunderland’s economic masterplan, the university is particularly focusing on an enterprise and innovation master plan for the city.

“We are starting to develop that strategy and are involving a number of key stakeholders across the city,’’ says Reece.

The university ensures its students gain some exposure to employers and business while they are engaged in their academic studies through placements, projects, internships, all of which adds to their employability and promotes graduate retention within the city.

Reece says: “Within the university, across our programmes we have opportunities for our students to engage in entrepreneurial activity, some of them are embedded within some of the modules in the courses they do. We have business hatcheries within our academic faculties, such as the software city hatchery, we have a hatchery for creative activities for students and staff to develop their own business ideas.

“A lot of our students naturally develop their own businesses, they become freelance or start micro-businesses and creativity is really successful for those types of businesses.’’

Entrepreneurialism involving “big science”, however, tends to be more the domain of staff than students.

“We try to support enterprise across the whole institution from our students, to our graduates, to our staff, in terms of supporting business growth,” says Reece.

As part of this, in addition to the hatcheries, the university has St Peter’s Gate Incubator to support businesses which have passed the initial start-up phase. It has also developed a

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We think we can make a positive contribution to this city and it’s in our interests to do that; this is where our business is

number of enterprise specific programmes, such as a masters programme developed around software enterprise.

“We have always recognised the importance of the link between employability, employers and student experience,’’ says Reece. “We were originally a technical college and then a

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polytechnic and then a university. We were one of the first technical colleges in the country to introduce a sandwich year and that’s from an ethos of understanding the need for applied research and applied academic teaching.

“We have always looked to provide students with the opportunity to do a placement to get experience with employers or for employers to come in and be actively involved with our programme development.

“We try to say that if you have an idea, we are here to help you and we will continue to help you once you have graduated. We find that once we have helped students and even companies in that way they want to put a lot back and work with us.’’

The annual operating budget for student enterprise across the university is £250,000.

And this pays off, with a recent study indicating an average of 28 start-ups a year in higher education establishments, compared to 36 for Sunderland.

The university plans to support various sectors using the Software City model and its successful use of partnership, which in that case involved the university, the City Council and the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC).

“What made it work was the fact that all the partners had their own place. We were very supportive of the innovation agenda, the R&D agenda and the high level skills agenda whereas the local authority focused on things like providing business premises and infrastructure to support the companies and the BIC were about indigenous business growth and providing the next platform.’’

The university, says Reece, is passionate about supporting the economic masterplan, because it connects with so much of the university’s own aims and interests.

“We think we can make a positive contribution to this city and it’s in our interests to do that; this is where our business is, this is where we attract a large percentage of our students from and this is where a large number of out business partners are as well, so it’s our ambition to be one of the very best universities. It’s not entirely altruistic, we know it’s important to us in terms of our business.’’ n

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Sunderland

space to develop your business If you are looking for a space to start or expand then Sunderland is open for business.

The City Council manages vacant retail units and managed workspaces that offer low cost workshop and office accommodation in managed facilities for new businesses, as well as commercial land for sale or let.

To discuss your needs, get advice or to apply for a vacancy contact a member of the Commercial Property Team on 0191 561 2631 email propertyservices@sunderland.gov.uk or talk to the Business Investment Team on 0191 561 1210 www.investinsunderland.co.uk

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

INtERVIEW

WINtER 11

ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY Paul Callaghan, founder and chairman of the Leighton Group and One North East chairman, has played, and continues to play, a key role in Sunderland’s economy, as Peter Jackson reports SPECIAL REPORt | WINtER 11

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SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

WINtER 11

Paul Callaghan spotted the potential of the internet when his business was in the long-established field of publishing text books and local history books.

He recalls: “In 1992 I was lucky that I was introduced to the internet when it was in its infancy and most people had not even heard of it.

“Discovering the internet was a bit like Columbus discovering America. He found it and knew it was big, he didn’t really know what was going to happen then, but he knew its potential for business and to make money. I think actually the internet has turned out to be bigger than America.’’

Paul and his youngest brother Gerard were early adopters and built up the Leighton Company and domainnames.com which registered and sold web addresses.

“It was a business of its time because, in internet terms, it was BG – Before Google – and, once Google came, domain names became less important because before Google you had to know the domain name to find anything,’’ Callaghan explains.

He compares the period from the mid-1990s to the bursting of the dotcom bubble in 2003 to a gold rush, in which one could sit back and watch other people fail, one could grab a shovel and start digging, or one could set up in business selling shovels.

He and his brother opted for the last option and this transformed the business into a group of companies: Leighton, domainnames.com and the original publishing business.

Callaghan explains: “It seemed obvious that what you should do is leverage the strength of one business to help the growth of others, so Leighton has a central back office function.

But, all of the businesses we have had in the past within the Leighton Group and those we have now are independent businesses with their own sales and product teams, but which

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

are serviced under the Leighton umbrella.’’

In 2000 domainnames.com was sold to internet infrastructure service provider VeriSign and, as part of the deal, Callaghan went to work for them in Brussels for a couple of years as senior vice-president Europe, Middle East and Africa.

During this time, Leighton formed another business, one which was to become one its most successful – 4Projects – which developed online project management software which has been used on major, high profile construction projects throughout the world.

“It was a business that recognised a change in the internet in the early part of this century, which was the emergence of much faster connectivity through broadband which allowed you to move much bigger data sets and allowed construction companies to manage all of their data online,’’ says Callaghan.

4Projects, which is still based in Doxford, was sold to the management in 2007. It now has offices in London, Toronto, Calgary, Washington DC and Dallas.

“It’s a global technology business, conceived in Sunderland, built in Sunderland and now operating its headquarters from Sunderland,’’ he says, with obvious pride.

Now, the group, which has some 85 staff and an annual turnover of about £6m, has five companies: Leighton Ltd; Communicator Corp; Business Education Publishers; WorkCast and SaleCycle.

He explains the principle underlying the formation of the companies, of business acumen exploiting technological innovation.

“In our business, most of the senior staff didn’t start out as technology graduates. If you look at our skills set, I’m an economist and my brother did business; we tend to come from a business standpoint rather than a technology standpoint.

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INtERVIEW

“What we do is to look at a business or a sector and we identify what difficult problems they have to try to solve and how the existing technology and new technology can solve those for them.’’

In this way, the Sales Cycle business was conceived. It was realised that drop-out rates on online purchases – people failing to complete the buying process – were as high as 60% or 70%.

“When you are an online retailer and you spend all that money attracting people to your website and marketing and designing it and you have an excellent product, then there’s great frustration at seeing that percentage dropping out,’’ says Callaghan. “The problem we had to solve was, how do we attract those people back into the purchasing process.

“As people drop out, we can see when and it will trigger an email or a text message trying to attract them back into the sales process.’’

Communicator Corporation has been Leighton’s most successful business in recent years. This company provides corporate email messaging for such major multi-nationals as Adidas, Radisson Hotels and Best Western.

It provides marketing emails direct to subscribers to a mailing list, advising them of new products, services or offers. It also provides “triggered emails”, which might, for instance, contact a guest a few weeks after a hotel stay asking whether they enjoyed it. The software is also sophisticated enough to track the email into the recipients inbox, whether they read it, and whether they responded with a purchase.

The software has to work in dozens of different languages and has to be able to work with the different formatting of character sets in some of those languages and has to operate with all the various email inbox software.

The business started in 2003 and in its first year sent 3 million emails, then 30 million >>

SPECIAL REPORt | WINtER 11

INtERVIEW

WINtER 11

emails, then 300 million and it is expecting to send two billion emails this year.

But, for all its embracing of innovation and the digital media, Leighton is still dedicated to the original business of book publishing. This year’s big project is a history of Sunderland for children. It was prompted byzztttt an idea from Niall Quinn who pointed out that in Ireland, children from the age of 10 are well versed in Irish history.

“We have taken that idea and we have run with it and currently the book is in production and it will contain 366 small stories; one for each day of the year, about people, places and things in Sunderland’’ says Callaghan.

“Called My Sunderland, it is aimed at 10 and 11-year-olds.”

To mark the 10th anniversary of The Sunderland AFC Foundation – on whose development board Callaghan sits – a copy of the book will be given to every primary school leaver this year. Proceeds from future sales of the book will go to the foundation.

Callaghan is clearly intensely patriotic about his city – indeed, he is Sunderland through and through, attended St Mary’s and St Aidan’s and lived in Leighton Road, where his mother still lives.

He comes from mining stock and, when he was growing up, by far the two most important industries in Sunderland were mining and shipbuilding. These industries went into terminal decline in the 1970s and 1980s, but, as he points out, they have been replaced with the automotive industry.

He says: “When I was born, Sunderland produced a quarter of all of the tonnage of ships built in the UK – a proud boast. Last year, Nissan produced a third of all cars produced in the UK. When you think there was no motor industry here until the mid 1980s that’s a tremendous achievement.

“I’m proud to be involved, through One North East, in building on that success to attract first the battery plant, then the manufacture of the Nissan LEAF, the first all-electric, emission-free car to be built in Europe. I think that’s a testament to the management and staff of Niissan.

“So we have replaced one major manufacturing industry, shipbuilding, with another, automotive. It’s not just Nissan itself,

SPECIAL REPORt | WINtER 11

it’s obviously the supply chain, which services not just Nissan but automotive companies throughout the UK and Europe. Over 20 years we have built up a reputation where we are very much seen as motor city.’’

Sunderland further diversified its economic base in the 1990s by attracting call centres.

“This again is an example of a place creating an industry that it had no history of. Doxford International and the call centres that are based there and elsewhere in the city have been an example of that.’’

Then came software. Leighton, he says, recognised that Sunderland had all the components of a successful software industry.

“For a software industry, you need talented people; the workforce is absolutely the most crucial element, people who are technically savvy and can work very hard to produce saleable products,’’ he says. “We knew we could get those sort of people because we had done it over the previous 15 years.’’

Sunderland’s location allows it to draw on five universities and on talented people from all over the North East.

“We also had a sustainable workforce particularly from the universities which are very much tuned into the needs of employers and the IT industry and worked with us to channel their graduates into our business and into other businesses.’’

The third pillar of the new software industry was a local authority which had already built up one industry from scratch and was ready for the challenge of repeating that success.

“They were willing to work with the academics and the private sector in a partnership to create the physical environment which businesses need, the right sort of office space, connectivity, which is very important,” he says. “We can see all that coming together in the Sunderland Software City project and in buildings such as the e.volve centre, the new

software building in the BIC and the new Software Centre which will be started at the Tavistock Centre in Sunderland in spring.

These provide the ideal office space for this new sort of industry. One North East has recognised that Sunderland City Council has that sort of ambition and therefore it has become, collectively, the software focus for the North East.’’

The kind of businesses which occupy these new premises tend to specialise in the business aspects of software, in the tradition of Sage, which was founded by Sunderland’s David Goldman, rather than the creative web design side.

Unlike automotive and call centres, the software businesses have tended to be home-grown, although, Callaghan believes there are now signs of inward investment coming in on the back of that.

Establishing a cluster of software industries in Sunderland has been crucial to that.

“A cluster allows you to share people, knowledge, staff. People feel as they can take a job with you because if they want to move they can go somewhere else and that’s fine because it works both ways.

“It becomes easier to sell your products because people don’t raise their eyebrow when you say you are a software business in Sunderland.

“Then people who are looking to locate software businesses from North America or Asia looking for good locations to put their businesses would traditionally have gone to the M4 corridor or Reading. Now we are saying, come here, we can provide the support, the help, the location and it will create that critical mass which is very important for the future of Sunderland.

“When I was born, people talked about it as a shipbuilding and mining town and in future they will talk about it as a technology city.’’ n

It becomes easier to sell your products because people don’t raise their eyebrow when you say you are a software business in Sunderland

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SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Sunderland

the gateway to a global software market

Sunderland Software City is a public and private sector partnership acting as a catalyst for new and established businesses eager to build successful profiles in the growing software sector.

The partnership is driving the development of world class facilities and finding new ways to integrate businesses, the community and learning.

On the back of such enterprise, a new ÂŁ10m software centre is being developed in Sunderland city centre, with high quality office space and technical infrastructure for more than 20 businesses. This comes on the back of the highly successful Evolve business centre at Rainton Bridge in Sunderland.

To find out more about opportunities for you and your business contact 0191 561 2631 or visit www.sunderlandsoftwarecity.com

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

INTERVIEW

Winter 11

banding together Sunderland is home to a thriving contemporary music scene and is beginning to make a name for itself, as Peter Jackson discovers Role models for aspiring Sunderland bands The Futureheads are now being joined by other musicians in a vibrant city music scene.

Names such as The Generals, Night of Sevens and local promoters such as Skinny Twins are helping raise the profile of the area, attracting big names to the city, which has thriving live venues such as Bar One, Paddywhacks and Pure.

The Generals, a Sunderland based indie band which has recently played the Sunderland Split Festival, supported The Futureheads at O2 Academy Futurefest.

A leading player in the city’s music scene, Kellie Woods says: “I think for a lot of years the sector in Sunderland was almost forgotten about, but more recently it has been revived by the likes of promoters such as Skinny Twins and local artists who are now working together to promote Sunderland and the talent within the area. I think we could be a budding Manchester and people are just starting to realise now that Sunderland is generating a scene of its own.’’

She is modest about her own role in this, but her company Studio 47 is seen as playing a key role in the city’s music sector.

SPECIAL REPORT | Winter 11

Set up in Nile Street in Sunniside three years ago Studio 47 originally offered recording studios and an editing suite and has now developed as an organisation also offering free training support to people with musical ambitions.

It works with the likes of Springboard Sunderland Trust, Sunderland City Council and the City of Sunderland Foundation Learning Partnership to offer Foundation Learning programmes to young people aged 16 to 18.

It specialises in music based qualifications such as DJ skills, music technology and sound engineering and is accredited up to Level Five standard.

As well as offering rehearsal and recording facilities to local musicians, Studio 47 also offers discounts to people from disadvantaged backgrounds and the unemployed.

“We contribute a percentage of our profits to enable us to provide either free or heavily subsidised facilities to local people,’’ says Woods. “There was an obvious lack of music provision in the area with a lot of people interested in taking it up but without the means to fund it themselves.’’

In Nile Street there are 10 rehearsal rooms a recording studio and a sister company, Room Five Multi Media is also based in the building and can offer video production. >>

More recently it has been revived by promoters and local artists who are working together to promote Sunderland and the talent within the area

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SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

INTERVIEW

Winter 11

Studio 47 is a London based company and set up in Sunderland following discussions with the Sunniside Partnership.

Woods says: “Sunniside was fast becoming the creative quarter of the city and it seemed an ideal place to start developing the Sunderland site.

“There is a lot of talent here and I wanted to develop a way of making music accessible to people from all backgrounds while assisting in the development of Sunderland as a music city.’’

Woods, who comes from Sunderland, set up Studio 47 because of her own interest in music. She says: “I was classically trained in guitar as a youngster but I was fortunate that my parents could afford the tuition. A lot of young people just don’t have that advantage.

We are passionate about music and about music within the city so we are happy to contribute however we can.

“We try to remove any barriers, not just in terms of cost, but also access to equipment.

You might have a young person who is a gifted guitarist but who can’t afford tuition or to pay to buy a guitar, whereas, if they come here, they receive the tuition they need to develop that talent and they don’t incur the cost of buying that equipment.’’

SPECIAL REPORT | Winter 11

Studio 47 has 10 members of staff and five volunteers and its tutors include professional musicians and members of bands such as The Generals and Night of Sevens. Some 150 young people use its facilities every week, eight bands are based their permanently and 12 bands using it for sessions. It has 15 youngsters on the Foundation Learning programme and about 12 attending for private tuition each week.

One of the tutors – in production skills and DJ skills – is Kevin Douglas, 27, from Sunderland, who is bass player with Night of Sevens. The band is about four years old and Douglas, who has been playing music since he was nine, has been with them for two. It has a double EP out at the moment which was recorded last year and, at the end of February they went away to the Lake District to record a new album.

Not surprisingly, he is a big fan of Studio 47.

He says: “I think it’s brilliant, it gives the younger ones great opportunities and it gives them somewhere to go with a lot of facilities to be used, it has a good reputation and word is getting round about it more and more.’’

This is all good news for Sunderland City Council for the economic master plan identifies the creative industries as potentially

38

being a strong player in the local economy.

A thriving music industry would also be good for the city’s brand and image.

“There’s always been stuff going on and a lot of talent with bands like Futureheads, but I think it’s getting a bit more attention recently,’’ says Douglas. “It’s good because there’s loads of talent and it’s time that got the recognition it deserves.

“With things like the Split Festival and certain promoters in town working hard to bring touring bands up here it’s all good for the city.’ n

We are passionate about music and about music within the city so we are happy to contribute however we can

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

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ÂŁ40 million collective turnover of companies based on-site Looking to create a big impression, then take a look at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) - the home of enterprising and innovative business.

To arrange a site visit or for more information contact Donna Surtees, Senior Space Adviser

0191 516 6066 or email: space@ne-bic.co.uk www.ne-bic.co.uk

People are just starting to realise now that Sunderland is generating a music scene of its own. I think we can become a budding Manchester

INTERVIEW

WINTER 11

HEALTH SERVICED Health and wellbeing is identified in the economic masterplan as an opportunity for economic growth.

Peter Jackson speaks to one entrepreneur who is showing how it can be done

SPECIAL REPORT | WINTER 11

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An enterprising mum is helping Sunderland residents to get fit while making her own resolution to take control of her career and be her own boss.

Thirty-year-old Tanya Oliver Grieves from Shiney Row – who had problems with her own health and fitness in the past – launched Lifestyle Fitness, a mobile health and fitness business in December to allow her the flexibility to look after her two children aged three and five, while promoting the benefits of leading a healthy and energetic lifestyle.

She says: “I was very big myself, I was size 26 and that brought on quite a few health-related issues. I had very bad back problems, I had

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

WINTER 11

I was keen to help other people in the local communities to improve their mental and physical health after seeing the benefits that implementing a healthier lifestyle could have for myself

breathing problems, and was just generally really unfit, unfit to the point where I would climb the stairs and be short of breath.’’

She is now a size 12, having been inspired to follow a programme of healthy eating and moderate exercise. She lost weight with Weight Watchers who then asked her to be a Weight Watchers leader and this led to an interest in nutrition and fitness instruction.

“Because of how bad I got I was determined that if I could help anybody else out there with any problems I would and that’s my main inspiration,’’ she says.

And the business is already shaping up well after the former auxillary nurse got in touch with Sunderland City Council for advice and she now has 42 individuals on her books.

Tanya first began to develop the idea for Lifestyle Fitness last summer after training as a fitness instructor.

She says: “After completing my training I soon realised that it was going to be difficult to secure a job within the industry that would fit around my family commitments.

“I was keen to help other people in the local communities to improve their mental and physical health after seeing the benefits that implementing a healthier lifestyle could have for myself. I decided that self-employment would be a good way to regain my selfconfidence and independence while offering the flexibility I needed.”

Lifestyle Fitness provides a wide range of services to people of all ages through community centres, schools, residential and care homes, as well as to staff employed in local businesses. The business offers bespoke classes, providing advice on healthy living as

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

well as a wide range of fitness classes – from health-related exercise for children, boxercise, spinning and fat buster aerobics to chair-based sessions for the elderly.

Sessions can be arranged on a group or one-to-one basis to fit around the needs of the clients involved.

“Most of my clients are nursing homes and schools and also for the general public in venues such as community centres and I also do one-to-one personal training in people’s own homes,’’ says Tanya, who is currently

INTERVIEW

studying for a qualification in health-related exercise for children.

“I try to cover all children from the age of five to 16 and everything I do I do to promote healthy living.’’

Tanya markets the business by leafleting, through the local newspaper, and by writing directly to schools and nursing homes. Now she has established the business she plans to expand.

“I want to be in at least seven or eight nursing homes and about the same number of schools,” she says. “It is so important to educate children when they’re young about the importance of being active and healthy. I would also like to expand throughout Sunderland and Gateshead and then have a couple of people working for me.’’

Vince Taylor, head of strategic economic development at Sunderland City Council, says: “I hope that Tanya’s story provides inspiration to anyone looking to become their own boss to make use of the excellent support services that exist in the city. Lifestyle Fitness is a business with great potential and I wish Tanya every success for the future.” ■

Quality of service A key partner of the City Council is City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundations Trust, which, as director of corporate affairs Carol Harries points out, is itself a major employer in the city with just under 5,000 staff and an annual income of about £280m.

It not only delivers healthcare to the population of Sunderland, but in some specialisms, such as head and neck and ophthalmology, to the whole of the North East.

She says: “What that does is enhance the reputation of the organisation, which helps us in terms of our recruitment so we are able to recruit some of the very best consultant medical staff.

The excellence of service that they bring then generates additional recruitment because we then get other professions who want to come and work in the trust because of the quality of services we provide.’’

The fact, for example, that it is a regional centre for bariatric surgery, means that it creates a ripple effect in encouraging fitness treatments and enterprises.

Carol Harries adds: “Health and wellbeing is not just a health issue, it requires a greater interaction and we can’t do that on our own. We do require the service of the local authority, the children’s services and housing to support people, preventing them getting into hospitals and supporting them out in their communities.

“We have to look at things in a different way and we do have to work together and what we will see in the future are new models of health care workers. We want to work with others in the city to make people want to come and live and work in Sunderland and, it helps a lot if they have access to high quality health care, for themselves and their children.’’

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SPECIAL REPORT | WINTER 11

CASE STUDY

Winter 11

common goals Sunderland’s software industry’s strength is highlighted by Guroo, but, as Peter Jackson learns, this highly successful company almost never got off the ground Jonathan Wells, tired of his weekly commute from Sunderland to London, gave up a good job working for a major company in the education sector to start his own business.

Unfortunately he was setting up functional skills resources company Guroo in the summer of 2006 and putting together a funding deal with venture capitalist North Star – now North East Finance – and a bank two years later, and only months before the credit crunch hit the UK financial sector.

“We did it at the worst possible time,’’ he says.

“We were supposed to close the finance on August 25 and that was the day the bank decided they had no money left to offer, so I was that very sad person, who actually had a deal with £100,000 of bank funding, £200,000 of equity funding and £140,000 of co-investment funding and I was scuppered totally and completely by the bank, who withdrew despite the previous eight months of saying yes, and that left me with nowhere to go.’’

But the story did have a happy ending when North Star decided to fund the whole deal.

And the gamble paid off, as functional skills which only started in pilot form in 2007 are now a key part of the new diplomas and are also part of any apprenticeship. They are also embedded within the new maths and English GCSEs and are part of the new Foundation Learning.

It is a style of learning geared towards students who are not expected to get fiveplus A*to Cs and will be used throughout the state education system. It teaches maths, English and ICT with an emphasis on practical problem solving.

Guroo supplies online functional skills resources, printed versions of core materials,

SPECIAL REPORT | Winter 11

functional skills lesson plans and curriculum mapping and systems to allow teachers to track students’ functional skills as they develop.

Now, the company, which is based in the e.volve Centre, Rainton Bridge Business Park, has 12 employees and has moved within the e.volve building four times as it has expanded and now turns over about £1m annually. Wells estimates that if Guroo’s online material was all printed out, it would now amount to some 3,000 pages.

The company, however, has only begun to exploit the potential market.

“At the moment we sell to around 600 schools, which represents about 20% of the available market,” says Wells. “That has been growing by a factor of about three each year and our objective is to get that to around 2,000 schools, which would be 60% of the market, within the next two years.’’

He points out that Guroo is already the market leader because the schools not included in their 20% market share are not currently buying anything else. He is confident schools will recognise a need to invest in teaching the new functional skills.

There is also potential in any other Englishspeaking market and, as we speak, he is preparing for a Sunderland City Council sponsored trip to Washington DC to investigate the market.

“The Americans have introduced something called the Common Core standard for maths and English and we think that our products may well be fairly close to that, certainly close enough to investigate the market.’’

Guroo has also sold its resources on licence to other awarding bodies which operate in different markets. But, Wells firmly believes

44

the company should remain focused on becoming leader in its own niche market.

“One of the other big things that I have focused on is writing a blog twice a week; we run a forum and we write a newsletter which goes out every two weeks, which is about news on functional skills and all of those things we do to establish the company’s reliability for expertise in this area and that buys us an awful lot of credibility in the market.’’

His trip to the US is partly funded by Sunderland City Council, which, says Wells, is typical of the kind of support available in the city for a company such as his.

“It’s a good example of how the City Council and the various agencies are supporting companies which are growing. Sunderland has been very supportive and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them and they do take an interest in what is going on.’’

The company also has a good relationship with the university.

“They have supported us with things like graduate interns and knowledge transfer programmes,” he says. “Our last three graduate recruits have all been from the University of Sunderland.’’

So, does he detect a buzz about Sunderland and the software industry there?

“I think there is actually. You can see that things are changing by the people they are attracting, the help and support you get and the voice that people like Paul and Bernie Callaghan give the city is important.

“So, yes, I think there is. Whether it’s ever going to be as big as Reading or somewhere like that is a different matter, but you’ve got to start somewhere and the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.’’ n

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

WINtER 11

It’s a good example of how the City Council and the various agencies are supporting companies which are growing.

Sunderland has been very supportive

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

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CASE StUDY

SPECIAL REPORt | WINtER 11

The workforce is absolutely the most crucial element, people who are technically savvy and can work hard to produce saleable products

Experience the progress.

Liebherr Sunderland Works Ltd. Ayres Quay, Deptford Terrace, Sunderland, SR4 6DD United Kingdom Tel.: +44 191 5143-001 Fax: +44 191 5144-191 info.lsw@liebherr.com www.liebherr.com

The Group

INtERVIEW

WINtER 11

THIS PORTING LIFE SPECIAL REPORt | WINtER 11

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SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Winter 11

Port of Sunderland has a long and proud history and now looks forward to an exciting future, as Matthew Hunt explains to Peter Jackson

Any vessel working in the North Sea’s new offshore renewables sector at Dogger Bank will frequently seek a safe port in a storm.

If that same port allows swift and easy access to the sea and is also within minutes walk of a city centre, it’s bound to be an attractive proposition. So, located as it is, right at the mouth of the river, the Port of Sunderland enjoys tremendous geographical opportunities.

Which is why Matthew Hunt, port director, is convinced it stands poised for a future rife with opportunity, as one of the closest ports to the Round 3 Dogger Bank offshore wind project.

“It’s a massive opportunity, it has got huge, huge potential,’’ he says. “In the predevelopment survey work for Dogger Bank, those survey vessels might run in for shelter when it’s bad weather and, when they’re in, if they then get a weather window, it’s only 10 minutes back out into open sea.’

“We have three kilometres of quay under our control and that’s a lot of frontage. There’s 500 metres of river berths, Corporation Quay and Greenwells Quay, and those facilities are less than 10 minutes from open sea. That means for vessel operators and vessel owners, charterers and cargo interests, they are not having to navigate for an hour or two hours up a long river passage so the deviation is minimum and they are back out operating.’’

At more recent times in the port’s history, however, opportunities seemed to be receding rather than presenting themselves. Focused primarily on shipbuilding and coal exports, it appeared, at one time, to be on the wrong side of history. The last shipbuilding yard closed in the late 1980s, ending a 600-year tradition and, in the mid 1980s British Coal and the Central Electricity Generating Board opted to use Blyth and Tyne Coal Terminal as

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

the main export points and shortly after Port of Sunderland handled its last coal cargo.

Port of Sunderland then had to diversify into general cargo and now handles around 650,000 tonnes of import and export traffic, principally made up of liquid and dry bulks, with some unitised cargoes which are largely forest products. It has about 40 employees.

Apart from its cargo handling services, which include warehousing and distribution, the port is responsible for maintaining safe navigation within the port area, it provides a pilotage service and it is also a major landholder. The total port area comprises some 200 acres, of which 150 acres is dry land.

Its tenants include Liebherr Cranes, which has a facility and exports cranes all over the world.

UK Docks, formerly Wear Dock Engineering, which undertakes ship repair and marine engineering and operates a dry dock, is also a tenant. Last summer, the company built a prototype tidal powered generator, Project Neptune.

“Having that marine engineering experience within the port and within Sunderland is absolutely key and their support to our efforts to attract the offshore energy sector will be absolutely critical,’’ says Hunt.

The port sees market opportunities throughout the whole development of North Sea offshore wind.

“You’ve got the pre-development survey work, that will then move to the establishment of a supply chain and the manufacture of the various components involved in the wind turbines and wind turbine power,’’ he says.

“Then, the third element is that you have to get it assembled and installed and then you have the ongoing operations and maintenance.

“We have dipped our toe, with success, into

49

INTERVIEW

market opportunity number one, which is pre-development and survey work. We have got survey vessels using the port now to undertake some of the pre-development survey work. So we, as a port, are establishing ourselves in this fledgling supply chain because, as the development time scales move forward, manufacturing opportunities will follow, installation and assembly opportunities will follow and then ongoing operations and maintenance opportunities will follow.’’

The wind turbines planned for offshore use will dwarf any onshore equivalents and so they will need to be assembled, if not manufactured, as close to port facilities as possible. This is where Sunderland, with its 150 acres of space, also has a great deal to offer.

“Our inherent strengths of river berth and development land will facilitate further market interest in terms of manufacturing, in terms of installation and ongoing maintenance and it’s all about trying to demonstrate that the port is a fundamental part of this fledgling supply chain, which is developing as we speak,’’ says Hunt.

“If you go into the enclosed dock area, Hudson and Hendon Docks, which were built to facilitate rail movement for coal coming in, we not only have two-and-a-half kilometres of quay frontage, we have land behind those quays and that’s land that can be made available, not only to cargo interests, but to potential development interests as well. So we can accommodate projects in there, fabrication, manufacturing activities or short, medium or long term processing operations.’’

In fact, Hunt reveals, the port has already built on the growing interest in predevelopment survey work to attracting interest from “supply chain parties involved in assembly and installation’’.

“They see the potential of where the port is and certainly there is a lot of interest in the port facilitating manufacturing and operations and maintenance activities here.’’

The port boasts not only its close proximity to the open sea, but also to the city centre, a mere few minutes walks away.

“One big point to remember about Sunderland is that the port and all our facilities are a 10-minute walk from Sunderland city >>

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We get to know the ships and the crews really well and they absolutely love it; they can so easily get into the city centre to shop and relax, it’s a huge plus

centre. There are very few ports in the world that are so close to the city centre and that’s a huge advantage.

“That’s not only from a logistics and communication of view. Even at the early pre-development survey stage, we are getting survey vessels coming in here, with a need for crew changes, stores, and being close to the city centre, which has a good transport hub with main line train connections. Ships’ crews and technical people are coming in by train and we have the Metro link up to Newcastle Airport.

“We get to know the ships and the crews really well and they absolutely love it; they can so easily get into the city centre to shop and relax, it’s a huge plus.’’

Offshore renewables is a new industry and the task, as Hunt explains, is to build a supply chain for it, and to ensure that the Port of

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Sunderland is a key part of that supply chain.

Here, he firmly believes, Sunderland’s recent history gives it another huge advantage.

“The city itself has got a lot of experience in that with the supply chain that has been facilitated around Nissan. So, the port and the city have got this successful track record of supply chain development, which goes back to shipbuilding, coalmining and heavy engineering and they are extending this now to offshore renewable energy.’’

The port is owned by the City Council and has been since 1972. This has made it easier to make it a central part of the new economic master plan with a key role to play in meeting the challenges that lie ahead.

Hunt is convinced the port and the city will meet those challenges.

“If you look at industrial history, change has always been there and ports have really had to

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adapt to that and that’s what the Port of Sunderland has done. Our history has been one of adapting to the challenges of new market opportunities and embracing change.” n

Matthew Hunt Matthew Hunt, 44, was made port director in June 2010.

Prior to that he was commercial director of Port of Tyne, where he had been since 1996. Before that he was at Seaham Harbour where he was commercial manager for four years.

Born in Sunderland, he attended Newcastle Polytechnic and, now married with two children, he lives in Darlington.

SUNDERLAND: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Prosper in the Port of Sunderland At the Port of Sunderland 24-hour access to river berths minutes from the open sea isn’t our only special asset.

The United Kingdomʼs second biggest municipally-owned port figures prominently in the aims of an Economic Masterplan that will see port activities develop with a city thatʼs laying positive foundations for a prosperous future.

Weʼre in the right place to service renewable energy developments – notably offshore wind. As a port of choice for world-leading subsea engineering and construction companies on a project basis, we also support North Sea oil and gas development.

Add to that our versatile cargo handling expertise, rapid turnaround, good warehousing and distribution, ship repair, marine engineering and dry-docking facilities – plus premises and land available on attractive lease terms – you know who to contact.

Tel: +44 (0) 191 553 2100 Email: matthew.hunt@sunderland.gov.uk www.portofsunderland.org.uk

Sunderland

the smart location for your business Sunderland has grown as an attractive location in which businesses can thrive offering some of the best business locations in the region, with globally-connected sites and premises tailored to the needs of a breadth of occupiers. These range from one-person start-ups to international ‘big names’ including Nissan, Rolls Royce, Lloyds TSB, Barclays and T-Mobile.

Sunderland City Council has access to a comprehensive property database and provides impartial advice on availability of business properties within its area, which includes Washington and Houghton le Spring.

Contact the Business Investment Team on 0191 561 1210 or email us at business.investment@sunderland.gov.uk www.investinsunderland.com