unLTD. Connecting business across Sheffield City Region #15

JULY 2019 | ISSUE 15 | FREE | WWW.UNLTDBUSINESS.COM

THE

GREATER

GOOD How MD Johnny Pawlik’s ethical ‘Mantra’ is championing better business across the Sheffield City Region

FOCUS ON:

SKILLS GAP

T S R I F OUR DTABLE ROUNEBATE D

SCR GOES EAST ● EVENTS CALENDAR ● GYMS AND FITNESS ● WEEKEND ESCAPES unLTDBUSINESS.COM

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CONTENTS

32 COVERSTORY:ETHICALBUSINESS

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ROUNDTABLE DEBATE

42 FOCUSON:SKILLSGAP 4

74 AFTERHOURS:GYMSANDFITNESS unLTDBUSINESS.COM

CONTENTS

ALSO INSIDE...

6: News Award wins, UK economy boost and company launches – and anniversaries.

26: Calendar All the very best events happening around the city region in July.

MEMBERS OF OUR ROUNDTABLE DEBATE @UNLTDBUSINESS

GATHER ROUND

57, 67& 73: Five minutes with...

We chat with Mike Pound of Qualsys, medical herbalist Jonny Woodall and Matt Appleby of fit20.

59: Sheffield City Region The team look East for trade and investment opportunities in China.

78: Weekend Escapes Pack your bags as we head off for a trip to Dubrovnik – the place to be for a reasonably priced glamorous getaway.

82: Number Crunch We take a trip to Doncaster in our latest round-up of facts and stats.

EVERYTHING ELSE...

13: The Diary 25: Evolving technology 53: Launchpad 55: Charities 71: Legal

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It’s great to be starting this edition by talking about our first roundtable event which was a huge success.

Led by Karthik Suresh and Kath Chapman of Ameresco, we also heard from Nigel Davies (Muntons), Sarah Blenkinsop (Golden Frog PR representing Samuel Grant Packaging) and Simon Johnstone (Aessael) on the overall theme of sustainability.

Our editor Richard Fidler kicked off with the question: What are the biggest challenges facing the energy market today?

The debate went on to cover key areas including carbon awareness, European emissions trading, and government intervention.

We’d like to think we came up with some impactful answers from the top team gathered at Kollider for our first debate – read more in our feature starting on page 15.

And speaking of big issues, our cover story is all about ethics. ‘The great and good’ is a phrase often used when it comes to talking about key civic and business figures, but we decided to look at those in the Sheffield City Region working for the greater good.

It’s heartening to realise that there are businesses and projects in the Sheffield City Region looking beyond just the bottom line. We grabbed a chat with just a few of those who are on a mission to ‘do the right thing’ starting with cover star Johnny Pawlik, MD of Mantra Media.

Our Focus On feature this month takes a look at the skills gap. In 2017 Sheffield City Region published the ‘Skills Shortages and Hard to Fill Vacancies’ report – but how much has changed in 18 months? Well, while there are still ‘huge shortages’, fortunately there are plenty of people and organisations out there to help, as we find out on page 42.

Our After Hours feature showcases a variety of gyms and fitness classes from page 74.

And our Number Crunch on delightful ‘Donny’ is full of the usual facts and stats including that Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster is home to 13 lions rescued from a zoo in Romania.

Plus you can travel to 45 different destinations from Doncaster Sheffield Airport – including Dubrovnik, the focus of our Weekend Escapes.

UNLTD BUSINESS UNLTDBUSINESS EDITORIAL Richard Fidler richard@unltdbusiness.com Jill Theobald editorial@unltdbusiness.com General editorial@unltdbusiness.com 0114 252 7760 ADVERTISING Phil Turner phil@unltdbusiness.com 07979 498034 Alexandra Scrivener alexandra@unltdbusiness.com 07944 325 861 Nick Hallam nick@unltdbusiness.com 07843 483 536 General advertising@unltdbusiness.com FINANCE Sarah Koriba and Faye Bailey accounts@exposedmagazine.co.uk DESIGN Simon Waller and Simon Garlick CONTRIBUTORS Marc Barker Isobel Buffin Emma Digby Mike Durham Hannah Johnson

Sasha Mossman Beth Richardson Jess Trueman Gabby Willis Ash Young

unLTD is published monthly by Blind Mice Media LTD Unit 1B Rialto, 2 Kelham Island Square, Kelham Riverside Sheffield S3 8SD and HR Media LTD Unit 1a Speedwell Works, Sidney Street, Sheffield S1 4RG The views contained herein are not necessarily those of Blind Mice Media LTD and HR Media LTD and while every effort is made to ensure information throughout unLTD is correct, changes prior to distribution may take place which can affect the accuracy of copy, therefore Blind Mice Media LTD and HR Media LTD cannot take responsibility for contributors’ views or specific listings.

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AGENDA NEWS Office Friendly launches social sustainability programme

LUCY AND YAK FOUNDERS LUCY AND CHRIS WITH THE INDIA TEAM

BARNSLEY CLOTHING BRAND SPONSORS EDUCATION FOR GIRLS IN INDIA Barnsley-based clothing brand, Lucy & Yak, are sending 36 girls in India to school following a donation of profit from Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in 2018.

During these dates, rather than discounting items, Lucy & Yak instead took 10 per cent of sales to help young girls in India get an education in partnership with grassroots charity Fior Di Loto – an Indian foundation focussed on working in the village of Pushkar, in the state of Rajasthan where Lucy & Yak’s products are made.

One hundred per cent of

the money raised will go to sponsoring the girls to get their education, and will fund not only a year of schooling, but will buy uniforms, books, lunches, and transport to and from school, and outfits for Indian festivals.

Lucy & Yak are sending

36 GIRLS in India to school following a donation of profits

Founder Lucy Greenwood said: “We want to say a huge thank you to every single one of our customers who bought anything on these days – we wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.

“Thirty-six was way beyond what we expected, to be working with a charity so wonderful, and be able to change the lives of girls who need it most is amazing.

“We are so grateful to have a loyal and loving customer base who were happy to sacrifice a sale saving and instead make a difference to someone’s life.”

Acoustics industry contributes £4.6bn to UK economy, report finds The UK’s acoustics industry contributes £4.6 billion to the economy and could help solve the grand challenges set out by the government’s industrial strategy, according to academics.

A new report, based on a study led by the University of Sheffield and Imperial College London and produced by Dr John Lincoln of Harlin Ltd, is the first to identify the size

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and importance of the UK’s acoustics industry.

The industry employs more than 16,000 people, each of whom generates over £65,000 gross value added (GVA).

Kirill Horoshenkov, Director of the UK Acoustics Network and Professor of Acoustics in the University of Sheffield’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: “Acoustics is a part of everything. From our

smartphones and televisions, to our cars, the music we listen to, the buildings we live and work in each day, even the ways in which we produce energy.

“We hope this new report highlights the importance of acoustics and showcases how the industry can play an even bigger role in addressing the UK’s most pressing industrial challenges.”

Sheffield-based business development specialist Office Friendly has launched a new social sustainability programme, ‘Weaver’.

The programme will award participants certification across five areas of sustainability and has been designed especially for SMEs by Office Friendly in partnership with London-based independent sustainability consultancy, Carbon Smart.

Weaver offers a structured framework across five key CSR areas – carbon footprint, waste management, singleuse packaging, sustainable products, and social responsibility.

Weaver covers

5 CSR AREAS

Alongside certification, participants can access free introductory training, learning materials, templates and guidance documentation for each area.

Office Friendly MD Julie Hawley said: “SMEs shouldn’t be frightened off by the phrase corporate social responsibility (CSR) or ignore it because they think it’s for large corporates. Reputation and professionalism is a vision all businesses should continually strive for and CSR is one comprehensive way of showcasing this very well. Done well, it’s meaningful, commercially advantageous and can’t be called ‘greenwash’.”

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AGENDA Keebles named Corporate Law Firm of the Year

SIMON AND REBEKAH DAVIES OF REBEL PETAL BOUTIQUE

LUXURY CLOTHING AND TOYS BOUTIQUE LAUNCHES IN ROTHERHAM A boutique specialising in luxury clothing and toys from a range of national and international brands has launched in Rotherham following funding from UK Steel Enterprise (UKSE).

Online store Rebel Petal Boutique was established by husband and wife Simon and Rebekah Davies, selling a range of sustainable children’s clothing. The family-run

business was set up for the couple and their four children, as well as a legacy for their daughter, Tulip, who was sadly stillborn in 2013.

The UKSE funding contributed to the development of initial fabrics for the planned Rebel Petal clothing range which has been designed by Rebekah and uses ‘skin, soul and soil kind’ organic cotton.

Rebekah said: “As a family,

we had been looking to start a new venture to allow us to bring our skills together and use our creativity and passion to grow a business that our children could be part of and add to as the brand developed.”

Alan Stanley of UKSE added: “We work to ensure that ambitious, hard-working entrepreneurs have access to funds that will allow their businesses to flourish.”

Sheffield BID brings back Bricktropolis Astronauts and space rockets are set to land in Sheffield City Centre this summer as Sheffield BID brings back its hugely successful Bricktropolis.

Building on the success of the World Landmarks trail last year, this year sees a new Outer Space theme join the Bricktropolis programme – set to run from 17 to 30 August.

To celebrate 50 years of the moon landing, Outer Space is a galactic visitor trail of LEGO® brick models, all constructed

by Bright Bricks, the UK’s only professional LEGO-brick building company.

Diane Jarvis, Sheffield BID

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Manager, said: “One of Sheffield BID's key objectives is to keep Sheffield City Centre busy throughout the year. August can be a quieter time with students away and many people on their summer holiday, so Bricktropolis is great opportunity to get families, residents and new visitors to support our local businesses.

“In an age when retail and restaurants are facing increasing challenges, city centres really need to stand out and provide a diverse range of offers and activities. The Sheffield BID events programme is a huge part of doing just that.”

Keebles has been named the Corporate Law Firm of the Year for the third year running, as well as winning three other categories at the Sheffield City Region Dealmakers’ Awards.

Securing the Corporate Law Firm of the Year award, Keebles was recognised for advising on many of the region’s high-profile deals in the qualifying period having been shortlisted 13 times at this year’s event.

The judging panel noted the team as “excellent” and particularly praised the leadership of the firm’s head of corporate, Matt Ainsworth.

As well as Corporate Law Firm of the Year, Keebles won the Deal of the Year award (up to £2.5m) for the management buyout of Harvest Healthcare.

Keebles were shortlisted

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times at this year’s event

Last year, Bricktropolis attracted more than

25,000 visitors

The firm also secured the top spot for the MidMarket Deal of the Year (between £2.5m and £10m) for advising HSBC on its funding package to support acquisitions by Coppergreen Developments, and the Deal of the Year (£10m+) for advising on the sale of ALTEK Group to Harsco Corporation.

Matt Ainsworth said: “We take great pride in going the extra mile for our clients, getting the results they need and ensuring we always go above and beyond."

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AGENDA HOT At the first summit of active travel commissioners from across the country, held in Manchester, Sheffield City Region’s (SCR) first Active Travel Commissioner Dame Sarah Storey outlined four pledges which will guide her work.

The first ever Hallam Festival of Education – attended by more than 1,000 people from the education sector – has been hailed a huge success by attendees including SCR Mayor Dan Jarvis.

The Sheffield Property Association is hosting its first-ever sports day for the Master Cutler’s Challenge this summer in aid of St Luke’s and Rotherham Hospices.

Frenchgate Shopping Centre Doncaster is encouraging shoppers to get happy with the launch of its enriching Happiness Movement .

The Ticket Bank digital project, created and based in Sheffield by Tickets for Good, is providing free tickets to a wide range of events to registered community organisations and charities.

COOL Business recovery and insolvency specialists Wilson Field have been appointed after familyrun business Candletime (Meadowhall) Limited entered administration due to challenging trading conditions in the retail sector.

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KAIT BORSAY WITH STUDENTS (L-R) KYLE WALKER, KARL WELLBELOVE AND MATTY HUGILL AT THE AWARDS

BARNSLEY STUDENTS RULING THE AIRWAVES WITH NATIONAL WIN Barnsley College Creative Media Production students Matty Hugill, Kyle Walker and Karl Wellbelove have come out on top at the Young Audio and Radio Industry Awards (Young ARIAs), winning the Best in Sport category for their football show on online radio station, The Vibe.

The students travelled to London to attend the Young ARIAs ceremony at the BBC Radio Theatre, where they beat two other shortlisted sport radio shows to the title of Best in Sport.

The prestigious event was hosted by Radio 1 DJ and TV presenter Matt Edmondson and Kiss FM’s Daisy Maskell with the awards presented by big names in the broadcasting industry including Mollie King, Sara Cox, Kait Borsay and Jack Pepper.

The three students run their own radio show, Everything Football, outside of their studies, with the weekly show dissecting the upcoming football fixtures, delving deep into the latest rumours and debates and discussing tough

topics in the world of football.

The award judges said: “They have really great engaging discussions, a professional manner and natural feel to the show. You can really tell how passionate they are about the subject.”

Lee Barber, Barnsley College media teacher and station manager for The Vibe, said: “This is a brilliant achievement for the lads and brilliant news for The Vibe in general. To have an award-winning show on our schedule this early on is fantastic.”

Plans submitted for £50m city centre development Plans for a major new residential development in Sheffield city centre – part of the mixed-use Heart of the City II scheme – have been submitted.

The £50 million building, known as Kangaroo Works, will deliver 364 new apartments for private rent, while at ground floor level, there will be commercial space suited to cafés, restaurants or start-up businesses.

The scheme’s unique name pays homage to a former tool factory that was part of the site in the early 19th century.

The site was sold by Sheffield City Council earlier this year

The scale of the development has been sensitively planned, down from 15 to

8 AND 4 STOREYS

to the joint venture group of Angelo Gordon and Ridgeback Group, which has employed Sheffield-based Brantingham Homes to manage the scheme, alongside locally based Whittam Cox Architects and construction partner Henry Boot Construction Ltd. Director at Whittam Cox Ian Lowson said: “Our design team comprises professionals who live and work in the Sheffield City Region, so have both a firm understanding of the urban context and a vested interest in delivering a scheme of exceptional quality.”

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AGENDA

SHU’s Lab4Living awarded £4m for worldleading design research

STEVE AND HIS MUM BRIDGET MEET 92-YEAR-OLD ALMA (CENTRE) WHO BENEFITS FROM SCCCC’S GOOD NEIGHBOUR SCHEME

CHAMBER PRESIDENT REFLECTS ON FIRST 6 MONTHS From speaking to more than 1,000 young business students to meeting 92-year-old Alma – Steve Manley has packed a fair amount into his first six months as President of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce.

Steve, joint founder of Universal Office Products, took the chains of office last year pledging to encourage youth enterprise and entrepreneurship.

To date he has joined the local volunteer board of Youth Enterprise and spoken at a number of Young Enterprise and Sheffield Future Business Leaders’ events, where he estimates he has addressed close to a thousand students in total.

Speaking to unLTD back in December he told us the perception of the Chamber was changing from being viewed as ‘an old boys’ club’. Fast forward to summer 2019 and he is pleased that momentum has kept going.

“The Chamber has changed drastically in recent years and am pleased it continues to do so – we are attracting new and former

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members who are joining us as they realise what membership involves and how we can help them. In particular, I am really encouraged to see young entrepreneurs joining as well as businesses from growth sectors in the city like creative, design and tech.

“As well as speaking at events I have LinkedIn with and had face-to-face meetings with lots of aspiring business people

22 TEAMS will take part in the Chamber’s annual golf day

throughout the region and am pleased to have been able to do things like connect one young person, for example, who wanted to work in the music industry with some of my contacts.

“I also take the Chamber’s commitment to CSR and charity work seriously – our annual golf day in 2018 had nine teams competing and raised £200 for our Charity of the Year. This year our event sold out early with 22 teams and we expect to raise in excess of £2,000 as a result for this year’s Charity of the Year SCCCC.” And speaking of SCCCC – Steve paid a very special visit to the charity recently with his mum, Bridget to meet 92-yearold Alma who benefits from the Good Neighbour Scheme.

When SCCCC was chosen as the Chamber’s charity of the year 2018/19 Steve discovered his mum was a volunteer visitor back in the 1970s and used to take him along on the visits when he was three years old!

Sheffield Hallam University’s Lab4Living has been awarded £4m in recognition of its designled research by Research England.

Lab4Living was established 12 years ago as part of the Art and Design Research Centre and is a multi-disciplinary research group, based on a collaborative community of researchers in design, healthcare and creative practices.

The grant, part of Research England’s Expanding Excellence in England (E3) research fund, will go towards supporting design-led research projects that explore the ‘100 year life’, with particular focus on the ‘Future Home’.

Universities and Science Minister Chris Skidmore said: “Pushing the boundaries of knowledge and conquering new innovations are what our universities are known for the world over. This programme led by Sheffield Hallam University will look at how we can all live healthy and productive lives in our aging society.

Professor Paul Chamberlain, Lab4Living co-director alongside Dr Claire Craig, said: “Growing life expectancy opens up critically important research space for creative practitioners and designers across the fields of industrial design, fashion, graphics, film media and creative practice.”

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AGENDA

HIGH FIVE! BHAYANI LAW CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY WITH BESPOKE BEER Not many people can say they’ve had a beer named in their honour, but Sheffield’s Triple Point Brewery and Bar created Jay-Pur – a dry-hopped 6.9% gluten-free beer with mango and passion fruit – to help celebrate the 5th anniversary of Jay Bhayani's law firm.

The celebrations, which were attended by many of the firm’s friends and clients, started in Bhayani HR and Employment Law’s new office at Shoreham Street where Jay made an impromptu speech thanking guests for helping the firm to become a success.

Setting up five years ago, Jay’s intent was to do things differently and offer a one-stop shop for businesses looking for first class and practical HR and legal advice.

It is this dedication to clients that has helped the firm to grow substantially and move into

‘Epic’ gig to celebrate opening of Invictus UK trials A starry night celebrating the Invictus UK Trials Sheffield 2019 is to take place.

Headlined by Alfie Boe, The Big Gig will take place on July 22 at Sheffield FLY DSA Arena.

Other major acts include classical artist Laura Wright, pop-sensation Heather Small, Suggs from Madness and Game of Thrones actor Charles Dance.

The Big Gig is produced and presented by Sheffield’s Grammy award-winning songwriter and producer Eliot Kennedy, and designer Emma Willis, founder of the charity Style for Soldiers.

JAY BHAYANI CELEBRATES WITH A GLASS OF JAY-PUR

their own offices – with space for future expansion.

Jay said: “It was great to see so many people attend our celebrations and help us enjoy the excellent surroundings, food, and, of course, the beer!

“We are all very excited about our plans to grow substantially over the next five years, which include recruiting new solicitors, introducing new business services and expanding outside Sheffield.”

More than

470

competitors will take part in up to nine sports

Gripple, the Sheffield-based manufacturer of wire joining devices and suspension systems, is investing £2m in a site dedicated to Gripple Automation to support its rapid growth, making Gripple’s fifth base in the city.

The multi award-winning company expects the 18,000sq ft facility on Foley Street, which is due to open in Spring 2020, to create an additional 30 jobs over the next five years, as well as boost the city’s industrial credentials as a leader in machine construction.

Gripple Automation MD Darren Beardsmore said: “We are looking forward to a very busy and successful future and this investment allows Gripple Automation’s growth to continue. We also expect it to be a catalyst for further redevelopment in the area.”

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Eliot said: “This is going to be epic - as fans know, as with all my charity gigs, you never know who could turn up. There’s inevitably a major surprise artist that will make the night even more special.”

Sheffield is set to host the first ever national games for British wounded, injured and sick veterans and personnel, with the Invictus Team UK Trials from 22 - 26 July 2019.

Over five days, more than 470 competitors will take part in up to nine sports including archery, athletics, cycling, indoor rowing, powerlifting, swimming, and rugby.

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AGENDA APPOINTMENTS

QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HONOUR FOR DAME JULIE… Julie Kenny CBE, the self-made Rotherham businesswoman whose relentless five-year campaign saved Wentworth Woodhouse for the nation, is to be made a Dame in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

She becomes a Dame Commander of the British Empire, the second-highest honour in the land, for her crucial role in securing the future of the Grade I listed Georgian stately home in Rotherham.

As the chair of Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, Julie is its best-known unpaid volunteer.

“I am amazed and humbled to receive this honour,” said Julie, 61. “I was inspired by one of the greatest houses in

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Harper James Solicitors has expanded its Dispute Resolution team with the appointment of solicitor Mark Gudgeon.

Showroom Workstation adds Ann Showroom Workstation has appointed Ann Wall as the new conference and events sales coordinator to support sales manager Mark Farnsworth in increasing event bookings.

JULIE KENNY CBE, CHAIR OF WENTWORTH WOODHOUSE PRESERVATION TRUST

the UK and I did not achieve this alone – there were many people that helped

…and MBE for University’s hospitality chief David The University of Sheffield’s Head of Training and Quality in Accommodation and Commercial Services has been recognised for services to hospitality training and education in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

David McKown, who has worked at the University for 27 years, has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

He has spearheaded a series of projects to boost training and education in the hospitality sector, including the internationally renowned Skills for Chefs Conference and the UK Young Restaurant Team of the Year competition.

Mark moves to Harper James

me along the way and this award recognises our joint achievements.”

BHP tax department strengthened with new starter

David said: “I would like to thank all my colleagues and industry friends who have supported me along the way.

My achievements would not have been possible without the University embracing such a strong set of values and without senior colleagues supporting and encouraging me to be innovative and creative.”

Yorkshire and North Derbyshire’s leading accountancy firm BHP has welcomed chartered tax advisor Peter Dobson.

Originally from Doncaster, Leeds Metropolitan University Peter graduate previously worked in personal tax before shifting to expat matters.

His appointment boosts the team to 53 tax advisors, 23 of which are chartered – making it one of the largest in Yorkshire.

He said: “I was keen to join a firm of this size to allow me to work across all taxes and BHP stood-out in the mid-tier market as both an innovator and a well-known people-centric business.”

Raft of promotions at Banner Jones Banner Jones has further expanded its senior management team with a raft of promotions.

The move sees head of employment law, Katie Ash, and head of dispute resolution, Rob Stubbs, appointed as shareholding directors, while dispute resolution solicitor Lee Foster has been promoted to director.

New duo at ITI ITI Network Services, the Sheffield-based wireless and fixed line telecoms service provider, has appointed Reza Zaher as client director and Mark Stevenson as senior project manager.

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AGENDA

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AGENDA

THE DIARY

BY RICHARD FIDLER

Our editor talks energy, events and email etiquette

Celebration for sporting staff

TALKING ABOUT THE CHALLENGES FACING THE ENERGY INDUSTRY AT OUR RECENT ROUNDTABLE DEBATE

LET'S TALK CLIMATE CHANGE IN BUSINESS How do we, as non climate change experts, assess the damage – or not – we are causing in our day to day lives?

Our personal actions are minuscule when compared to large industrial complexes, yet we feel obliged to separate our waste, turn lights off when we leave a room or assess whether our car’s emissions are at a dangerous level.

Of course, it’s only right that we do take personal responsibility.

Collectively we also make a larger impact than we can imagine. And it can hardly be a bad thing that we take care of our environment, whether that’s at home, at work or on holiday.

What was interesting for me while chairing our recent round table event with

One company doing its bit for climate change is SIV. Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, in Sheffield city centre, was crowned the organisation’s most energy-efficient venue at the 20th annual SIV Awards ceremony.

It came out on top after reducing its electricity consumption to the lowest annual level it has ever seen – 4.7 gigawatt hours.

The reduction equates to an energy saving of 12 per cent in 2018/19, and a cost saving of more than £60,000.

Amerscco was the challenges facing the energy industry, not just only from a provider’s perspective, but also for individual firms.

There are various targets that companies have to achieve or face fines.

For some these are easily obtainable but for others it requires departments to work together and dedicated managers put in place.

Firms may be vast but they still need each employee to

buy-in at a micro level while looking at the big picture with how they source their energy and minimise their carbon footprint.

There are no easy answers.

Targets are one thing but they often come at a cost and that cost is passed on to the consumer.

The panel (see pages 15-22) discussed a variety of issues and there’s no doubt that people are working hard to find the answers.

Got views of your own? Let me know: richard@unltdbusiness.com LinkedIn: Richard Fidler

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I was lucky enough to attend the annual SIV/Sheffield City Trust awards do at Sheffield City Hall late last month, which celebrates the work of those who provide the city’s sporting and leisure facilities.

The breadth and size of the organisation means that even high ranking employees only ever come across each other when sat at the same table having dinner on occasions such as this.

What was good was the sense of pride in SIV that everyone had.

Operating as a charity the organisation operates facilities as diverse as the FlyDSA Arena and Heeley swimming baths.

The awards night was a chance for some well deserved praise for the hard-working staff and long may SIV continue to serve the people of Sheffield.

Thank you for your email...

It’s coming to that time of the year when the out of office gets switched on for holidays.

Recently, though, I’ve started using it to just keep people aware I may not get back to them straight away.

I can’t believe it has taken half a working life to figure out this little pressure saving trick!

I’ve seen people’s out of offices list almost their entire diary and while I may not go that far, I do find it a useful way to keep on top of my inbox.

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AGENDA

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ROUNDTABLE

AN ENERGY FOR

BUSINESS Energy and sustainability – there aren’t many more powerful issues on the planet right now. So what bigger or better focus on for our first ever roundtable? Our editor Richard Fidler gathered a group of industry leaders, led by UK sustainability partner Ameresco, to talk carbon awareness, emissions trading, and government intervention.

Read on for the results…

In association with

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Your trusted sustainability partner

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ROUNDTABLE

What’s the biggest challenges facing the energy market today?

ND: Clearly energy saving but also carbon footprint, its water saving, and the energy associated with that. And the biggest change, I think, that we have seen in relation to energy is translating how to reduce the waste that we make, to how do we make money from waste which is generally making energy. We have seen quite a shift in that, in terms of our own interest and the funders who want to support it. Round about ten years ago they didn’t understand it, now they’re falling over each other to try and fund it.

SJ: Both from our point of

Speakers Karthik Suresh (Ameresco) Kath Chapman (Ameresco) Nigel Davies (Muntons) Richard Fidler (unLTD) Sarah Blenkinsop (Golden Frog PR representing Samuel Grant Packaging) Simon Johnstone (Aessael) view as a business but also looking at the country, I think some of the issues are going to be about uncertainty and having a bit of consistency, from government policy and a longer-term view would be helpful. A lot of these things change quite frequently and the focus changes, not

In association with

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necessarily with change of Government but also just over the period of Parliament. So, it makes it quite difficult when trying to make investment decisions.

SB: I think the challenge is a lack of understanding. So, certainly from a packaging point of view people are

saying, you know plastic is bad? But actually, when you look at the amount of energy required to wrap something in plastic, if that plastic comes from a sensible source and is recyclable then that is a far more carbon effective way of wrapping the product as opposed to something that might be considered more sustainable. There’s an education piece around that and there is a big knee jerk reaction against plastic, especially in the past few years, which is quite ill-advised in my opinion.

KC: The glass sector is having a real resurgence from that backlash to plastic, but you use an enormous amount of both

Your trusted sustainability partner

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ROUNDTABLE

electricity and gas to make glass. So, it’s not that glass is particularly energy efficient it’s just that it’s benefiting from the backlash from people who don’t like plastic. Also, if you’re going to use recycled glass, you have to get people used to the fact that it’s not going to be as clear as the virgin product. It’s not that it’s dirty – it’s just not a virgin product.

Carbon Awareness KC: You’ve got generations coming through now where carbon is a criterion that they consider in their decision making. Whereas if you went back 20 years you wouldn’t have that. Nigel, do you get any pressure from your supply

chains to demonstrate your carbon credentials?

ND: We do. I'll give you an example recently: One of our customers went out to 50 of their suppliers, not just for malt, and they asked about carbon and we've got every bit of information you can possibly have. They said they got one reply, so we know which reply that was. Forty-nine people didn't even know where to start when describing their activities in terms of carbon and I think this is a problem. We spend a lot of time demystifying that debate – you can make it really simple.

KC: If you look at the legislation that Government has brought in from April this

year – which is something called the Streamline Energy and Carbon Reporting – you guys will be caught out by it because everyone is going to be caught by it unless you're a micro business virtually. And that's the Government's way of trying to force people to calculate what their carbon is, and it goes in your annual report. The whole idea behind that is it makes carbon part of an investor's decision-making criteria and it's in the public domain.

How important is it for businesses to take control of how they spend on electricity or gas?

ND: Well, for us it’s very

important. Its equivalent to our salaries and energy – they’re roughly the same sort of bills.

We went to our supplier and said can you supply us with 100 per cent green electricity?

Which they could and then we had the challenge of saying ok, you can do that, what’s the price saving? They say there isn’t one because the price that it is below the ground is exactly the same price as the levy exemption certificates they have to buy. And then because you’ve bought green, you don’t get the rebate on your climate change levy. So, it ends up costing you ten per cent more.

So, we said right, we’re not interested in that. We’ll make our own green energy and that

www.ameresco.com Follow us on Twitter: @Ameresco

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17

uit any/benchmark-recr linkedin.com/comp @benchmarkrec nchmarkrecruit facebook.com/be

ecruit.co.uk info@benchmarkr

Solution Sales Specialist

Sales Jobs Contact: Kate Beswick on Kate@benchmarkrecruit.co.uk 077 1477 1605

Salary: Up to £60,000 • Location: Sheff ield This is a great opportunity for someone who is looking for a long term career in a thriv ing industry.

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Find your dream career in Business Support, Marketing, Sales, IT, Creative and

Digital and Charity

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al

ROUNDTABLE was the way it moved. We said, where’s our waste stream?

We’ve got a brewery on site, let’s use the waste from that to generate methane, generate 14 per cent of our electricity on site which saves us £1.2 million.

Government Intervention KC: If you look at our carbon saving compared with our Kyoto protocol, we said we’d get to 80 per cent and we’re at 40 per cent. So, it would be easy to say oh happy days, we’re going to make it, but actually it’s the next 40 per cent that’s the really difficult 40 per cent to do. The first bit, the decarbonisation of electricity was relatively easy, and it hasn’t really involved massive change in people.

But, to get to that 80 per cent, we’re going to have to make some much harder choices that involve the general population.

ND: If you look at that 40 per cent they reckon that 40 per cent of that has come via legislation, so therefore if you flip that figure it means that 60 per cent has come from people seeing the ability to invest and that’s a good thing.

Whenever we get the chance to talk to Government, we remind them of that figure and say you do not need to keep legislating. It will have its part...

KC: But it doesn’t deliver the whole solution.

ND: No, and the trouble is they don’t invest those taxes that they get from green taxation. They don’t invest that back into green technology, which, love them or hate them, the Americans do and the South Koreans do, and we don’t and that’s where we miss a trick.

Sustainability: Business and PR Perspectives SJ: The amount of work we do for sustainability gives us a unique selling point. Looking at packaging as well, not just from the energy side of things but the overall waste side of things.

We’re always looking at not only where we can reduce waste, where we can be more efficient but also where we can make a real positive impact and a lot of that is with our customers.

In association with

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We do save about 25 billion U.S. gallons of water in industry per year, so we want to live what we say as well.

We are finding interest is changing not only from our customers, but internally as well, particularly from the younger people, that’s really picking up. We got 40 new apprentices this year and the level of interest from them compared to ten years ago is completely different. They're much more interested in our carbon footprint, our waste and dealing with resources.

And it does make a big difference, it makes us a much more attractive employer in the region.

SB: As a B2B, you might not be a household name but there’s nothing wrong with bragging about best practice in order to become more of one. Especially in your local community if you’re looking to attract younger people who have more of an ethical agenda when it comes to how companies operate in terms of their energy consumption and so on.

There’s no reason not to be telling households what

Your trusted sustainability partner

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ROUNDTABLE

In association with

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Your trusted sustainability partner

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ROUNDTABLE

...people are saying, you know plastic is bad? But actually, when you look at the amount of energy required to wrap something in plastic, if that plastic comes from a sensible source and is recyclable then that is a far more carbon effective way of wrapping the product as opposed to something that might be considered more sustainable.

www.ameresco.com Follow us on Twitter: @Ameresco

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ROUNDTABLE

you’re doing because that does raise your profile and it’s a challenge to attract decent staff from the local community.

European Emissions Trading Scheme ND: The EU said we were going to save 20 per cent under the European Emissions Trading Scheme, but the UK came back and said we're going to lead and save 30 per cent by the year 2030 – without any idea what that was going to do to UK businesses. It does have a major impact. We flagged that up to them and said we

have hit these carbon targets – we've hit yours and we're going even further than that. But we are disadvantaged in the global markets so therefore it could well be that a lot of industries will go abroad, and they just said, well that's fine because that sorts our carbon balance out.

Decarbonising Gas KC: From an energy and decarbonisation perspective, the next big thing is going to be decarbonising gas. You can't buy green gas unless you pay a significant premium, and the further out you go,

In association with

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the premium really ratchets up. So, what you pay now and what you pay in two- or three-years' time is sometimes a lot more expensive. There's a consultation paper coming out this summer, but the Government are about a year behind where they should be and that is because of Brexit.

They've had a couple of things on their mind more than energy.

The intention now is that we move towards encouraging green gas, but the problem we've got with gas is having physical pressure within a pipe. Equipment that

takes in gas, is built to take gas at a certain pressure of the network, so if you start messing about with the pressure and the gas, which is what you really need to do to get a lot of renewable in, it means that businesses built this equipment to take gas at a certain level and it now won't be at that level. So, you either try to do something massively expensive to the network or business has to do something.

Gas vs Electricity KC: The big difference between gas and electricity is you can store gas and you

Your trusted sustainability partner

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ROUNDTABLE

can play with the pressure to a certain extent with something called linepack. There was one really cold day when we nearly did run out of gas.

The two things that meant

that we didn't was Ineos, the biggest gas user in the country, agreed to switch off. They were handsomely paid for it – they didn't do it because they were nice people. Also, the National

Grid was able to play with the pressure within the system just enough to allow everyone to continue. So, there are some physical characteristics that are different about

gas, that actually in some respects make it easier. But an enormous amount has already been spent on that which hasn't been spent on the gas infrastructure.

Ameresco, Inc. is a leading independent provider of comprehensive energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions for facilities throughout North America and the United Kingdom, delivering long-term value through innovative systems, strategies and technologies. Ameresco’s solutions range from upgrades to facility’s energy infrastructure to the development, construction and operation of renewable energy plants combined with tailored financial solutions. We work with customers on both sides of the meter to reduce operating expenses, upgrade and maintain facilities, stabilise energy costs, improve occupancy comfort levels, increase energy reliability and enhance the environment.

The Company was founded in 2000 by George Sakellaris, a pioneer in the energy service business. To best serve its wide-ranging clientele, Ameresco has regional offices located throughout North America and the United Kingdom. With dedicated energy and business professionals with years of experience and strong commitment to customer satisfaction and service, Ameresco offers you the resources needed to successfully plan, execute and even finance the energy programme that will create real, sustained economic and operating benefits to fulfill your unique requirements.

www.ameresco.com Follow us on Twitter: @Ameresco

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Award-Winning Digital Marketing, Web Development & Digital Design Contact Our Team For Help Growing Your Business Online www. evoluted.net

info@evoluted.net

0114 272 9753

unLTDBUSINESS.COM

AGENDA

EVOLVING TECHNOLOGY

BY ASH YOUNG

How important are online reviews? Very, says our digital expert Ash Young

THE IMPORTANCE OF ONLINE REVIEWS Just how important are reviews to customers?

Very, it turns out.

Let’s start with the stats: • 67.7% of purchasing decisions are impacted by online reviews. (Moz) • 68% say positive reviews make them more likely to use a local business. (BrightLocal) • 40% say negative reviews stop them using a business.

(BrightLocal) Gaining positive online reviews Alongside Google and Facebook, there are plenty of review platforms to sign up to, including Feefo, TrustPilot and Reviews.co.uk.

You can promote positive reviews with the following strategies: • Create incentives – discount codes, competitions.

• Ask at positive times in their purchasing journey – when they re-order, demonstrate

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success with your service, refer a friend.

• Optimise your content – ask via emails, add quick links to your website e.g. ‘Review us on Google’.

• Inspire customers by sharing positive reviews you’ve received.

• Dealing with negative reviews.

• It’s vital to always reply to all reviews, including negative ones. According to BrightLocal, 89% of consumers read business' responses to reviews.

Minimise the impact of negative feedback by: • Replying ASAP. • Offering an email address/ phone number to discuss further, away from the reviews page.

• Writing like a human, rather than a faceless organisation.

• Apologising for and acknowledging a real mistake.

• Providing a solution with any

of the following: - Compensation where warranted.

- Promising to take the feedback on board.

- Investigating further.

- Correcting falsities.

Spotting and dealing with fake reviews Fake reviews might be false allegations, competitors attempting to sabotage or individuals who haven’t actually interacted with your service.

How to spot a fake review: • The reviewer’s name is not in your database.

• The same person has left similar reviews elsewhere.

• It refers to products you do not offer.

• It’s vague, offering no elaboration about the experience.

• There is false information.

What’s the best way to deal with this?

• Respond, acknowledging

that you cannot find their details in your database or by asking them to elaborate further, whilst offering the opportunity to email your customer service team.

This makes it clear there is something fishy about the review, and still shows you care.

• Report it to the review platform.

- On Google, flag this as inappropriate. The more flags, the more likely Google is to take action – so get your colleagues reporting this, too.

- Most review platforms have systems in place to report potential fake reviews, such as Trust Pilot, so they can investigate.

For help in setting up reviews for your business, contact the Evoluted team.

Ash Young, Evoluted www.evoluted.net

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AGENDA CALENDAR

EDITORP’SICK EVENT

5TH-7TH MUSIC IN THE GARDENS

Venue: Botanical Gardens, Clarkehouse Road, Sheffield, S10 2LN Time: 6pm-10pm each night Cost: Pre-booked children’s prices start at £10; adults from £30; gazebo prices from £80.

About: This year featuring Bananarama and Bjorn Again, Music in The Gardens is back again for a family friendly weekend of music. The events are in support of charities Support Dogs, Under The Stars, The Friends of Newman School, Ant Kids, Sheffield Area Kidney Research and Children’s Heart Surgery.

Contact: bit.ly/2M7A6vq

2ND KNIGHTS NETWORK

ongoing discussions.

Contact: rfyfe@yorkshire.com

Venue: Castle Park, Armthorpe Road, Doncaster DN2 5QB Time: 12pm-2pm Cost: £12 when booked in advance About: Join a monthly informal network event at Castle Park – Home of Doncaster Knights Rugby.

Lunch is served at 12pm, followed by a 60 second round to introduce your business to the room before open networking until 2pm.

Contact: ehughes@castlepark.co.uk

3RD-7TH SHEFFIELD GLOBAL VILLAGE

2ND Y30 WORKING LUNCH

NETWORKING SKILLS MASTERCLASS

Venue: Eversheds-Sutherland, Bridgewater Place, Water Lane, Leeds LS11 5DR Time: 11:45am-2pm About: Members of the Yorkshire business community are invited to learn about sleep and the impact this has on the modern workplace. A light lunch buffet will be provided throughout the event during

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5TH 6TH WESTON PARK CANCER CHARITY UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD RACE EVENING

Venue: Fargate, Sheffield City Centre Time: 9am-late About: Browse a selection of unique gifts and art while experiencing the great tastes of India, Greece and Spain at the street food stalls.

Contact: info@mpel.co.uk

Venue: Owlerton Greyhound Stadium, Penistone Road, Sheffield S6 2DE Time: 6:30pm Cost: £25 per person for a 3-course meal About: A night of fun, fundraising and greyhound racing in support of Weston Park Cancer Charity. Sponsorship opportunities available.

Contact: http://bit.ly/31r56ds

4TH EFFECTIVE BUSINESS

5TH SHEFFIELD THEATRES

Venue: Fusion@Magna Business Centre, Magna Way, Rotherham S60 1FE Time: 9am-12pm About: This interactive and fun session will provide delegates with hints and tips to help develop their skills and become a more confident and effective networker.

Contact: sarahgstanley@ outlook.com

Venue: Crucible Theatre, Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 1DA Time: 12pm-2pm Cost: Free About: A relaxed networking lunch offering the opportunity to meet and network with likeminded Sheffield businesses and find out a little bit more about Sheffield Theatres!

Contact: l.winson@ sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

MARKET

NETWORKING LUNCH

OPEN DAY

Venue: University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN Time: 10am-4pm Cost: Free About: A chance to learn more about the Undergraduate courses that the University of Sheffield has to offer, as well as a look at the accommodation and an opportunity to learn more about student life!

Contact: bit.ly/2R5RIqo

6TH – 7TH FOLK FOREST

Venue: Endcliffe Park, Rustlings Road, Sheffield S11 7AB Time: Various Cost: Tickets range from free for under 5s to £80 for a family weekend ticket About: The event brings a programme of music set across five stages, locally produced food and drink, arts, crafts and fun for the entire family.

Contact: http://bit.ly/2WVuc0U

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AGENDA

8TH SALES MASTERCLASS WITH

About: A chance to see family and friends graduate from University and celebrate their achievements after their years of study.

Contact: bit.ly/2wNRrze

BSA ASSOCIATES WITH DEARNE VALLEY NETWORKING

Venue: Brearley and Co Accountants, 39-43 Bridge Street, Swinton, Mexborough S64 8AP Time: 7:30am-9:30am Cost: £20 About: Boost your sales and generate more leads with this interactive session from Bobby Singh of BSA Associates who will invite you to question where you are now, where you want to be and how he can help you get there.

Contact: bit.ly/2Kbtdb0

9TH-11TH GREAT YORKSHIRE SHOW

Venue: Railway Road, Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate HG2 8NZ Time: Tuesday and Wednesday – 7:30am-7:30pm Thursday – 7:30am-6:30pm Cost: £29 adult, £15 child About: This is one of the biggest events in the agricultural calendar, designed to showcase ranges of livestock, farming equipment and machinery. There will also be motorbike stunt riding and a range of catering services so there is sure to be something for the whole family.

Contact: bit.ly/2XGeKGO

13TH PINKNIC

Venue: Peace Gardens 50 Pinstone St, Sheffield S1 2HH

16TH SIMPLY BUSINESS: SPECIAL EDITION

11TH MEMBERS SUMMER BBQ – SHEFFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Venue: Hilton Sheffield, Furnival Road, Sheffield S4 7YB Time: 4pm-7:30pm Cost: Free (members only) Exhibition Stands £75 + VAT About: Sheffield Chamber of Commerce invite their members to an exclusive summer BBQ event with a complementary welcome drink on arrival, followed by a BBQ prepared and cooked by a Hilton Chef. The event is the most established social event of the year with the opportunity to network with more than 150 fellow members and build new professional relationships by exhibiting at the event and promoting your own products.

Contact: bit.ly/2XKW0X3

Time: 11am-7pm Cost: Free About: Sheffield City Centre’s biggest LGBT event with live music and a range of stalls to entertain for the entire day.

Contact: bit.ly/2EZCzlR

14TH HSBC LET’S RIDE

About: HSBC will be closing the roads to traffic and hosting a cycling event for everyone where the public can get involved in

fun activities, listen to live music and eat street food.

Contact: bit.ly/2wPAEM2

15TH-19TH UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD GRADUATION

Venue: Convocation Hall, Octagon Centre, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN Time: Variant depending on degree and school Cost: Free

Venue: Paradise Island Adventure Golf Time: 8:30am – 11am Cost: Free for Sheffield Chamber of Commerce members, £15 for nonmembers About: Simply Business is a series of events created

by Sheffield Chamber to allow delegates to create all-important connections and network with fellow members. This special edition, in partnership with Paradise Island Adventure Golf, will feature a brief update from the Sheffield Chamber team and an opportunity to try adventure golf whilst making new business contacts in a relaxed, informal environment.

18TH THE SCIENCE OF NEGOTIATION

Venue: Halifax Hall, Endcliffe Vale Road, Sheffield, S10 3ER Time: 7:30am-10am Cost: Free About: Negotiation is a major part of a successful business, and although it may not be an inherited trait, it can be developed through this Masterclass.

Contact: bit.ly/2WybThO

6TH - 7TH CLIFFHANGER FESTIVAL

Venue: Various locations across the city including Peace Gardens, Barkers Pool, Devonshire Green, Millennium Square, Tudor Square, Winter Gardens Time: 5pm Friday start, various Cost: Free About: Sheffield’s inner-city festival dedicated to celebrating the outdoors, Cliffhanger returns for Summer 2019 with another jam-packed weekend of adventure.

Contact: theoutdoorcity@sheffield.gov.uk

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AGENDA

18TH COACH AND CONNECTER

SARAH STANLEY’S NETWORKING CURRY NIGHT

Venue: Akbar's Rotherham, Meadow Bank Road, Rotherham S61 2NF Time: 6pm-9pm About: An informal event for local business people to meet like-minded individuals in a relaxed environment with some tasty food.

Contact: bit.ly/2WS89wA

22ND BIG GIG TO CELEBRATE OPENING OF INVICTUS TRIALS

11TH CAVENDISH CANCER CARE - SUNSET STOMP

Venue: The Norfolk Arms, 2 Ringinglow Village, Sheffield, S11 7TS Time: Arrival and registration from 5pm, 5.30pm walk starts Cost: £9 for adults, £2.50 for children (under 16 years old). £20 for a family ticket (2 adults + 2 children). Optional suggested fundraising of £54 per participant.

About: Cavendish Cancer Care are holding their first Sunset Stomp on the borders of the Peak District. Join for a sponsored evening walk and delicious BBQ at the Norfolk Arms to finish. The event will be held to raise money to support local people affected by cancer and is sponsored by Lyonhurst Life.

Contact: bit.ly/2K9XN3Z

Venue: Fly DSA Arena, Broughton Lane, Sheffield S9 2DF Time: 7pm Cost: General Admission £27.50 VIP - £44 About: Join Sheffield’s own Grammy award-winning songwriter Eliot Kennedy with headline act Alfie Boe and special guests – classical artist Laura Wright, popsensation Heather Small, Suggs from Madness and Game of Thrones actor Charles Dance – to celebrate the opening of the Invictus UK Trials in the City.

Contact: bit.ly/2WFbkrB

23RD MOVE MORE MONTH AWARDS CEREMONY

22ND-26TH SHEFFIELD INVICTUS GAMES TRIALS

Venue: Various including English Institute of Sport Sheffield and Ponds Forge Time: Various Cost: Up to five free tickets per person per game About: Sheffield is holding the trials for the first time with 470+ competitors taking part in up to nine sports including archery, athletics, cycling, indoor rowing and more.

Contact: bit.ly/2XULnkr

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Venue: B. Braun Medical Ltd, Brookdale Road, Chapeltown, Sheffield S35 2PW Time: 5:30pm-8:30pm Cost: Free About: Move More Awards evening will recognise the achievements of organisations and individuals during Move More Month and trophies and prizes will be presented to award category winners. A buffet and refreshments will be provided and a chance to network amongst other businesses, people and organisers of Move More Month in an informal environment.

Contact: bit.ly/2XqAuK1

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AGENDA

19TH-21ST TRAMLINES

Venue: Hillsborough Park, Parkside Road, Sheffield S6 2AB Time: All weekend long!

Cost: Children under 12 free. Day tickets from £40, tier six weekend tickets available at £79.50 upwards.

About: With more than 70 artists performing across four stages, complemented by comedy, pop-up cinema and family events, this year is set to be the music festival’s biggest year yet. Get ready to groove to headliners Two Door Cinema Club, Courteeners, and Nile Rodgers & Chic, plus you can also expect tempting street-food treats by a variety of Sheffield’s favourite traders.

Contact: www.tramlines.org.uk

24TH SHEFFIELD GRAND PRIX CYCLING

Venue: Start and finish on Pinstone Street Sheffield City Centre Time: 6pm-10:30pm Cost: £25-£30 About: The race attracts world-class athletes to the City Centre, travelling around the circuit at top speeds of 35mph.

Contact: bit.ly/2XFGGL9

25TH PECHAKUCHA SHEFFIELD VOL#30 – ‘FINDING A WAY’

Venue: Kollider, Castle House, Castle Street, Sheffield S3 8LS Time: 7pm-11pm Cost: £6-£9 advance About: A PechaKucha Night

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is fun evening of 20x20 challenge talks, short films and great live entertainment, all exploring the show’s theme: ‘It’s like clubbing for thinkers.’

Contact: jonnydouglas.com/ pktickets

27TH SHEFFIELD BY THE SEASIDE

Venue: Peace Gardens, Pinstone Street, Sheffield S1 2HH Time: 10am-6pm Cost: Free About: The seaside comes to Sheffield for one day only with a Punch and Judy show, a helter-skelter, a huge sandpit and mini golf.

Contact: bit.ly/31rAsAR

29TH 31ST MASTER INVESTOR SHEFFIELD SHEFFIELD JOBS FAIR Venue: Jaywing, Albert Works, Sidney Street, Sheffield, S1 4RG Time: 6pm-9pm Cost: £10 About: The event will see chair James Faulkner, Editor of Master Investor Magazine and the panel – chief executive officer of Jaywing Plc, Rob Shaw and Dr Stuart Green, chief executive officer of ZOO Digital Plc discuss performance, future opportunities and why Sheffield is a great place in which to base businesses.

Contact: bit.ly/2ZBOrSV

Venue: Bramall Lane Football Stadium, Sheffield S2 4SU Time: 10am-1pm Cost: Free About: The Sheffield Jobs Fair is an opportunity for school leavers, graduates, people who have been made redundant, people looking for a career change and those who are just generally unemployed and looking to get back into work to meet potential employers across all industries and sectors face to face.

Contact: bit.ly/2x5MEcB

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AGENDA

When a cyber attack or natural disaster strikes, there will be downtime, and the only way to limit this downtime is with a comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plan.

Check out our article to the right to learn how we implemented a secure Disaster Recovery solution for Fletchers Solicitors.

Visit veeamdr.ct.co.uk to learn more.

26 Fletchers Solictor Case Study Ad V2.indd 1

unLTDBUSINESS.COM 17/06/2019 13:48

ADVERTORIAL

WHY YOUR ORGANISATION SHOULD CONSIDER A DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN Chris Barr, technical director of CT, looks at why your organisation should consider a Back-Up and Disaster Recovery Plan Every day, your business relies on documents, applications, and existing data to function. What would happen if you suddenly lost access to these things?

Why should your organisation should have a Back-Up and Disaster Recovery Plan (DR)?

1. Natural Disasters Storms, fires, and floods can all do irreparable damage to your business.

Without a DR plan in place, you may find it extremely difficult to resume operations. Eighty per cent of companies that close for more than five days never reopen, so getting back on your feet is crucial in the event of a natural disaster.

2. Hardware Failure If your hardware fails it can take all your data with it.

While you can take steps to protect your hardware, it is essential to regularly back-up your data. Using a cloud-based or off-site storage can add additional protections, as it is unlikely both locations will be struck at the same time.

CHRIS BARR, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL TECHNOLOGY

Cyber crimes are on the rise and most businesses are affected at some point.

A virus or ransomware attack could hold your data hostage, grinding your business to a halt and causing massive profit losses. In fact, 91 per cent of all data breaches are caused by a phishing email. Your DR plan should include steps to recover from a hacking attempt, keeping your data safe and accessible.

3. Human Errors No one is perfect, and that includes you and your employees. Forgetting to save changes, accidentally deleting an important document, or flipping the 5. Customer Service wrong switch could lead Ultimately, you need a to a significant loss for disaster recovery plan to your company. Training provide your customers the programmes are essential service they have come to to help reduce human expect from you. If your error. BUT, the only way business has a prolonged to cover your organisation service interruption, from human error is to have you could lose valuable a DR plan in place. customers to a competitor.

4. Cyber Crimes The faster you can get back

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approached CT to provide a DR solution that allowed the ability to spin up our core IT systems on an external CT’s Secure Solution for, cloud platform should a UK top 100 law firm, disaster affect our site or IT Fletchers Solicitors infrastructure. CT’s DR experts CT began working with worked closely with Fletchers Fletchers in 2018. The business is one of the UK’s top to truly understand our 100 law firms, employing a 350 business needs, identifying strong legal team, specialising their core services and what resources were necessary in medical negligence, to replicate in our DRaaS serious injury and motorcycle environment.” Head of accidents.

Network and Infrastructure, An organisation of this Fletchers Solicitors scale cannot afford for any CT experts continue to work core services to be down for closely together with Fletchers any amount of time as it can to maintain the highesthave huge implications both level support and meet any financially and in terms of reputation. Fletchers needed a changing requirements.

Can your IT do that? Call solution that would seamlessly 01246 266 130 and speak to fit into their environment a member of the CT Team whilst meeting their strict and important Recovery Time today to discover how our Backup and DR solutions can Objectives.

“As an existing Veeam keep your business running customer, Fletchers smoothly. on your feet, the better for you and your customers.

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COVER STORY

S I Y A W Y L N O E H T

ETHICS ‘The great and good’ is a phrase often used when it comes to talking about key civic and business figures. But what about those in the Sheffield City Region working for the greater good?

Jill Theobald spoke to several businesspeople behind ethical businesses and projects about their decision to ‘do the right thing’ starting with cover star Johnny Pawlik, MD of Mantra Media “If you’re making money, you can also make a difference.”

When planning a feature on ethical businesses, that phrase from a previous company culture feature in unLTD really struck me as a great ‘mantra’.

Fortunately, it was a comment by Johnny Pawlik whose company, Mantra Media, I had been profiling at the time for issue 6 of the mag.

So, it made perfect sense to interview him once again for a cover story on doing business ethically, especially given Mantra Media’s strapline is ‘Driven by ethics, guided by knowledge’.

Those ethics are deep-rooted and stem from his own humble beginnings – and a growing awareness of inequality and injustice.

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“I had two upbringings, really,” he explains. “First I grew up on a troubled council estate in the Midlands. My parents were teenagers when they had me and had married in secret because, despite both being first or second-generation immigrants, had both been ostracized by their families by getting together and they had nothing.

“They worked crazy hard, crazy hours and growing up I saw a lot of injustice. At my first school, my father wanted me to go there because it was a Catholic school, but I was from a council estate. I was put into separate classes with children with severe learning difficulties and had to ask my mum why that was happening and fight to be moved into mainstream classes.

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COVER STORY

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COVER STORY

Integrity is everything.

It’s got to be about more than creating a profitable organisation, it’s about creating a model for work as well.

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unLTDBUSINESS.COM

COVER STORY

“This was the classism of the 80s – I was being treated differently because of my class and was one of only two kids at school with a foreign surname.

But my mum always instilled in me ‘you have a voice’ and that was important, I never forgot that. Things like class and background should not affect that.

“My father started working for the RAF and was away a lot, but it meant we moved out and into a more middleclass area. I didn’t have to keep my head down to watch for syringes on the pavement or because I had a haircut that might get me into a fight and I was treated very differently at upper school because my parents were then considered to have ‘done well’ for themselves. That level of injustice just didn’t make sense to me.”

Fast forward to the mid-90s and Johnny had a life-changing moment – “I picked up a computer. It was fascinating to me that I could communicate with people and share knowledge and learning all over the world. It felt like a democratisation of knowledge. And I felt if I could communicate effectively, I could address some of those issues of inequality. Perhaps equality and

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opportunity could be achieved through the internet.”

By the mid noughties, Johnny was using forums, early social media platforms and online communities to promote bands and artists before realising he could do the same for brands and businesses.

“I was engaging with a huge audience online and it didn’t matter where I came from or if I had a foreign name – I had a voice.”

He set up Mantra Media with business partner Masatsugu Kuno, who runs the Japanese offices, in 2015.

Today the firm works with clientele in four continents from North America and Europe to South Africa and Southeast Asia, delivering digital marketing for businesses, charities and third sector organisations across the globe.

“The ‘driven by ethics’ part of our strapline is from my childhood, and that sense of inequality I was aware of but couldn’t articulate back then.

“As a business we can affect a lot of change and we wanted to be a company that does things differently. From day one we only wanted to work with people and brands that meet our values.

“Some businesses in the branding industry had no processes and no structure – we wanted to do things that were meaningful and made sense.

“We work with national and international brands, charities, SMEs and governments all over the world – including currently Tokyo and Kyoto – but have turned down work with high profile brands in the past because we didn’t feel they shared our values or we didn’t like their work practices.

“Integrity is everything.

It’s got to be about more than creating a profitable organisation, it’s about creating a model for work as well. We put people first. It’s why we have a flat structure – everyone here has a voice whether they’ve been here three days or three years. It doesn’t matter what their age, class or background is.

“We have a lot of learning and development opportunities, too – I think that’s of a lot more value than what I tend to think of as the empty clichés of pinball machines and bean bags in the office. Great – but how is that helping your employees?

“You are responsible for them and their financial

security. You need to create a workplace and a role that they are passionate about and enjoy. I don’t think you should live to work or work to live.

“We have Private Medical Insurance for staff but also have our psychologist come in to chat to them about any issues they have, work or personal. It’s about looking after the whole person.”

And that approach extends to clients, too – here and further afield.

“We do quite a lot of pro bono work,” says Johnny, who is on the board of The Element Society and Sheffield Futures, to name a few. “We have looked after the comms for the Apricot Children charity in Japan for three years.

“We recently sponsored – free of charge – a special fun day event in Nottinghamshire for children with learning difficulties,” he adds. “The look on the children’s faces was beautiful, not to mention knowing we’d given parents and carers some much needed respite.”

So helping charities closer to home, as well as abroad then – and home literally, in the sense of Nottinghamshire and those humble but deep-rooted Midlands beginnings.

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COVER STORY

LET’S GET ETHICAL, ETHICAL …

LET ME HEAR YOUR MONEY TALK Karl Hallam of Eyeye opticians tells us about his vision for ‘doing the right thing’ (and apologises to Olivia Newton John for the headline).

My brother-in-law is a Philosophy Professor specialising in ethics and he says: “Ethical and profitable are two incompatible motivations.” Is he right?

Has his living in America for 25 years, the last few under Trump, made him forget the good old British concept of trying to do the right thing?

Or is it more that it is difficult to be profitable if you are ethical?

The starting point for Eyeye’s ‘do the right thing’ approach was to be up-front and transparent about the cost of our spectacles. It is the opposite of ‘Ryanair pricing’ in that we tell you the final

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price at the beginning, not at the end as a nasty surprise when all their up-sells have been added on. People who have been to other opticians respond well to this, if you like, ‘Yorkshire pricing’ – buy one, get one.

But, while our prices are more than competitive versus the final price you pay elsewhere, most of our competitors lure customers in with headline offer prices that you very rarely end up paying at the end. So, we need different, creative ways of getting people through our doors, like events and a bold, opinionated (polite) social media presence.

Another important feature of how we conduct our business is that we allow much longer for an eye test than others. For example, most Specsavers

branches allow 20 minutes per appointment and we have more than double that.

This allows us time to listen, understand problems, take and discuss pictures and give advice about keeping your eyes healthy. The eye test is more enjoyable for the patient and the optician – it allows us time to hopefully build a trusting relationship.

But the more tests you squeeze in, the more money you might make.

We also look for suppliers who are trying to do the right thing, too. We have frames made from recycled sea waste plastic, plant-based products and recycled steels. We also use a Sheffield-based lens lab as we think that is sensible from a sustainability point of view.

This contrasts with Boots who fly in four planes a day from Thailand, where their frames

are glazed. These initiatives make me and loyal customers feel good, but don’t help in keeping our costs down.

We’ve been open three years now and are looking forward to one day getting to the point when we might have some tax to pay on some profits. We have undoubtedly attracted some customers by shouting about our ethical credentials, but we do need more if we are to keep going.

In these uncertain times Sheffield is even more price sensitive than ever and the lure of Amazon ‘bargains’ is there for all of us.

My response to the brotherin-law in Michigan perhaps ought to be – do people really believe you can be ethical and affordable? We’re trying to be and we do like to think in our case that maybe seeing is believing.

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COVER STORY

INNOVATORS IN CLEANING MORE THAN JUST VACUUM CLEANERS

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COVER STORY

BE BRAVE, DO THE RIGHT THING, AND BE KIND! Along with our cover star Johnny Pawlik’s business Mantra Media having the word ‘ethics’ in his company strapline, Louisa Harrison-Walker is MD of Benchmark – which bills itself as ‘The Ethical Recruiter’.

“Every day we live our values in order to deliver a recruitment service to our clients and candidates in line with our Ethical Charter.

“By visiting all our clients and meeting all our candidates, either in person or virtually via Skype, we are able to understand the real drivers behind the job spec or CV, and so place the right person in the right job for the long term.

Arranging interviews to hit KPIs or coercing someone into a job that isn’t right for them is of no interest to Benchmark – we have long term relationships with clients delivering sustainable growth, which in turn provides benefit to the wider society across Sheffield City Region (SCR).

“Sometimes this involves giving honest feedback, such as advising a client about how their onboarding processes are holding them back or encouraging candidates to raise

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their professional standards in order to make a great opportunity work. Ethical isn’t about doing the easy thing, it’s about doing the right thing in a kind and helpful way.

“This starts with the Benchmark Team. We’ve changed ways of working to increase personal development and accountability, introduced flexible hours and healthcare to support resiliency, and redecorated the office to make it a more fun, relaxed environment to spend time in.

“We also give a certain amount of time and profits back to the community by volunteering with our chosen charity for the year – this year it is Museums Sheffield – for whom we’ll be hosting our big yearly quiz to raise money and awareness.

“We believe everyone deserves a fair chance so have recently signed up to the Disability Confident scheme and I’ve joined the Sheffield Business Together steering committee to support this great new initiative, which is all about bringing together businesses to gain a better understanding of the social mobility landscape,

We can’t fix the world’s problems, but we can make a difference in our patch – and if everyone did that in their own local community, then we’d really be on to something!

and what interventions work to improve educational attainment and work readiness.

“I’m also the first female chair of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce Council and on the board of St Luke’s Hospice. Being an ethical recruiter involves using those relationships and partnerships to collaborate on inspiring action and building a strong business community and bright future for SCR. “Benchmark is acutely aware of the upcoming skills shortage and so is focused on supporting skills development – we’ve had four apprentices and numerous work experience students – and understanding the requirements of industry, so I’m delighted to be on the board of the Higher Education Progression Partnership (Hepp) (read more in our skills feature in this edition).

“We can’t fix the world’s problems, but we can make a difference in our patch – and if everyone did that in their own local community, then we’d really be on to something!

“Being an ethical recruiter is quite simple really – be brave, do the right thing, and be kind!”

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Start your business journey with us Free space & support for tech-based pre-starts & start-ups

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COVER STORY

ETHICALMUCH.COM IS A NEWS PLATFORM, FOR ‘ETHICALLY MINDED PEOPLE, BUSINESS, AND CHARITIES’

EVERY GOOD DEED Ethical business – it’s not just about doing the least harm, it’s about doing the maximum possible good.

That’s one of the principles of Ethical Much, a new social media platform launched earlier this year by media entrepreneur, journalist, and ethicist Bird Lovegod.

Visitors to EthicalMuch.com will see it’s a news platform, for ‘Ethically minded people, business, and charities’.

Everyone can access the content, and once registered, members can post their own news on the site, sharing business updates, ideas, opinions, and so forth. Share what’s ‘Good’, as it suggests.

“Ethical Much is designed to make Good Deeds happen, at

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scale,” says Bird. “It’s also a way to raise money for charities, and for businesses to increase their social impact in a huge and unique way.

“For every Good Deed members post on the site, £5 is donated to charity. The member doing the Good Deed chooses which one. So literally, you can buy a homeless person a tea, and choose a homeless charity to receive a fiver.”

Young people, aged 13-18, can join the platform and actually earn money from doing Good Deeds. For every Good Deed posted by an EYP, (Ethical Young Person) £2.50 goes to charity, and £2.50 goes to the young person themselves.

They can post up to eight

Good Deeds a month, and earn up to £20 for themselves and £20 for charity. For some families, and some young people, Bird points out, this could be life changing.

So how does this work commercially?

“Businesses are sponsoring the Good Deeds as part of their membership of the platform,” he explains. “Every Good Deed published says ‘Sponsored by XYZ Company’ and is shared online and on social media. A Good Deed sponsored for £5 generates thousands of very positive digital impressions for the sponsoring company. It’s turning good deeds into great marketing and the personal and community impact is clear and immense.

“Everyone’s welcome to join the platform, there’s a small membership fee – a few pounds a month for individuals, and various packages for businesses.

The website’s very quick, and there’s literally no advertising.

“We don’t believe in advertising – we believe in doing good and sharing those good deeds. It’s so much more meaningful and real.

“The platform only went operational in April this year, and already dozens of charities have received donations and a corresponding number of businesses of all types and sizes have joined and are super keen to get involved, with more joining every week.”

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FOCUS ON

SHEFFIELD’S SKILLS GAP SPORTING SUCCESS

In 2017 Sheffield City Region (SCR) published the ‘Skills Shortages and Hard to Fill Vacancies’ report – but how much has changed in 18 months? unLTD’s Peter Kay caught up first off with Benchmark, who conducted the leading piece of research on behalf of SCR. MD Louisa Harrison Walker says while she can see more links being forged between employers and academia, there are still ‘huge

shortages’ of skills in areas such as creative, digital and IT. But as she also points out: “If applicants have the right attitude then they can be taught some of the bespoke skills.”

And fortunately, there are plenty of people and organisations out there to help.

Sheffield Chamber President, and former teen entrepreneur, Steve Manley tells us more needs to be done to give people that ‘spark and

motivation’ to start their own business – and why he is a man on a Youth Enterprise mission to do just that.

Meanwhile, the team at Sheffield Hallam University share the ‘significant role’ they are playing in addressing the challenges of

rapid economic, social and technological change.

And Sheffield College talk about their partnership with WANdisco which is aiming to equip young people in Sheffield with the skills and experience to succeed in the future work environment.

Sheffield’s status as the City of Sport has taken a further leap forward following Sheffield United’s promotion to the Premier League.

We decided to take a look at the city’s other sporting superstars

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A study in 2015 found

2,345 employers in the City Region had a vacancy that they considered ‘hard to fill’

87% of Sheffield City Region businesses are micro SMEs with 10 employees or less.

BENCHMARK MANAGING DIRECTOR, LOUISA HARRISON-WALKER

JOINING THE DOTS BETWEEN EDUCATORS AND EMPLOYERS

Sheffield United’s elevation to the Premier League is the latest chapter in the story of the city’ s recent sporting success.

But, in many respects, it is Job Blades’ vacancyachievement signs can be that found the at significant of will create thenumbers most impact. businesses the Sheffield United areinmoving into a City Region.

In particular, the sporting business arena which, creative, digital IT sectors day by day, week and by week, is are crying for skilledrate. growing atout a remarkable workers.

The players become household Demand is high, too, in some names through the broadcast, of theand professional services, print online media coverage such accountancy. of theasPremier League.

Helping employers A window to a wholewith new hard-to-fill vacancies and world is about to be opened. jobseekers for Sheffieldapplying United Chief positions –Stephen and generally Executive Bettis improving the skills the recognises powerofand workforce – isclub’s a key challenge impact of the arrival in as part effortsof tothe bolster and the topof echelon game. invigorate the local economy.

“Promotion will provide The question a massive boost of to the skills club gap was addressed and to the city,” saidfollowing Stephen. survey of 500 bosses and job “aThe playing side, through hunters. performances on the pitch andAward-winning the links to therecruitment potential agency Benchmark, on of the transfer targets because behalf of Sheffield City opportunities to sign players Region Combined the Premier LeagueAuthority, brings, will

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job hunters said they would canvassed business experts – take a pay cut in return for skills and Benchmark’s managing director, SHEFFIELDLouisa UNITEDHarrisonCHIEF EXECUTIVE STEPHENtraining BETTIS ANDand experience in their first post.

Walker, that, 21PROMOTION (ABOVE) BLADES believes PLAYERS CELEBRATE Increasingly, says Louisa, months on, there is still a lot to applicants are looking do to improve the situation for for ‘ethical’ firms – those employers and job seekers. inevitably into the city andaour Bramall demonstrating positive “It’s stillmake early, the but headlines not a lot and create theshe talking Stadium whenatthey social impact, theare forefront has changed,” says.points.

“I can welinks recognise it is wanting to watch the likes of of innovation, offering see“But more being that forged much more than thatand - there Manchester United, ongoing training andLiverpool personal between employers are significant off-the-field and Manchester City.” development, flexible academia, which is good, but opportunities for the club andof working The commercial of hours, partreality and fullthere are still huge shortages the well, which we are life the Premier timeinoptions, goodLeague holidayis not skillscity in as areas such as creative, keen embrace. lost on Stephen. entitlement … digitaltoand IT.” Stephen added: “Yes, we are entering into In some instances, Louisa For Louisa, the conclusions of The nature andCity quality of aadvises wholebusiness new sporting world to accept the“ 2017 ‘Sheffield Region some of the opposition clubs we should we applicants whoremember have not got Skills Shortages and Hard to Fill but means thatreport we arecontinue planningto are bringing something to the all the technical skills required Vacancies’ for our home games to sell-out party. andtoSheffield for theThe job,Blades referring the resonate. most weeks. recognise that are creating of fresh dynamic importance softand skills such as It threw upWe some interesting we will be bringing, as.a result, content for the Premier League innovation, creativity and time conclusions. international supporters tothe because of our footballing management.

For employers to attract the city.workers they want, it is history.

Just like with “If applicants havethe theWorld right skilled some respects weofwill Snooker attitude Championships then they can beand not“In just about the size the be bringing football tourists Crucible, canbespoke prove to be taught somewe of the salary, the report found.

Young the

extremely attractive to overseas countries who broadcast the Premier League. “ It is recognised that Premier League supporters as group spend more money on their passion forhave the game. skills.

They do not to tick Away canhave become every matches box. If they 75 per acent weekend visiting a city or of the technical skills, athey region therefore canand be taught the the rest supply around the throughchain external or internal football industry - taxis, development.” hotels, hotels if Soft restaurants, skills are important and attractions - allbereceive a the skills gap is to addressed. positive impact.”

“We don’t learn them in the “ People and organisations schools system,” says Louisa. want to be children associated “We teach to with pass Premier exams.” League clubs. We have already witnessed Interestoffrom It’s not just a question potential partners attractingcommercial a skilled workforce, grow significantly.

Because but also of retaining it, and of the when international nature of that’s an examination the Premier League product, of the broader picture can be they come with sponsorship required. budgets that are beyond The Sheffield City Region anything.we seen before. offers a goodhave lifestyle – not “Wewith willthe not Peak overlook our on least District partners and friends who have the doorstep – but talented been the journey with us, youngonworkers are also but as a club and aaffordable city we need looking for good to grab this opportunity housing and a sturdy with both handsnetwork and move forward.” transport if they are

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FOCUS ON to settle for more than a few years. Sheffield is renowned for its graduate retention rate, but there is evidence that they will leave the city for another job unless they are satisfied on work and nonwork fronts.

One factor unique to the Sheffield region is that 87 per cent of businesses are micro SMEs with ten employees or less.

The risk is that businesses do not have the resources to grow and compete, and staff will be tempted to move to bigger employers in other cities.

There are steps that job seekers, too, can take to improve their chances of moving towards good, skilled positions.

Work placements and strong role models – sometimes families do not have the experience to help – can provide valuable starting points.

One key piece of advice from Louisa to young people is to get some sort of job to demonstrate what you can do – “work in a sandwich shop, as a waitress, something in customer services, to show you are reliable and responsible.

There is also voluntary work with a charity.”

When it comes to encouraging and advising children and young people to make the most of their talents, a guiding hand is available through Hepp, the Higher Education Progression Partnership.

Louisa, who is a board member, describes it as “an amazing initiative across the whole region”.

Jointly funded by Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield, Hepp was set up to encourage more children, young people and adults to consider higher education opportunities.

It works with schools and colleges to raise aspirations, provide information about higher level skills and higher education and support progression into areas such as apprenticeships. Students are given talks, workshops and tours of college and university campuses to give them the

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flavour of what could be in store.

Hepp’s UniHEroes programme introduces Y5 and Y6 pupils to the concept of higher education and higher-level skills, with graduate interns and student ambassadors delivering classroom-based sessions.

Career aspirations can become set at a young age, and Louisa fully supports the idea of going into primary schools to get the messages across. “By the time they get to 14 or 16 it can be too late.”

In the Sheffield region it’s an opportunity, for example, to go into the classroom and dispel the oily rag image of engineering, instead focusing on world-renowned companies such as Rolls Royce and Boeing at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre at Waverley, Rotherham.

“It’s good for social mobility if we can inform and advise young students about the opportunities available to them and increase the number progressing into higher education and apprenticeships, then, as a result, better skilled, better paid jobs.

“But I also want to encourage

Funding is available to businesses that make a strong case for how the investment will deliver growth. Approved ‘deals’ allow a business to decide who, how and where training is delivered.

Louisa also highlights the work of Cheryl Plant, Sheffield City Council’s enterprise co-ordinator for business and enterprise activity in schools, and the South Yorkshire Futures Talent Bank.

Benchmark, which is based in the Workstation in Sheffield city centre, has sought over the past 13 years “to connect people to create lasting working partnerships”.

It’s a job that goes on and on.

A study in 2015 found that 2,345 employers in the City Region had a vacancy that they considered ‘hard to fill’ and were struggling to fill for a range of reasons including the skills required. employers to consider ‘paying On the question of finding it forward’ by providing skilled workers for the students work placements creative, digital and IT sectors, or project work. By offering Louisa specifies: “There’s a hands-on experience, they will huge shortage of software not only be inspiring the next developers and engineers. generation but pipelining the “It’s been a big issue for ten people of our future workforce.” years but it’s more prominent Hepp’s approach now because more and more encompasses a range digital businesses are popping of education partners – up. The number popping up in Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield is incredible. the University of Sheffield, “There is also a shortage Barnsley College and of good sales people in areas University Campus Barnsley, such as in IT.” Chesterfield College, Then there are the Doncaster College, Northern professional services where College and the RNN Group. “there is a shortage of good The 2017 SCR report senior financial people such underlined the importance as full and part-time qualified of “joining the dots between accountants and tax specialists.” educators and employers”, as The issue of hard-to-fill Louisa puts it, to ensure a supply vacancies isn’t confined to of appropriately skilled workers. the Sheffield City Region.

Another route in addressing The skills gap report found a the skills gap is being taken national average of hard-tothrough the creation of the fill vacancies of 33 per cent, Skills Bank, which is backed by compared with the local figure the Sheffield City Region Local of 31 per cent.

Enterprise Partnership.

It may take time The business-led programme, to see the rate come delivered across the region by down across Sheffield, Calderdale College, matches Rotherham, Barnsley and private sector investment with parts of Derbyshire and public funding, aiming to cut Nottinghamshire, but through red tape and help employers, educators, local employers train workers and authorities and job seekers are develop the skills needed to all being asked to play their grow their business. part and step up to the mark.

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FOCUS ON

PASSING ON THE ‘BURNING’ FLAME OF ENTREPRENEURIALISM Steve Manley’s passion to encourage young people to follow in his entrepreneurial footsteps can be traced back to his days as a teenage student at the former Loxley College in Sheffield.

He was on a B-Tec course in business and finance, but admits he didn’t know what he wanted to do in terms of a career.

Part of the College course was to start up your own business with ‘Young Enterprise’, a non-profit organisation working with schools and colleges that offers students the opportunity to learn how to pick up the skills and the mindset to run a company and to learn about various aspects of business.

Steve’s entrepreneurial spirit was kindled by what he heard and the encouragement he was given, leading, in time, to him becoming joint MD of Universal Office Products and, at 43, the youngest ever President of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce.

So it came as no surprise when he committed his year of office to helping to find future entrepreneurs.

“Over the years I have met a lot of young people from across the region with some great ideas, so it felt like a natural fit for me to choose youth enterprise as a theme for my Chamber Presidency – especially as a former teenage entrepreneur myself!” he says.

There is a lot of work to be done.

“Not enough people are coming out of education with the desire and hunger to start their own business,” laments Steve.

Numbers of start-up businesses in Sheffield compare poorly with Leeds and Manchester, for example.

But it can be done with the

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Steve spoke at the National Young Enterprise Awards in London where he won the Alumni of the Year in

2012

JOINT MD OF UNIVERSAL OFFICE PRODUCTS AND SHEFFIELD CHAMBER PRESIDENT STEVE MANLEY

appropriate life skills, work ethic and determination. And you don’t have to be from an affluent background to succeed, adds Steve.

“More needs to be done to give people that spark and motivation to start their own business. I believe the people and the talent are there.

“People may not realise they want to be an entrepreneur.

We have got to get them early.”

Steve’s own awakening led to him setting up UOP which is now one of the UK’s leading independent single source office supply specialist, with a turnover of £7m, a 98 per cent client retention rate, and 250 years’ collective office supplies experience across the workforce.

The first step, though, was taken when he was at Loxley College in 1993/94 and he became MD of a Young Enterprise company, an office supply firm called Paper Chain.

After college, he went on to gain eight years experience at a large office supplies company before the ‘burning desire’ to run his own business took over.

UOP was established by Steve and Mark Broadbent in Steve’s Mum and Dad’s spare room in 2002.

Steve never forgot how it all started. He has been a volunteer with Young Enterprise for ten years, going into schools and colleges to pass on the lessons he has learned, the good and the bad points, about running your own business.

“I have worked with a lot of people and I tell them my story. I was a college student and I didn’t know what to do.

I was fortunate that Young Enterprise gave me the desire and hunger to start my own business and to take charge of my own destiny.”

Steve spoke at the National Young Enterprise

Awards in London where he won the Alumni of the Year in 2012.

Now his determination to champion young entrepreneurs of the future sees him preparing for the launch of a pioneering scheme involving the Chamber of Commerce and The Sheffield College.

Already the Chamber has a good working relationship with the College, but this goes much further through the creation of a new academy.

Members of the Chamber will work directly with students to give them a practical taste of the world of business, encouraging ideas and innovation, guiding and advising.

Steve says: “Success and money don’t come easy.

You have to have the life skills, to work hard and to be determined.

“It worked for me and now I want to give something back.”

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The SCX group was founded in Sheffield in 1972 and consists of three engineering businesses that specialise in lifting, mechanical handling, control and automation solutions.

SCX is best known for its iconic concertina roofs at Wimbledon, and its world-first dividing retractable pitch for Tottenham Hotspur.

SCX is a multi-award-winning Sheffield business, and we’re looking forward to even more growth in 2019.

We are committed to the Sheffield region: for our staff; our suppliers; and the local causes we support.

Find out more at scx.co.uk

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FOCUS ON

ANGELA FOULKES, CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND PRINCIPAL, THE SHEFFIELD COLLEGE, AND DAVID RICHARDS, FOUNDER, CEO AND CHAIRMAN OF WANDISCO PLC

DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION Think working with software is all about computers and coding? The next generation of students could be helping ‘farmers plough fields, studios make movies and healthcare companies predict cancers’ thanks to a partnership between Sheffield College and WANdisco.

The Silicon Valley-based public software company WANdisco and The Sheffield College are teaming up to train and develop the next generation of entrepreneurs and engineers.

Twenty young people will be recruited for the first intake of the WANdisco Data Academy this September, aiming to equip them with the skills and experience to succeed in the work environment.

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They will undergo a rigorous selection process before entering and taking part in a comprehensive programme relevant to the group’s business needs.

Highlights include specialist speakers, workplace visits, 45-day industry placements for two students selected on merit, special projects, masterclasses and references.

Students will be exposed to all areas of the business, including development operations, customer support, sales and marketing, finance and human resources.

At the end of the course, based at the College’s City campus in Granville Road, the students are guaranteed a job interview at WANdisco, a global leader in distributed

computing and live data.

David Richards, founder, CEO and chairman of WANdisco plc, said: “We want to equip young people in Sheffield with the skills and experience to succeed in the future work environment.

“We want to create opportunities for young people to fulfil their potential, regardless of their background, and enjoy rewarding careers in Yorkshire and beyond.

“Our new recruits will have the chance to work on software that helps farmers plough fields, studios make movies and healthcare companies predict cancers.”

Angela Foulkes, Chief Executive and Principal, The Sheffield College, said: “We are providing a market-

leading learning environment that will fully complement the changing way that young people interact with technology, research and learn.

“They will be able to acquire and develop valuable skills and experience which will make them highly employable as individuals.

“We are proud to be partnering with David Richards and his team and look forward to training and developing the next generation of technology entrepreneurs and engineers.

“As an anchor institution in the city and local economy, the College plays a significant role equipping students with the skills to go further in their careers and that employers need.”

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PREPARING FOR A

KNOWLEDGE-LED SOCIETY Peter Grover, Head of Educational Partnerships and Skills, Sheffield Hallam University, tells us how the SHU team is tackling the immediate skills challenges facing the engineering, construction and health sectors Universities have a significant role to play in addressing the challenges of rapid economic, social and technological change – particularly in preparing for a knowledge-led society.

Through its work with partners and stakeholders, Sheffield Hallam University recognises the impact a shortage of skilled employees can have on a region and, as part of its ambition to be a world leading applied university, is leading a number of initiatives to engage with the challenges and drive the future economy of the Sheffield City Region.

A knowledge of advanced technologies and associated digital skills is becoming a basic requirement in most sectors.

However immediate challenges are evident for engineering, construction and health.

SHU is working with a number of partners and stakeholders to address these challenges.

At present we are leading a project to create a high profile and centrally located focal point for activities aimed at transforming academic business collaboration and partnership across the SCR. The facility aims to invest in cutting edge equipment (particularly promoting the opportunities associated with industry) and co-develop new education and training curricula with employers.

The development aims to

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HEAD OF EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS AND SKILLS AT SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY PETER GROVER

provide resources and expertise to support skills development and spaces for interaction – whilst providing showcase and technology demonstrator space aimed specifically at the needs of the region’s SMEs. Importantly, the facility aims to provide workspaces for start-up and trading enterprises to locate and interact with academic staff and research centres whilst providing access to student talent in the form of placements and internships.

Apprenticeships offer a significant opportunity for employers to develop their workforce and SHU has a significant role in supporting

Apprenticeships offer a significant opportunity for employers to develop their workforce...

the ongoing development and infrastructure of these programmes.

At present the University delivers nearly 1,000 apprenticeships in association with more than 250 employers, including programmes in engineering, construction digital and health.

Sheffield Hallam University’s aim is to transform lives and is working hard with partners to lead innovation in applied education and skills development – with the ultimate aim of supporting our region’s development and driving the economies of the future.

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LAUNCHPAD

AN AWARDS CEREMONY– WITH A DIFFERENCE Forget a black-tie bash where everyone’s suited and booted – welcome to the Sheffield City Region Launchpad Awards, an entrepreneurs’ event with a ‘chilled, fun and informal’ difference The Launchpad Awards 2019 are back for a second year in September with the strapline ‘celebrating everything that makes start-ups in the Sheffield City Region special’.

And to reflect that special quality, the awards evening itself will be a unique night of reward and recognition, far removed from the usual corporate black-tie events.

Instead organisers promise ‘a fun and relaxed way to recognise and reward our exciting entrepreneurs and establish our region as the best place to make your business dream a reality’.

The Launchpad Awards will be held at 92 Burton Road, Sheffield – a characterful warehouse set on the edge of historic Kelham Island and home to the Peddler Market – so guests can expect to switch standard business event grub for tasty treats from some of the finest street food vendors in the Sheffield City Region.

The awards, on Friday 27 September 2019, are all about showcasing the very best of start-up, pre start-up and early stage businesses.

There are seven awards up for grabs: • Aspiring Entrepreneur • Start Up Business • Rising Star Business • Inspiring Achiever • Growth Business • Young Entrepreneur • Made in the Sheffield City Region Launchpad programme manager Anna Smith said: “We’re thrilled that the

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WINNERS OF THE LAUNCHPAD AWARDS 2018

headline sponsor for our awards ceremony is Hallam FM, and are keen to hear from other businesses who want to get involved in sponsoring our awards with a difference.

And of course, we want to encourage as many nominees across our award categories as possible.

“A lot of award ceremonies tend to have categories for start-ups but where we are different is we turn the spotlight on pre-starts as well, those who have the idea for a fantastic business but haven’t yet started trading. We also recognise the hard work and sacrifices that individuals make when setting up a business and so we created the ‘Inspiring Achiever’ for those who have battled against the odds to succeed.”

The Launchpad Champion

2019 will also be crowned at the event, with the winner decided by a live audience vote, chosen from the winners of the seven Launchpad Awards.

Andrew Ashworth of IGO Pets won the ‘Inspiring Achiever’ award in 2018 after being nominated by his wife and was crowned Launchpad Champion on the same evening. He said: “To win one award was a real achievement for me but to be named as Launchpad Champion too, as voted for by my peers, was tremendous and has given me so much confidence, aspiration and excitement for the future.”

Andrew is just one example of the 5,000 people that Launchpad has helped to fulfil their dreams of running their own business.

Supported by the European Regional Development Fund, Launchpad provides a wide range of start-up services including workshops, events and one-to-one support from business advisors – at no cost to the wannabe and emerging entrepreneurs.

The closing date for applications for the Launchpad Awards is 5pm on 19 July.

Head to www. scrlaunchpad.co.uk/ awards/ to find out how you can apply, book tickets or sponsor an award.

Or contact Launchpad for more information – email launchpadmanagement @barnsley.gov.uk

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ADVERTORIAL FOCUS ON

£1 MILLION BOOST FOR MANUFACTURING FIRMS TO DATE Yorkshire energy experts warn many companies are missing out on £196 million state aid pot

Ask manufacturing company finance directors (FDs) about energy and the chances are that they will be angry, frustrated and fed up. Costs seem to keep going up, new rules come in all the time and issues take forever to resolve.

Take gas costs, for example.

Many businesses use gas but don’t realise that their bills include costs for gas “lost” in the system. It leaks away, is not metered or is measured wrongly. New rules are now going to increase lost gas costs for our clients by tens of thousands of pounds. At the same time, some companies are eligible for a £196 million per year state aid subsidy but many think they won’t pass the tests and don’t put in a claim. More on this very shortly.

All these changes cause major accounting problems.

Forecasting and budgeting for complex charges is difficult. If you can’t understand how to make an application for a rebate, you might not bother at all. But if an unplanned number hits the budget, can you sell enough tyres, carpets or pipes to hit your numbers? And, if not, who can you work with to get control over your energy costs?

Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC) is a leading energy solutions company delivering energy savings, energy efficiency and renewable energy capability

money paid for green taxes that they pay but others overseas don’t. Companies think, looking at the rules, that they can’t apply.

That isn’t the case – and we have found a way forward in every situation.

Ameresco has so far recovered over £1m for eligible customers, with more on the way. The key is understanding the rules and working with government departments.

There is a process – but doing KATH CHAPMAN, AMERESCO MANAGING DIRECTOR, it right means understanding IN OUR CASTLEFORD OFFICE technical and accounting data in detail and crafting an application that will pass an serving the UK, North America and Third Party Intermediary auditor’s forensic checks. and Europe. of the Year at the TELCAS and Kath Chapman said “If you Kath Chapman is the Large Consultancy of the Year get it right, then you could Managing Director for Ameresco from Edie Sustainability Leaders. see an 85 per cent reduction, in the UK. She says “One of the Why did we pick up these £200k to £2m straight to the problems many companies awards? They were all for a bottom line. But, even if you are have is they get 15-20 calls a day single reason: the quality a smaller company, you can still promising to save them money. of our customer service. get your share.”

How can you tell who is any Ameresco became the first “At the same time, other good?” energy consultant to achieve companies pay more to Ameresco ranks among the Servicemark, the standard subsidise this state aid. That is top companies in the sector. of the Institute of Customer often an unplanned cost that Verdantix, a research firm, Service. At the Energy Event hits the budget – and we are placed Ameresco as a leader the judges voted unanimously working with them to claw back in innovation in 2016. In 2017 for Ameresco, pointing to its the increases in different ways.”

Navigant research recognised “honest and practical” approach She added: “This can Ameresco as a top 3 energy to energy management sometimes take 6-12 months service company and Cornwall Ameresco’s services are to sort out for a company, and Insight placed Ameresco as taken up by companies looking many will engage us on an a top ranked UK third party for specialist energy advice. at-risk basis. They take no risk intermediary.

Take the £196 million a year or exposure and we do all the Ameresco has won a number pot mentioned earlier. This work. When the FDs realise they of coveted industry awards, is state aid to protect eligible are losing £60,000 every month, including Consultancy of the manufacturing companies that they pick up the phone and get Future, Best Customer Service use a lot of electricity. It returns in touch.”

Arrange a discovery call with Kath on kchapman@ameresco.com or call +44 (0) 113 360 4819, uk.ameresco.com

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CHARITIES Our round-up of some of the great work charities are doing in the city business region – and the companies that are doing their bit to support them

ENGINEER SMASHES FUNDRAISING TARGET IN MEMORY OF GRANDAD A mechanical engineer with Sheffield specialist engineering group SCX has succeeded in his phenomenal efforts to co-ordinate 94 events to raise money for Alzheimer’s Society in memory of his Grandfather.

Adam Newell completed ‘Agden Against Alzheimers’ – a nine kilometre run in Bradfield – in tribute to grandfather, Nasser Misri. The race was the final event of the fundraising series – one event for each

year of Nasser’s life. Adam, who set out to raise £9,400 but has currently raised more than £10,000, said: “It’s been an incredible journey. What has started out as my family’s story turned into many families’ stories.”

SCX group chairman Simon Eastwood, said: “Adam’s story is very inspiring and many of our employees got involved with his challenge, whether it be swimming, running, cycling, or baking cakes.”

ADAM NEWELL, LEFT WITH MICHAEL HARRISON THE MEN’S WINNER OF THE ‘AGDEN AGAINST ALZHEIMERS’ RUN

Search launched for city’s community champions A rallying call has been issued to find Sheffield’s best community champions and honour them at a glitzy awards ceremony.

BBC Radio Sheffield has joined forces with South Yorkshire’s Community

Foundation (SYCF) to launch a search for the city’s unsung heroes, including those from the business community.

To become the Business Champion, organisers are looking for the person or team in business making a difference

to the community.

Ruth Willis, chief executive of SYCF, said: “People have got until the end of July to make their nominations. There are lots of community champions out there and now is the time for people to tell us about them.”

People can make nominations by visiting www.bbc.co.uk/ radiosheffield, emailing radio. sheffield@bbc.co.uk or writing to Community Champions, BBC Radio Sheffield, 54 Shoreham Street, Sheffield, S1 4RS before Wednesday, July 31.

HOSPITALS CHARITY AIMS TO BECOME MORE DEMENTIA FRIENDLY

ALAN AND HIS DAUGHTER JACKIE

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Sheffield Hospitals Charity is aiming to raise £200,000 in 12 months to kickstart plans to make local hospitals more dementia friendly for patients.

Funds raised will help lead to physical changes to wards, and arts and music groups, while a mobile dementia café is also planned – improvements that will help local people such as Alan Frith, 85 from Wincobank.

He said: “When the doctor

told me I had Alzheimer’s disease I couldn’t believe it. It felt ironic that this was happening to me. My wife Lily had dementia for years and I’d cared for her.”

David Reynolds, executive director at Sheffield Hospitals Charity said: “Dementia currently affects one in four patients being treated in Sheffield hospitals and this number is growing as people live longer.”

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

QUALSYS

Mike Pound tells us how Sheffield’s growing reputation for digital tech helped him co-found his ‘tenacious’ governance, risk and compliance management software platform

What inspired you to start Qualsys?

I founded Qualsys in 1995 with my colleague Mike Bendall with a mission to make governance, risk and compliance easier. We created our own highfunctioning management system, which now supports major household names on every continent across the manufacturing, life science and food and drink sectors.

What is your favourite thing about Qualsys?

Our software is used by global brands such as BT, Diageo, Virgin Media, and hospitality giant Sodexo.

Qualsys products standardise processes, underpin corporate governance and provide a robust framework for managing risk, while driving down cost.

What three words best describe Qualsys?

Authentic, tenacious, family.

Why is the Sheffield City Region a great place to start a business?

Sheffield City Region has long been at the forefront of innovation in several key areas. Sheffield is increasingly being recognised for its digital tech growth and is home to two leading universities.

It’s great to have graduates joining us who display the same drive and enthusiasm Qualsys was founded on. We are proud of our Sheffield roots – three of our five directors are graduates of the city’s universities.

Why is Sheffield City Region a great place to grow a business?

It’s the perfect region for a high quality of life, but a lower cost of living when compared with other major UK cities.

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MIKE POUND, FOUNDER OF QUALSYS

What is the best advice you were ever given?

Always employ people who are smarter than you.

What is the worst advise you were ever given?

Never say no! If we said yes to everything, we could spread ourselves too thin or take Qualsys in too many different directions.

What organisations support Qualsys?

Our customers. We work in partnership with them to develop our product roadmap, meaning we have a customerfocused tool which delivers the best possible results.

What are the main challenges facing your industry/ sector?

Orchestrating different areas of the business and managing growth, which can be more difficult with a creative team.

It’s about listening to people and giving them the tools they need to grow and meet their potential. We have a generous professional development

budget as our company culture is focused on developing and promoting staff.

Our software is used by global brands such as BT, Diageo, Virgin Media, and hospitality giant Sodexo.

In 5 years’ where do you expect Qualsys to be?

With new regulations such as the Senior Managers Regime, GDPR, and the Modern Slavery Act, businesses are under increasing pressure to provide thorough records to prove their business is actively taking steps to stay compliant, manage risks and for leadership to effectively govern the company.

Every organisation is realising they can’t compete without having a central governance, risk and compliance management system.

We had record growth in 2018 with revenues doubling in the last 12 months. The order book for 2019 is an anticipated £5m. A 30 per cent growth plan will see a recruitment drive throughout 2019 and there are ambitious five-year targets – revenues of £50m and a 200-strong Sheffield workforce by 2024.

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SHEFFIELD CITY REGION

EASTERN PROMISE Sheffield City Region currently exports £96m of goods to China.

Jill Theobald spoke to LEP Board Member Richard Stubbs to find out how the SCR team is planning to help more companies trade with China, create jobs – and boost that figure even further

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SHEFFIELD CITY REGION

LAST YEAR’S REGIONAL LEADERS SUMMIT

In 2018 the Sheffield City Region (SCR) team developed its Trade and Investment Plan to 2025 which aims to increase our region’s trade with high-growth, non-EU markets such as China.

And talking trade with LEP Board Member Richard Stubbs – who is also Chief Executive of Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network – some interesting figures crop up early on.

“The latest figures show we export £96m worth of goods to China,” said Richard. “China has grown rapidly from a relatively low base a decade ago to become our second largest non-EU exporting market. It has also become our third largest source of investment.”

“Our plan is ambitious and aims to increase our

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exports to China by 70 per cent and support a further 20 investment projects – these will be a mixture of brandnew investments sourced from China, as well as the expansion of existing Chinese investments.”

Why the look to the East in particular?

“The Trade and Investment Plan is designed to better position the SCR in a changing world. Firstly, to better rebalance our existing portfolio in response to external risks such as Brexit”, explained Richard.

“For example, nearly 60 per cent of our trade goes to the EU currently so we need to increase our trade with high-growth markets such as China.

“On investment, growing US protectionist tendencies mean that we need to attract

more investment from other markets.”

Last year saw the SCR participating in the UK-China Regional Leader’s Summit in the host city of Dalian.

Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, Dan Jarvis, led a delegation on behalf of the Northern Powerhouse which included a variety of partner organisations from across the north.

The Regional Leader’s Summit is an annual UKChina symposium designed to strengthen regional bilateral ties between the two countries, the first of which took place in Sheffield in 2016.

Typically, the occasion involves the signing of partnership/sister city-type agreements and memorandum of understandings (MOUs).

Interestingly, though, the SCR team decided on a different approach.

“We opted against signing any partnership-type agreements,” said Richard.

“We chose instead to use the Summit to explore potential collaboration opportunities and develop relationships with the aim of potentially signing a more formal, substantive partnership arrangement over the next two years.”

Following the Summit, SCR commissioned the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) to undertake independent research with two aims – firstly mapping existing public, private and academic collaborations with China across the Sheffield City Region.

The second aim was to then use the findings of

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SHEFFIELD CITY REGION

this mapping exercise and identify sector strengths to recommend a city/region of China for SCR to develop and agree a future partnershiptype agreement with.

It was clearly a detailed and very comprehensive undertaking – nearly 50 organisations across the city region participated in the mapping research alongside 77 private companies including Councils, Universities, Chambers of Commerce, Trade Associations and financial and professional firms.

The SCR survey explored issues such as challenges, opportunities, SCR strengths and USPs, and marketing messages.

Interviews for the city/region matching were conducted with respective Foreign Affairs

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Offices, Chinese Ministry of Commerce, China Chamber for the Promotion of International Trade, Universities and Business Parks.

The sector strengths identified through the report were advanced manufacturing/engineering, medical technologies and digital.

Meanwhile all recommendations from the report have been taken forward into the development of an SCR China Programme.

Said Richard: “This programme will aim to deliver a series of engagements to 2025 that help deliver against the broader objectives in our Trade and Investment Plan.

“Last year’s Regional Leaders’ Summit enabled us to start building relationships at the highest

LEP BOARD MEMBER RICHARD STUBBS

level and over the coming years, we will develop these bonds further.

“We will also explore opportunities to strengthen our connections in other ways such as through academia – maximising on the worldclass universities we have in the region. Ultimately, the opportunities with China will be explored at every level to ensure that we are maximising on the potential for business.”

Eastern promise indeed – clearly there are plenty of potential developments in the pipeline as the SCR team build on our region’s links with China and beyond.

To find out more about how SCR is working to develop trade and investment links with China, visit the SCR Investment site: www.scrinvest.com/china

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ADVERTORIAL

DONCASTER COMPANIES LISTED AMONG FASTEST GROWING IN THE REGION Eleven Doncaster companies feature in the Top 50 fastest growing firms in the region.

Their leaders now have the chance to be crowned Top Northern Leader at the firstever Northern Leadership Awards.

The list of 50 companies from across the Sheffield City Region had an aggregate turnover of £3.9 billion last year and was compiled by TheBusinessDesk.com and Experian for the 2019 Northern Leadership Awards, supported

by CMS. The companies had to show strong growth over the last two accounting periods and have turnover of at least £20 million.

Doncaster’s top-ranked company by turnover is family-run business Strata Homes which currently has 18 housing developments across Yorkshire and the Midlands.

Sales at the Doncaster firm have tripled over the last three years from £46.7 million

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in 2016 to £154.1 million last year.

The list includes Burrows Motor Company, another family-run business founded 20 years ago and owned by local Doncaster man Steve Burrows. The business has car dealerships in Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield and Worksop.

Chesterfield Poultry, with their wholesale supply and sale of meat and meat products, features along with Kaye Aluminium Ltd (holdings), one of the UK’s leading independent extrusion companies producing aluminium profiles for the building, electronic and automotive market sectors.

MS International PLC, Portland of Bawtry, Today’s Wholesale Services, Warners Fish merchants, A.E Spink, Farmstar and Go Green also made it on to the list.

Cllr Bill Mordue, Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and

These Doncaster companies are a prime example of how independent firms are thriving despite the continued economic uncertainties.

Economic Development, said: “These Doncaster companies are a prime example of how independent firms are thriving despite the continued economic uncertainties.

Through their job and wealth creation, and the beneficial impact their growth has on the local supply chain, these businesses are strengthening the economy in Doncaster, the wider region and in the North.

“Our Business Doncaster team offers invaluable support for local businesses looking to expand and should always be the first point of call for business leaders and entrepreneurs.”

The Doncaster business leaders can now enter the Top 50 City Region Leaders category at the 2019 Northern Leadership Awards. They will compete for the title with leaders of similar fast growing companies from the Leeds, Liverpool and Greater Manchester city regions.

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ADVERTORIAL

LOVE IS IN THE AIR Weddings at the Crowne Plaza Royal Victoria are a grand affair. We have been hosting weddings since 1862 and the hotel is regarded as one of the most prestigious wedding venues in Sheffield.

There’s no disputing the elegance and charm of the Royal Victoria is the perfect setting in which to spend your special day.

Our talented and experienced wedding coordinator Jessica is on hand to make sure that every detail of your special day is executed perfectly. The hotel’s civil ceremony licence allows us to hold your ceremony in a choice of three beautiful rooms, each offering a unique and classic space to share your special moment.

Whilst we offer the flexibility of a tailored wedding day, we understand that sometimes our lovely couples just want the ease of a package to take the stress out of planning the big day. We offer four fabulous packages, The Royal, The Elegance, The Classical and The Vintage with

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Well where do I start....

AMAZING. Our wedding at the Royal Victoria was more perfect that I could ever imagine.

Our day went so smoothly and without Jessica Crookes it wouldn’t have been half as perfect, I cannot recommend her enough. I would definitely recommend the Royal Victoria for your big day.

Laura & Louis

prices ranging from £29.00 £81.00 per person.

We host regular wedding fairs and open days, so if you’re looking for a special venue for your special day, give Jessica a call and come and see what this amazing venue has to offer.

Here’s what some of our special couples had to say: Dear Jess, thank you so much for all your hard work. From

the first meeting I had with you, we knew we had found the perfect venue and the perfect wedding coordinator.

We had a fantastic day on Sunday. Everything was perfect – food, wine, decor, organisation and weather.

The venue looked amazing and all our guests were extremely complimentary about everything.

Thank you for everything.

Catriona & Nick

We got married here on the 19th of April 2019. It was a lovely day and the staff were very helpful in making it the best day possible. We would like to thank everyone involved and a special thank you to Jessica the wedding planner that helped us through everything to make the day perfect.

Thank you David & Sarah To find out more or request a brochure call Jessica on 0114 252 6522 or email: weddings@ cpsheffield.co.uk

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Your monthly guide to what’s on in Sheffield

DISTRIBUTED AT OVER 750 OUTLETS ACROSS THE CITY PICK UP YOUR COPY NOW

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

JONNY’S APOTHECARY Medical herbalist Jonny Woodall tells us how he put a difficult period of mental and physical poor health behind him to set up the busy Sheffield clinic where he practices, helping others with lifestyle change and improving wellbeing I was inspired to start my business by...

My early 20s were very difficult. I was housebound with complex mental health issues and a list of other physical problems. I spent three years out of work under the care of different NHS specialists. Nothing worked and most treatments made me feel worse. I started changing my diet, lifestyle and seeing alternative/ holistic practitioners and I dramatically improved. I went back to university to study for a BSc (Hons) in herbal medicine in 2014 to help others.

The organisations that have supported me and my business include…

I am a registered member of The National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH) and they have helped me in many ways.

The University faculty at Lincoln College where I completed my BSc (Hons) has given me continuous support to set up my business, even after graduating.

My favourite thing about running my business is…

Constantly seeing how plants most consider weeds can improve conditions that people are told to just ‘live with’. Seeing my patients start to enjoy life, go back to work, have a family and find meaning in their life is a deeply humbling experience.

The three words that best describe my business are…

Healing, plants, medicine.

Sheffield City Region is a great place to start a business because…

People are definitely more open-minded and accepting of different ways of life or businesses compared with other places in the north.

Sheffield City Region is a great place to grow a business because…

There are many other holistic practitioners operating across the city and everyone is really interested in helping each other grow and become more successful.

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MEDICAL HERBALIST JONNY WOODALL OF JONNY’S APOTHECARY

The best advice I ever got was…

“You cannot be protected from the things that frighten you and hurt you, but if you identify with the part of your being that is responsible for transformation, then you are

always the equal, or more than the equal of the things that frighten you.”

The worst advice I ever got was…

“Don’t take life seriously.”

The main challenges facing my industry/sector are …

A lack of awareness and scepticism that you can treat illness and disease with medicinal plants.

Herbal medicine is not used by the NHS and surely if it worked, they would, right?

It is a challenging question that frustrates herbalists constantly.

More than 70 per cent of pharmaceuticals come from plants and due to their manufacturing process can be patented and sold at high prices. Unfortunately conventional practitioners receive no training and are informed they have no value.

But there is a substantial evidence base of published research for herbal medicine that continues to grow every year. More and more people are turning to herbs, nutrition and lifestyle changes as the industry grows.

In 5 years’ time I expect my business to…

Sustain me full-time with a continuous list of patients as well as provide a website and social media package where people can learn more about the UK’s medicinal plants.

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Do something amazing to support cancer patients locally!

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Call: 0114 226 5370 westonpark.org.uk unLTDBUSINESS.COM

ADVERTORIAL

CANCER STUDY RECEIVES NATIONAL RECOGNITION Hannah Hall, Service Development Lead at the Weston Park Cancer Support Centre, tells us how a complementary therapy is helping patients – with some reporting a 70 per cent improvement in symptoms Auricular acupuncture (or ear acupuncture) is a form of complementary therapy that can help relieve many of the side effects of breast, prostate or gynaecological cancer and its treatments, such as hot flushes and insomnia, which can range from uncomfortable to debilitating.

It can help increase energy levels, help depression and anxiety, encourage relaxation and give an improved sense of well-being, and there is significant evidence to suggest that auricular acupuncture can reduce both the severity and frequency of hot flushes.

Positioning very fine needles into the outer ear, each acupuncture point being stimulated, triggers a chemical response known to have a calming effect on the central nervous and vasomotor systems, and seven out of ten people report a substantial improvement in side-effects –

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most significantly, hot flushes.

Susan Allen (pictured with Strictly stars Stacey Dooley and Dr Ranj at the hospital's Strictly event) was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 41 and as a result, found herself battling with severe and induced menopausal hot flushes, as well as broken and irregular sleep.

Susan “popped into” the Weston Park Cancer Support Centre for information and

advice in the wake of her diagnosis and subsequently, she apprehensively booked on to a complementary therapy course.

“When I first went in for the session I asked the ladies in my group if they had benefited from the experience and every one of them said YES,” said Susan. “I couldn’t quite believe that, but they were insistent, so I stuck with it.

“For me, it actually took away I would say about 70 per cent of

my hot flushes during the day, and it makes sleeping through the night bearable and not nearly as sweaty.

“FINALLY I had opened my eyes up to the complementary therapies that I had wrongly disregarded for so long.”

Susan’s introductory auricular acupuncture sessions have run to completion, but she plans to continue to visit the Weston Park Cancer Support Centre for further information, support and advice, and is entitled to further top-up sessions should her symptoms and side-effects persist.

The pilot study run by healthcare professionals at Weston Park Cancer Support Centre received national recognition at the Association of Breast Surgery National Conference 2019 with 77.4 per cent of patients reporting a significant improvement in hot flush symptoms reducing from severe to moderate.

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NEW YEAR’S EVE GALA DINNER £109.00pp

Call our Christmas team for further details and availability Tel: 0114 252 6522 | Email: christmas@cpsheffield.co.uk

Crowne Plaza Royal Victoria Sheffield Victoria Station Road, Sheffield S4 7YE Tel: 0114 252 6516 www.cpsheffield.co.uk

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LEGAL

BELL & BUXTON Emma Digby is a Legal 500 recommended lawyer and Partner and head of the commercial litigation department at Bell and Buxton. ‘Never one to shy away from tricky subjects’, here she takes a look at workplace harassment Thanks for reading my first column for unLTD. When I was contemplating what to write about I was mindful of what subjects you might find interesting.

And as I am never one to shy away from tricky subjects, I thought I would begin with looking at ‘harassment in the workplace’ as this can be an area of concern for businesses employing staff.

The Equality Act 2010 states that there are three different types of harassment – general harassment, sexual harassment, and less favourable treatment.

Of course employees have a personal liability in respect of any harassment that they commit, but importantly, an employer may also be vicariously liable for any acts of harassment committed by its employees which occur during the course of employment.

An employer may avoid corporate liability if it can successfully argue that it has taken all reasonable steps to prevent the discrimination from occurring. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance for employers on dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace – it recommends that, while complaints of harassment can be dealt with either under an employer’s existing grievance policy or anti-harassment policy, anybody dealing with complaints of sexual harassment should receive specialist training.

The EHRC guidance also makes a number of specific recommendations on how an employer’s grievance process should deal with harassment complaints.

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EMMA DIGBY, PARTNER AND HEAD OF THE COMMERCIAL LITIGATION DEPARTMENT AT BELL & BUXTON

So what is harassment?

General harassment occurs where person A harasses another person, B, by engaging in unwanted conduct related to sex, age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation with the purpose or effect of violating B’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for B. Sexual harassment occurs where A engages in unwanted conduct of a sexual nature with the purpose or effect being the same as with general harassment.

Less favourable treatment occurs where A engages in either form of harassment, AND because of B’s rejection of, or submission to the conduct, A treats B less favourably.

What constitutes unwanted conduct of a sexual nature?

Among other things, this includes: • Propositioning and making sexual advances • Unwelcome touching, hugging, massaging or kissing • Sending sexually explicit emails and text messages • Suggestive looks, staring or leering

• Criminal behaviour, including sexual assault, stalking, indecent exposure and offensive communications.

Whatever the circumstances, it is always upsetting and unpleasant when workplace harassment occurs, but it always helps to know your rights and obligations. Whether you are an employer or employee, if you would like to discuss a matter involving workplace harassment you can talk to me or my team in complete confidence.

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ADVERTORIAL

GROSVENOR CASINOS BRINGS £1.5 MILLION INVESTMENT TO SHEFFIELD Grosvenor Casino Sheffield is bringing South Yorkshire residents a brand new innovative gaming and entertainment experience following a £1.5million refurbishment.

Grosvenor Casino Sheffield undertook major refurbishment earlier this year, re-opening in May 2019. The Duchess Road club is now the only casino outside of London to offer an exhilarating range of new interactive gaming experiences alongside a unique range of leisure and entertainment offerings for Sheffield residents.

Gamers will be the first outside of London to experience new state-of-theart Interblock Arena, creating unique gameplay allowing visitors to enjoy Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat and Dice in a dedicated digital podium but with a live dealer.

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Cutting edge electronic gaming gives gamers superior graphics and displays for on screen electronic dice and UC roulette, bringing a completely new experience to Grosvenor Casino Sheffield, a real first for the UK gaming market.

Grosvenor Casino Sheffield is also the only casino in Sheffield to have a dice table, alongside premium new roulette and card tables. Customers will also be able to get competitive within the expansive new Poker Room which has been upgraded to host up to 70 customers at a time, plush interiors, USB cash tables and new seating.

The club has also installed over 16 new slot machines throughout the club, including the newly refurbished terrace area which includes additional seating and the ability to view sports fixtures outside.

The Rich Energy Sports Lounge combines live

sports with live betting on grosvenorsport.com with an extensive five metre HD TV wall screen, showing sporting fixtures 24 hours a day from Sky Sports HD, BT Sport HD, and Premier Sports. Plush new booths and new seating offers customers a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy sports entertainment.

A stylish new restaurant area will host a delicious menu following partnerships with London based American soul food makers Absurd Bird, authentic Italian stone baked pizzas from Barrel & Stone and flavoursome curries from Holy Cow! Charlie Churchill, General Manager of Grosvenor Casino Sheffield said: “Innovation is at the heart of this refurbishment and alongside fantastic food and hospitality, digital gaming fans will be the first outside of the capital to experience

the thrill and excitement of interactive games which have never been seen before in this part of the country.

“This is a major investment in the city’s leisure and entertainment sector and a reflection of the changing habits of customers in search of memorable shared experiences with friends and family.

“We continue to pride ourselves on providing a high standard of service to all customers following the refurbishment, and we look forward to welcoming customers old and new to the brand new club.”

For more information visit Grosvenor Casino Sheffield online at: bit.ly/2MZZS5o Over 18s only and photographic ID may be required.

Please gamble responsibly: www.begambleaware.org

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

FIT20

After seeing results through his own fitness journey at fit20, Matt Appleby took ownership of the ‘impactful’ Stocksbridge franchise of the business in November 2018 to help customers improve their health and wellbeing

I was inspired to start my business by...

I joined as a customer in November last year knowing nothing about fit20 and have seen fantastic results since.

I am much stronger, more energetic, my posture is better, and my overall wellbeing has greatly improved.

At this time in my life with two young boys I don’t have the luxury of time to go to a ‘regular’ gym three times a week, so the basis of going for 20 minutes once a week fits perfectly. The opportunity came up to buy the business and I jumped at the chance.

My favourite thing about running my business is…

I love to help people get results.

High intensity strength training is scientifically proven to be the most important form of training for overall health and wellness. We add strength to enable our clients get the most out of their life.

The best testimonials I hear are from clients who get more out of their lives and hobbies thanks to their fit20 training – golfers who achieve longer drives, reduction in blood pressure medication, more stamina and shorter recovery times from sporting activities.

You can’t beat those relatable testimonials.

As a yoga teacher, it’s the perfect fit for my yoga business and the philosophy that I teach.

It’s a personalised service where everyone is treated as an individual. Less is more, slower is better and you don’t need to sweat to get results!

The three words that best describe my business are…

Personalised, focused, impactful.

Sheffield City Region is a great place to start a business because…

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The best advice I ever got was…

My mum always told me I could do whatever I wanted to do. She was right, but it took me a long time to realise it!

The worst advice I ever got was…

To study what I was good at rather than what I had a real passion for at A Level. I was made to change my mind and I wish I’d stuck to my guns and studied what I had an interest in.

The organisations that have supported me and my business include …

Niri Patel at fit20 UK, Sarah Birkenshaw and many others at BNI Yorkshire, Pam Goodison at Finance for Enterprise (Doncaster), Katie Maxwell at Upton & Co Accountants (Barnsley). The financial and practical support I had from these people was invaluable.

MATT APPLEBY OF FIT20

There are so many new businesses in this region.

Although it covers a large area, it has a village feel to it and is incredibly close-knit. I experience that when I go to networking events and see a lot of familiar faces. The community is warm, friendly and engaging.

Sheffield City Region is a great place to grow a business because…

The willingness of the people to make solid introductions and share contacts is outstanding. After all, that’s how I found out about fit20 so I wouldn’t be where I am now without the people in the region having that mindset.

It’s a personalised service where everyone is treated as an individual

The main challenges facing my industry/sector are…

Social media is saturated with so called fitness and wellbeing experts, yet only a few truly perfect their craft.

Taking classes online is great, but there is nothing that can replicate in-person training, coaching or teaching. The oneto-one tailored support is what sets us apart – you just can’t get that online.

There is little loyalty in the traditional gym sector.

Most gyms lose 50 per cent of their membership each year.

However, at fit20 we have a retention rate of almost 90 per cent.

In 5 years’ time I expect my business to…

Be huge! There will be hundreds of fit20 studios all over the UK.

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AFTER HOURS

T E G S ’ LET

L A C I S Y H P a cult. With boxing fi if d r o g m min fro ime-consuity region, ranging ble and t , g in r o b be ec oya n’t have to sses throughout th. Fitness can be enj s e o d s s e ne cla Fitn gyms and mething for everyoe the best spots f o y t ie r a v here is so s out som to dance, tess Trueman check exciting! J

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AFTER HOURS

PONDS FORGE, JUST ONE OF SIV’S RANGE OF CITY-WIDE VENUES

Fit20 Stocksbridge Address: Harry Brearley House, Fox Valley, Sheffield S36 2AE Opening Times: Mon-Fri: 8am-8pm. Visit www.fit20stocksbridge.co.uk or call 0114 288 8795 for a free introductory training session.

Social Media: Twitter: @fit20UK Facebook: @fit20Stocksbridge / @fit20UK About: Unlike other fitness classes, fit20 provides a science-based alternative where you train for only 20 minutes a week. The 20-minute training sessions aim to improve your fitness and health, whilst making you feel fitter and stronger.

The Happiness Bootcamp Opening Times: Classes, training day and workshop locations vary. For specific details on class time and venues, visit thehappinessbootcamp.com Social Media: Twitter: @happybootcamp Facebook: @TheHappinessBootcamp Instagram: @thehappinessbootcamp About: The Happiness Bootcamp focuses on educating people on wellbeing through fitness. Weekly workshops, pop pilates classes and training days teach members on how to cope with

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anxiety, stress, depression, eating disorders and body confidence.

Katie Bell Physiotherapy & Wellness Address: 346 Ecclesall Road South, Sheffield S11 9PU Opening Times: There are classes throughout the week that range between 8am and 8:30pm.

Visit www.katiebellphysio.com or call 0114 327 2080 for specific class details.

Social Media: Twitter: @kbellphysio Facebook: @katiebellphysiowellness About: A physiotherapy centre that has over 50 pilates based classes in a week. With highly experienced instructors, the classes incorporate the different principles of pilates and yoga.

Jump Inc Trampoline Park Sheffield Address: Meadowhall, Vulcan Road S9 1EW Opening Times: Everyday: 9am-9pm. Time slots can be booked in advance at www.jump-inc.uk/bookings Toddler session: 9am-10am Social Media: Facebook: @JumpincUK Twitter: @JumpIncUK Instagram: @jumpincuk About: With over 120 trampolines, including Tumble

Tracks, three-sided Walk the Wall and a Ninja Obstacle, Jump Inc offers a fun way of getting fit with friends and family.

and diet plans are offered on a six- and 12-week time frame and are designed to help you achieve your goals of burning fat and building lean muscle.

Flip Out Address: Frenchgate Shopping Centre, St Sepulchre Gate, Doncaster DN1 1SW Opening Times: Mon-Thurs: 9am-8pm Fri-Sat: 9am-9pm Sun: 9am-8pm Social Media: Twitter: @FlipOutUK Facebook: @FlipOutUK About: It is a 28,000 sq ft multi-level site and one of the biggest that Flip Out has opened in the UK. There are 50 inter-connected trampolines, a traverse climbing wall and two 20ft cyber towers for races.

SIV Sheffield Address: Visit the website to look at specific opening times for SIV’s different venues at www.siv.org.uk/page/gym Social Media: Twitter: @SIV_Social Facebook: @SIVSocial About: SIV was the first leisure trust in the UK and was formed by Sheffield City Trust in 1987. SIV members can get involved in activities ranging from swimming to golf in the different venues across the city.

Chris Mason Performance Address: 376 Cemetery Road, Sharrowvale, Sheffield S11 8FT Opening Times: Sessions are on a one-to-basis and can be booked online at cmpgyms.com, over the phone on 0114661157 or via email at apps@ chrismasonperformance.com Social Media: Instagram: @cmperformancesheffield About: Specialising in fat loss and body transformations, CMP GYMS offers personalised gym training plans. Training

Move More Sheffield Address: Check out movemoresheffield.com or visit their social media pages for more details on events and challenges in the city.

Social Media: Twitter: @movemoresheff Facebook: @movemoresheffield About: A Sheffield strategy that aims to improve the city’s health and fitness levels and help it to become the most active city in the country by 2020. People across Sheffield are encouraged to get involved in more physical activity in the workplace and in events and activities happening in the city.

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AFTER HOURS

EAT . DRINK . DANCE CUBANATAPASBAR.CO.UK Call 01142 760475 76 Cubana_Logo_Advert_Exposed_ARTWORK.indd 1

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AFTER HOURS

PRIME MOVER FITNESS ON JESSOP STREET

Prime Mover Fitness Address: 9 Jessop Street, Sheffield S1 4TF Opening Times: Classes need to be booked in advance and happen throughout the day, starting as early as 6am. Visit primemoverfitness.com for more details.

Social Media: Twitter: @MoverFitness Facebook: @primemoverfitness Instagram: @primemoverfitness About: A gym that offers classes suitable for everyone, whether you’re a beginner or a fitness fanatic. Members can participate in classes ranging from boxing to core workouts and are able to follow nutrition plans that help them reach their fitness goals.

Firehouse Fitness Address: 5 White Rose Business Park, Meadowbrook Park, Holbrook, Halfway, Sheffield S20 3PJ Opening Times: Mon-Fri: 6am-9pm Sat: 8am-2pm Sun: 9am-1pm Classes are scheduled throughout the week and can be found online at firehousefitness.co.uk/ sheffield-gym/classes Social Media: Facebook: @firehousefitness.co.uk Instagram: @firehousefitness_sheffield About: Firehouse Fitness hosts

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PUT A SPRING IN YOUR STEP AT FLIP OUT AT THE FRENCHGATE CENTRE

functional fitness classes that are inspired by firefighters.

A variety of group classes and one-to-one personal training sessions are offered to members.

space that offers morning and evening CrossFit dedicated classes throughout the week.

Structure Gym Address: 110 Duchess Road, Sheffield, S2 4BL Opening Times: Mon-Thurs: 6am-8pm, Fri: 6am-7pm, Sat: 9am-1pm Social Media: Facebook: @StructureSport About: Structure primarily uses barbell and free weights in sport-based, functional strength and conditioning training. Members can enjoy accessing qualified and experienced personal trainers.

Hype Dance Company Address: 60 Upper Allen Sreet, Sheffield, S3 7GL Opening Times: Visit hypedance.org.uk to look at dance class times.

Social Media: Twitter: @HypeDanceCo Facebook: @hype.dance.7 Instagram: @ hyperdancesheffield About: A dance company that offers dance classes and workshops for adults and children. Dance styles such as tap, contemporary, jazz, ballet and hiphop are all on offer to the public.

Crossfit Sheffield Address: CrossFit Sheffield, Unit 19, Sheafbank Business Park, Sheffield S2 3EN Opening Times: Mon: 7am-8.30pm Tues: 6.30am-8.30pm Weds: 7am-8.30pm Thurs: 6.30am-8.30pm Fri: 6am-8.30pm Sat: 9am-12pm Sun: 10am-12pm For specific class times, visit www.crossfit-sheffield.co.uk Social Media: Twitter: @crossfitsheff Facebook: @CrossFitSheffield Instagram: @crossfitsheffield About: Sheffield’s first and only, as well as the biggest CrossFit gym in the UK. A huge training

Unity Yoga Sheffield Address: 150/153 First floor Carver House, Carver Street, Sheffield S1 4FS Opening Times: Class, course and workshop details are on the website: unityyogasheffield.com Social Media: Twitter: @unityyogasheff Facebook: @unityyogasheffield Instagram: @unityyogasheffield About: Unity Yoga is Sheffield’s first city centre yoga studio and offers yoga classes, courses and workshops for people of all abilities.

Specialised courses range from aroma yoga to pregnancy yoga.

Dance Fit with Helen Address: Venues are throughout the city and can be found at www.dancefitwithhelen.com Opening Times: Checkout the website or call 0759 829 4919 for more information on classes.

Social Media: Twitter: @HelenDanceFit Facebook: @dancefitwithhelen Instagram: @dancefitwithhelen About: Helen is a qualified dance teacher who is on a mission to help women with low confidence and selfesteem. Fitness dance classes, freestyle and street for under 18s and chairobics are all on offer.

Sport Sheffield Address: Goodwin Sports Centre, Northumberland Road, Sheffield S10 2TY Opening Times: Mon-Fri: 7am-10pm Sat-Sun: 8am-6pm.

Class times and venues can be found at www.sport-sheffield.com Social Media: Twitter: @SportSheffield Facebook: @SportSheffield Instagram: @sportsheffield About: Located close to The University of Sheffield, Sport Sheffield has gym facilities and offers classes including spinning and cardio HIIT throughout the week.

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AFTER HOURS

WEEKEND ESCAPES

DUBROVNIK The capital of the former Republic of Ragusa on the Croatian Dalmatian coast, baring few scars from the recent Yugoslav Wars, Dubrovnik is the place to be for a reasonably priced glamorous getaway, says Gabby Willis 78

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AFTER HOURS If it wasn’t for a few pockmarks in the walls, you’d be hard pressed to tell that Dubrovnik was technically in a war zone until 2001.

These days, it’s become a holiday favourite since Croatia joined the EU in 2013, with it’s 360-degree stunning views, world-class seafood, and close links to the beauties of Bosnia and Montenegro for day trips. When I visited, I fell in love with the place, and I can guarantee that after visiting these top five spots for a longweekend escape, so will you.

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Views of The Old Town Chances are that when you first arrive in Dubrovnik,

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you’ll come in from the airport just south of the town. Taking mountainous coastal roads, your first glimpse of the pearl of the Adriatic, like mine, will be caught from up high, gazing down on the gleaming white city walls and red roofs, wrapped in azure blue seafoam.

Until recently, the best way to get the most out of this view and plan your weekend trip from above was to take the cable car up to the Križ monument. Unfortunately, the company which ran this has recently experienced financial difficulties, but you can still take a taxi or hike up the steep incline to feel on top of the world.

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Stradun and The Old Town City Walls Entering the city via the Pile gate, I was instantly enthralled.

Medieval Ragusan architecture, smooth and elegant, evokes thoughts of the past while fashionable tourists bring the town abruptly into the 21st century. Stradun is the old-town’s main street, which leads down from the Pile gate towards the old port. It is lined with fashionable bars where you can sip cocktails and people watch for a premium, sometimes to the sound of live jazz or classical music at night.

Alternatively, from the top of Stradun you can (again for a premium) get up onto the city

walls to walk the almost 2km perimeter of the town and look in from the ramparts. At places up to six metres thick and even housing an aquarium within them, the walls enclose the thin cobbled streets with their gift shops, fine dining opportunities and airy Airbnbs. If you’re looking for atmosphere, staying in the old town is essential, and there are some beautiful apartments available.

Also in the old town, try to visit the Franciscian Monastery which houses the world’s oldest pharmacy, and the Rector’s Palace which is an impressive example of gothic architecture.

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AFTER HOURS

THE HISTORIC OLD TOWN OF DUBROVNIK WITH THE ISLAND OF LOKRUM IN THE DISTANCE

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Lokrum A short boat ride from Dubrovnik’s beautiful old port, the abandoned island of Lokrum was easily the highlight of my trip. I spent a day here marvelling at the various species of succulents and cacti in the botanical gardens, laughing at wild peacocks attempting to fight the island’s only other inhabitants – oversized bunnies! – and exploring the abandoned Benedictine monastery. Nobody lives here now, but it was once the hiding place of Richard The Lionheart, and a small museum houses an impressive exhibition of the island’s rich history, as well as a replica Game of Thrones Iron Throne.

Walking trails criss-cross the island, which is also dotted with sports areas, picnic facilities and a couple of snack bars. Even at peak season it’s still a tranquil escape with breath-taking views back over the city from its old Fort Royal (another steep climb, beware).

If sunbathing is your game, The Dead Sea is the name. This area of the island is a sunken inland salt-water pool with sparklingly clear water and

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must be seen to be believed.

Alternatively, those braver than I can perch on rocks overlooking the sea at the island’s edge.

From the top of Stradun you can get up onto the city walls to walk the almost 2km perimeter of the town

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Kayaking and Sea Views Seeking the city walls from outside as well as in is a must.

For more active travellers, this is the perfect time to rent out a kayak and take to the seas for your own slice of Dubrovnik’s seafaring past. From the water you can see the perilous rocks which form part of the city’s defences, or venture further down the coast towards beachy coves and craggy caves which once were home to smugglers.

Alternatively, if you want to see the other side of the walls without the risk of getting wet, Buža bar (to the boozer!) is the place to be. Tucked away at the back of the town and accessible through an unassuming archway in the walls, this bar seems like it’s sprang up from nowhere, with tables and chairs perched on the rocks. Away from the bustle and expense of the Stradun, here you can grab a deliciously crisp, cheap Croatian beer and luxuriate in the sun for a while.

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Tresteno Arboretum Since my travelling companion was somewhat of a Game of Thrones fan, I’ll admit that I made the 18km trip (easy by bus or a reasonably priced Uber) out of the town, along the coast and past more beautiful settlements to Tresteno, where part of the recently concluded CBS series was filmed, rather reluctantly.

Despite doubling as fictional King’s Landing’s gardens, this place really does seem to be off the beaten track of the tourist trail – even in May the arboretum was quiet and our Uber driver didn’t know exactly where he was going. That said, this place really is worth the trip, especially if you’re looking for a romantic hideaway for a few hours.

Constructed by a wealthy family as their summer residence towards the close of the 15th century, the arboretum houses more than 300 species of plants, and looks out over the sea towards the Elafiti islands (which are also worth a trip).

Once you’ve found the sea god Neptune and spotted the terrapins in the fountain, take a winding path to reach Tresteno’s own private dock at the bottom of the cliff, which is perfect for a spot of sea swimming.

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NUMBER CRUNCH

DONCASTER Don’t discount delightful Doncaster

Think Doncaster doesn’t have much to offer? Think again!

It has a top-quality shopping centre, its very own airport for travelling all over the globe, exotic animals from the coldest areas of the planet and it’s even the birthplace of the plumbing industry.

It’s fair to say that this month’s number crunch speaks for itself…

different destinations from Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Business Doncaster held its 10th Business Showcase event this year with more than

250 EXHIBITION STANDS

45 Doncaster is the largest Metropolitan Borough in England, and covers

Doncaster market has over

450 STALLS and was voted Britain’s Best Market

57,000 hectares

Doncaster, or “Danum” as it was then known, was

Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster is home to

13 LIONS rescused from a zoo in Romania

The Frenchgate Shopping Centre occupies over

800,000 SQ FT of top-quality retail space

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FOUNDED IN AD71 by the Romans

Toilet pioneer

THOMAS CRAPPER was born in Doncaster in 1836

Doncaster manufacturer Bridon provided

200 TONNES of cables to support the roof structure of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium

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