Hatch Brenner Solicitors on Theatre Street in Norwich is delighted to be included in the Headway Solicitor’s Directory once again for 2020. The Directory is a resource for brain injured individuals and their families to identify the leading Solicitors in the UK who have the required experience in handling brain injury cases. All the Solicitors featured in the Directory have agreed to abide by the Headway Personal Injury Lawyers Code of Conduct providing clients with confidence in the quality and expertise of their work. Colin Cook, experienced brain injury lawyer and Hatch Brenner Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution commented: “We are very pleased to be recognised once again as a leading firm for our brain injury work by Headway, the brain injury association. I sit on the board of trustees for Headway Norfolk & Waveney and am proud that Hatch Brenner is both a long supporter of this important charity, and is recognised by Headway UK as a leading firm in this field. “We take the time – through home visits, and spending the time with clients to understand their symptoms, explore their funding options and access appropriate rehabilitation. We understand the impact on the client’s close family, and provide support and advice.” You can view the full Headway Code of Conduct on the Headway website, or click here to view the full Head Injury Solicitors Directory.
OpenContact have launched a campaign to support a Norwich-based charity as part of their 20th Anniversary Celebrations.
The “20 for 20 in 2020” campaign was officially launched by CEO Fiona Brown in the EDP paper last week, with the aim of raising £5000 for Priscilla Bacon Hospice.
Fiona’s father Ron Pollin, founder of OpenContact, was admitted to the Priscilla Bacon Lodge in 2018 shortly before he lost his battle with cancer. During his time there it became clear to Fiona that the current hospice is no longer fit for purpose, “It’s clear that the current Lodge is not enough for the whole county, and I absolutely see the need for a new hospice,” says Fiona.
An expanding and ageing Norfolk population is now outgrowing the 16-bed Lodge and a £12.5 million appeal was launched last spring to build a new and bigger Priscilla Bacon Hospice on a site near the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital at Colney.
Ever-increasing demand, for inpatient beds as well as day and respite care means that greater capacity is desperately needed. The new hospice will offer the most modern facilities, plus a wider range of community day care and out-patient services, providing those who need care a greater breadth of choice.
Already more than £5 million has been raised, but there is still a long way to go before work can start on the 24-bed unit which will serve all of Norfolk.
Fiona and the OpenContact team are now formulating plans for 20 events, which will raise much-needed funds for the Priscilla Bacon Hospice appeal, while honouring the man who founded OpenContact 20 years ago.
Already in the mix are the possibility of an assault on the Three Peaks Challenge to climb the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales within 24 hours; one of the team will be seeking sponsorship for running in the Norwich Half-Marathon; bucket collectors will be out in the city; and a planned big birthday bash for clients and staff later in the year could feature a secret auction and a raffle.
Alan Boswell Group, one of the UK’s largest independent insurance brokers and financial advisers, today announced that it has acquired S-Tech Insurance Services Ltd.
Founded in 1982, S-Tech provides guidance on insurance to both businesses and individuals and has more than 65 employees based at its head office in Cambridge. S-Tech will retain its name and all staff as an ongoing enterprise.
The acquisition sees gross written premium for the expanded group rise to £82m, while the Norwich-based firm will see staffing numbers exceed 300 people.
“We have been actively looking to broaden our reach into Cambridgeshire and S-Tech is the perfect fit. The company shares the same values as us, providing expert, friendly advice to its clients. But S-Tech also offers the group something new, because it specialises in technology and science, research and development and credit insurance,” said Alan Boswell, Executive Chairman. “I’m particularly pleased that we have been able to secure S-Tech’s independence, which is a rarity these days.”
Shaun Walker, founder and CEO at S-Tech, added: “We are delighted to become part of Alan Boswell Group. The sale provides security for our staff and enables us to grow our business in our chosen sectors under our existing brand and management.
“I’m sure both our existing and new customers, professional networks and introducers will continue to benefit from the group’s commitment to customer service – a key driver in reaching this agreement.”
Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers directors, Chris Gibbs, Alastair Drew and Alan Boswell will join Shaun Walker, Desmond Matthewson and Laurence Hill, on the board of the new company.
Production Bureau recently scoopedtwo Awards at the EVCOM Live Awards heldat Supernova inLondon.Pb were successful in two categories, AV/Production Supplier and Use of Venue. The Awards recognised the company’s execution of the Doosan Global Business Forum, held during July atThe Gleneagles Hotel . Pb transformed theresortstennis centre into a high specification conference space for the prestigous event.
Their reputation fordeliveringsuch creative production for a wide variety of high profile events during 2016, hasseen Pb togrowtheir team significantly. The company now employs 60staff across two sites in Norwich and Edinburgh.
Andy Slade has opened his shop on 137 Buxton Road, Heaviley
Andy Slade FCA joined TaxAssist Accountants in March 2019 and has opened his new shop in time to benefit from self-assessment tax return season.
“I would like to thank the Norwich based Support Team who helped me to source and fit out the shop which looks great – I’m so pleased with it. It’s highly visible, well located and has plenty of parking available nearby,” said Andy.
Andy worked in industry for eight years, culminating in becoming a group financial controller before moving to Manchester, where he began working as a contractor. Knowing that he wanted to establish his own business, he turned to franchising, discovered TaxAssist Accountants and the rest, as they say is history!
“I wanted to build something more permanent to be proud of,” explained Andy. “I also wanted to get back to having and managing my own team and be more involved in my local community. “I’ve really enjoyed meeting with and helping clients over the last 10 months, and I’ve had a really busy January. I am actively looking to grow the practice, so would encourage anyone interested in finding out more about our services to pop in for a free consultation.”
Andy’s shop joins an established network of 229 shops nationwide.
If you are interested in finding out more about joining TaxAssist Accountants, regular Discovery Days are held, where you meet with the Directors of the franchise and find out more about the technical and business development support on offer. Call 0800 0188297 to find out more.
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has warned that ongoing industrial action problems in Calais give some idea of how easily cross-Channel traffic could be disrupted after Brexit.
Citing the recent blockade of the Port of Calais by French fishermen, the FTA claims that the incident highlights how disruption to cross-Channel traffic could have a serious impact on the UK’s trading relationships.
The Association fears that, post-Brexit, those disruptions could also include customs checks – something that it believes could significantly slow the movement of traffic between the UK and France.
“Under current trading arrangements, trucks can roll onto and off ferries without delays,” the FTA’s Pauline Bastidon pointed out, “but even the shortest of stops, to undertake customs checks or declarations, could generate knock-on delays and disruptions and have a serious impact on traffic and trading relationships.”
Taking just two minutes to process a lorry would, the FTA has calculated, cause queues stretching for more than 17 miles out of Dover.
From raw materials to food products, finished goods and even medicines, Calais is the gateway to Europe for many UK businesses and vice versa, Ms Bastidon argued.
With 2.6 million vehicles passing through the Port of Dover every year (representing almost 20% of the UK’s total trade), the FTA wants post-Brexit controls to take place away from the borders.
That, it suggests, would help protect the current frictionless trading arrangements.
Moving away from disruptions at the ports, the Association also expressed concern over how queuing freight vehicles are dealt with.
Operation Stack (when lorries are parked on the M20) should only be used as a temporary fix for traffic delayed at the coast, Ms Bastidon concluded, and should not be a full-time answer to ease congestion in and around Dover.
Greater Anglia has been named Train Operator of the Year in the Rail Business Awards 2020 – after judges praised the company for continuing to innovate and improve while also preparing for the arrival of new trains. Last year, Greater Anglia delivered a number of customer-focused improvements, including introducing the Norwich in 90 service, improving its delay repay compensation scheme (to include all delays of 15 minutes and over) and starting to introduce brand new trains. At the same time, the company made real progress in improving punctuality, which resulted in over 35,000 more trains arriving on time in 2019 (compared to 2018). This sustained punctuality drive led to some months of record-breaking performance, especially on the Great Eastern Main Line and Southend line, which saw four successive months of over 94.5 per cent of trains on time from March to June – some of the best-ever performance seen on these routes. The company also continued to invest in stations, car parks and new services and saw passenger numbers increase. Car park improvements included extending Manningtree and Shenfield car parks and installing Automatic Number Plate Recognition at 20 car parks across the network. A new station, Meridian Water, opened in June, with additional services between Stratford and Meridian Water starting in September. Meanwhile, Greater Anglia launched further ticketing initiatives to make it easier for customers to buy season tickets on Smart Cards, including developing the Greater Anglia app so season ticket holders can upload their season tickets onto their Smart Cards using their mobile phones. Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “To be named train operator of the year is a tremendous accolade and a credit to the hard work and determination of everyone in our team, across the whole of Greater Anglia, to make our service much better for our customers. We have seen our improvements in punctuality recognised across the industry and have been named most improved London and the South East operator for punctuality on our commuter lines in Essex and Hertfordshire. Customer satisfaction has also increased by 8% to 81%. We’ve replaced all the trains on our rural routes with high quality, state-of-the-art new trains, with more seats and a much better travelling environment which, as they bed in, are starting to improve our reliability, as well as our customers’ on-board experiences. We have also begun to bring in new intercity trains on the main line between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London. We recognise, of course, that last year ended on a difficult note on our rural lines due to signalling issues and that punctuality is not consistently where we want it to be so far this year. We’re sorry for those occasions when we have let people down and we are determined to get performance back on track as soon as possible. We fully intend to live up to our new title of train operator of the year, to continue to improve our service to our customers, raising standards further and continuing the roll out of a complete fleet of new trains.” The citation for Greater Anglia’s award at the Rail Business Awards, which are organised by the Railway Gazette, said : “Greater Anglia had an excellent year in 2018-19, continuing to innovate while preparing for the arrival of its new trains. The judges commended it for launching the Norwich in 90 service with existing stock, whilst also improving regional and commuter services.” Last year, the Stansted Express Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport service, which is managed by Greater Anglia, was named international operator of the year in the Global Air Rail Awards.
Here at The Enterprise Centre we’re really excited about the launch of our new 3D virtual tour, courtesy of local business, Vortex Visual. The tour is now live on our website and beautifully showcases the building to anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to visit in person. You can see more for yourself here.
Covering all commercial areas of the building, Vortex Visual’s Will Wooster and Max Giddings kindly came to The Enterprise Centre early on a Sunday morning in December to ensure the spaces could be filmed when completely empty of people. It was also an ideal opportunity to get some shots of the sunrise from the stunning roof terrace.
Given the high end architectural design of the building, the option to show potential clients the tour has great implications for The Enterprise Centre. From the early days of opening in June 2015, the team were quickly aware that once people had visited the building they would be keen either to base their business there or hold a future event. Fearn Ainsworth, Commercial Manager, said ‘We’re delighted with the new 3D tour of the building. It truly is a stunning space and now people can see that for themselves even if they don’t have the opportunity to visit in person.’
The Norfolk Chamber are in part to thank for bringing the 3D tour to fruition as Angela Macdonald, Tenancy and Business Development Manager for The Enterprise Centre, first met Will and Max when visiting the Vortex Visual stand at the October Chamber B2B event at Norfolk Showground. Following a couple of meetings on location and the subsequent filming, start-up Vortex Visual have also signed up for one of the tenancy packages with The Enterprise Centre. It just goes to show how productive business events can be!
Does your business use interpreters, translators or other language skills? Do you market your products and services internationally?
Our member Sprowston High School are looking for business people to share their experiences of using different languages in business with Year 9 students. They are at a crucial point in their academic career to decide whether to continue with language education, and we would like to show them some of the uses in their later career.
Venue:Sprowston Community High School, Cannerby Lane, Sprowston, Norwich NR7 8NE
Airport Introduces new scheme for passengers with hidden disabilities
Norwich Airport has been working closely with numerous local charities to help make air travel accessible to all and improve the Special Assistance Service offered at the airport. As part of this commitment the airport is pleased to announce the introduction of a new scheme to assist passengers with hidden disabilities.
From Monday 5th December coloured wristbands will be available free of charge for passengers and any friends/family colleagues travelling with them to wear as a discreet sign to airport staff that additional support may be required whilst travelling through the airport.
Jamie Price, Norwich Airport’s Security Manager commented “Working with passengers who have or are affected by hidden disabilities such as autism, hearing impaired or sight loss can really help ease the fear of air travel. As a result we have made many changes to our Special Assistance Service including providing the opportunity to talk with us, on a one to one basis ahead of travel to try and alleviate any anxieties or fears they may have about using the airport. We are also able to facilitate a ‘trial run’ at the airport before their chosen flight which has already proven to be successful. We are keen to improve the airport experience for anyone travelling with a hidden disability and the new wristbands available for passengers who wish to wear them, is just another step towards improving the overall passenger journey through Norwich Airport.”
The pale blue wristbands will be available from the Special Assistance desk located just inside the terminal building.
For further information on the Special Assistance/PRM (Passengers with restricted mobility) facility at Norwich Airport please call 01603 420672 or visit www.norwichairport.co.uk/special-assistance
Don’t miss the launch event for Best Employers Eastern Region 2020
Businesses across the Eastern region can book a place at the Best Employers Eastern Region 2020 launch event, which takes place in Newmarket on Wednesday 18 March.
Best Employers Eastern Region brings together organisations from across the East of England in the collective aim of increasing employee engagement and productivity. The 2020 launch conference looks set to be an extremely inspiring event which business leaders, HR professionals and anyone with a responsibility for employee engagement and leadership are encouraged to attend.
Co-founded by professional recruitment specialists Pure, and psychometrics experts eras ltd, Best Employers Eastern Region is returning for the fifth time. Now sponsored by Archant and Birketts, the two-yearly initiative has become a force for change which business leaders across the region are using to develop their organisation’s culture and engagement levels. Best Employers 2018 was an outstanding year with over 140 organisations taking part, approximately 15,000 participants, eight award winners and 40 gold or platinum accreditations.
Guest speakers at the 2020 launch event include two engagement experts discussing how to cultivate innovative and engaging places to work. David Smith, author, consultant and business speaker, will talk about creating a highly productive, performance-based culture. He will draw on 35 years’ worth of experience in corporate change management, the last 15 years of which were spent in the turnaround of the Asda Retail Business. C-J Green, Co-founder and Executive Director of People and HR services firm BraveGoose, which focuses on the future of work, and on modern, progressive HR, will explore the tipping points for growth and engagement. Throughout the day, eight regional business leaders will also share their experiences of participating in Best Employers, including Jon Woolston, Managing Partner at MHA Larking Gowen (winners of the Best Employer category at the Norfolk Business Awards 2019) and Andy Wood, CEO at Adnams.
Lynn Walters, Executive Director at Pure and founder of Best Employers Eastern Region, said: “Creating the right culture in an environment where people can thrive is at the heart of any leader’s priorities. The Best Employers conference will bring people from like-minded organisations together to share ideas, solutions and best practice on achieving this. All of our guest speakers are passionate about employee engagement and understand how important it is in the quest to increase productivity, drive innovation and boost performance. They recognise the impact it has on achieving competitive success through enhanced employer brand and for the development of a culture which attracts, engages and retains top talent.”
The launch event will also mark the opening of the Best Employers free, ready to use and expertly designed employee engagement survey. This provides businesses with the information they need to understand their current levels of engagement, to track their progress and benchmark their organisation against some of the region’s top employers.
Lynn added: “The free employee survey, provided by eras ltd, helps organisations to understand and measure their employee engagement, and provides clarity on how and where to focus practical ideas. The more employees participate, the more reflective the feedback, and our guest speakers will share their experiences of delivering the survey and getting people involved. We are excited for Best Employers 2020. Each year the number of businesses taking part increases. It not only has a significant impact on each participating organisation, it has become an exceptional showcase of the great employers here in our region, supporting the region’s growth.”
For more information about Best Employers Eastern Region visit www.best-employers.co.uk or click here to book a place at the conference.