Norfolk Chamber’s CEO, Chris Sargisson compered the Norfolk Construction Excellence Awards 2018 on Thursday evening at the OPEN in Norwich.
The awards night was a great success, celebrating some fabulous projects in Norfolk. There were some great project winners, with the overall winner on the night being LSI Architects.
The guests attending the awards were all asked to take part in their own ‘construction project’ – each table had to build an aeroplane from an assortment of straws, lollipop sticks, paper, and sticky tape – and anything else that came to hand on their tables.
The finished projects would be launched off the OPEN balcony and needed to fly as far as possible and would be judged accordingly. Amazing amounts of variation and imagination were used to produce some inventive entries. The winner not only flew the furthest, but managed a loop-the-loop!
Commenting on the successful evening, Chris Sargisson said:
“It was a huge honour to host the constructing excellence awards. I would like to say very well done to all the fantastic, talented companies who entered and a huge congratulations to LSI Architects for being chosen as the overall winner.
“When I agreed to compere, I never imagined I’d be asked to orchestrate over 20 people throwing a variety of homemade aeroplanes from the balcony. Brilliant! My favourite entry was one made using the end of a French baguette! Some took to the sky, soared magnificently but now sadly remain in the lighting gantry. Maybe next years’ ‘table challenge’ could be to build a device to get them down…?”
In his much-anticipated summer economic statement, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a draft of measures aimed at boosting the UK economy: including a temporary holiday on stamp duty on the first £500,000 of all property sales in England and Northern Ireland, with immediate effect.
In a move firmly aimed at boosting the property market, the tax threshold has been temporarily raised until 31 March 2021. Stamp duty was previously paid on land or property sold for £125,000 or more.
Hatch Brenner Conveyancing Executive Rachael Hughes commented: “Myself and the Hatch Brenner Residential Property team very much welcome the introduction of the stamp duty holiday. It will give people looking to buy a home confidence, and make it more affordable for people to move house during the current coronavirus pandemic. It is a positive action by the Government to keep the housing market moving. We have seen a steady flow of enquiries from those planning on buying or selling a property – even through lockdown. In particular, since the easing of lockdown, and the relaxation of social distancing to 1m, we have been really busy with lots of new properties entering the housing market as people review their circumstances.”
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is the tax paid in England upon completion by those buying properties and is dependant on the price of the property in question.
From 8 July 2020, anyone completing on a main residence costing up to £500,000 will not have to pay any stamp duty, and any properties costing above £500,000 will only be taxed on their value above that amount. Between £425,000 to £925,000 above £500,000, the stamp duty would be taxed at 5%, and the £575,000 after that (£925,001 to £1.5 million) would be taxed at 10%. Anything remaining over £1.5 million would be taxed at 12%.
According to the BBC News, the stamp duty holiday will cut £4,500 off the average stamp duty bill and save some up to £15,000: Stamp duty holiday: How will it work?
First time buyers
The new stamp duty holiday replaces the previous first time buyer stamp duty discount whereby they previously did not pay stamp duty up to a property value of £300,000.
Landlords and second home buyers
Under the terms of the stamp duty holiday, landlords and second home buyers are eligible for the tax cut, but will still have to pay the additional 3% stamp duty they were previously charged.
Government stamp duty rate calculator
The rates have been adjusted in the Government SDLT calculator which is an easy tool to work out the SDLT payable for most residential property transactions.
Freebridge Community Housing employees enjoyed their sixth annual Week of Wellbeing last week. The week aims to support the wellbeing of staff across the whole company and involved an array of activities.
Reflexology, creative writing, dance classes and meditation comprised just a small part of the list of events on offer. The week, which took place from 8 – 12 May, is designed to promote and support the six strands of wellbeing – Career, Physical, Mental, Social, Economic and Community Wellbeing – for its employee team of over 200 people.
While many of the week’s events were run by Freebridge employees a host of local organisations and businesses, including The Wellbeing People, Alive Leisure, The Engaging People Company, Paul Tibbs Photography, the Natural Therapy Centre and The Maltings Q Club were amongst those who provided expertise and facilities.
Local businesses generously donated prizes for a charity fundraising raffle. Proceeds will be going to East Anglian Air Ambulance, King’s Lynn Foodbank and West Norfolk RSPCA, who are all Freebridge chosen charities for 2017.
Tony Hall, Chief Executive of Freebridge, said: “Once again we have had a fantastic Week of Wellbeing at Freebridge. This week gives our employees the opportunity to gain news experiences that can have a positive impact on both their work and personal lives.
“Our tenants remain at the heart of everything we do at Freebridge, and we believe that by having a workforce that is both physically and mentally healthy we will be able to continue to provide the best service possible.
“We couldn’t have made the week such a great success without support from local businesses; we would like to express our thanks for all their efforts and generosity.”
The third event in our CultureShock series co-hosted at the Enterprise Centre by Fountain Partnership, University of East Anglia and Norfolk Chambers of Commerce was planned for May, but of course had to be postponed for now. However, we wanted to keep the conversation around company and workplace culture going – especially at a time of so much change and challenge.
So, here’s introducing the CultureShock video series, in which Rebecca Lewis Smith (Fountain Partnership) discusses different aspects of culture with business leaders, experts and academics.
First, Rebecca sat down (remotely) with Gavin Drake, founder and director of Mindspan, to have a chat about culture and leadership during times of crisis. Gavin was kind enough to share his insights into motivation, leadership and so many other aspects of maintaining company culture in the context of the pandemic.
Rebecca also spoke with Dr Helen Fitzhugh, researcher at UEA’s Norwich Business School, Knowledge Exchange Fellow and a member of the PrOPEL Hub, who shared insight into some of her research. Helen has been part of a team reviewing all the literature on isolated working, compiling incredibly useful information for us to learn from as we adapt our businesses in light of the pandemic.
Make sure you follow the CultureShock YouTube channel, UEAforBusiness (Twitter and LinkedIn) and Rebecca Lewis Smith (LinkedIn) to keep up to date with the latest videos in this series.
The new Centrum building, on Norwich Research Park, is making excellent progress.
Centrum, located at the heart of the Park, will offer laboratory and office space on flexible lease terms, with a restaurant and drop-in café for networking and events. Informal meeting areas will create a good environment for stimulating collaboration and information sharing. Additional features include board and meeting rooms for hire and a link to the international conference centre at the John Innes Centre. Exhibition space and informal meeting areas in the large ground floor atrium will create a great environment for networking events and the sharing of ideas.
Companies located on the Park will benefit from investment in state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. This includes superfast broadband, site-wide WiFi, integrated telecoms and the ability to link into academic networks.
Matthew Jones, Chief Operating Officer for Norwich Research Park says the Centrum is set to become the hub of the Park.
“Collaboration is vital for successful research and development and the Centrum will offer space for informal networking and bookable meeting rooms in addition to the dedicated laboratory and office suites.
“It is always useful to have space for adhoc meetings. However, smaller businesses try to keep their overheads down and often have to compromise on this. The Centrum offers informal meeting areas as part of the wider working environment and this will make the building very conducive to business.”
Ms Englefield-Stangroom specialises in all types of property transactions both locally and nationally. She has experience in dealing with both freehold and leasehold sales and purchases, new build purchases, auction sales and purchases, matrimonial transfers, transfers of equity, equity releases, re-mortgages, first registration applications and adverse possession applications.
Colin Cook, Hatch Brenner Partner commented: “We are all really pleased to welcome Abbey to our busy Residential Property team. Her experience means she is able to hit the ground running and help both our existing and new clients through the moving process. She is personable, positive and friendly and willing to go the extra mile for her clients.”
Abbey Englefield-Stangroom, Conveyancing Executive added: “It is great to be joining Hatch Brenner within the Property team – despite the current social distancing guidelines, I have received a very warm welcome from my new colleagues and existing clients alike. Moving home can be a very stressful time and I strive to make the conveyancing process as simple and stress free as possible via clear communication and always keeping clients and other parties up-to-date and informed throughout a transaction.”
Ms Englefield-Stangroom completed her law degree at the University of Leicester, her LPC at BPP Law School and has previously trained and worked for other Norfolk law firms. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with family and friends, baking, walking and interior design, decorating and upcycling.
With the release of the Health and Safety Executive’s new statistics on fatalities in the workplace, the team at Safepoint spoke to Johann Tasker, chief reporter at Farmers Weekly, about the exciting work they are doing to improve farm safety with technology
B2B marketing experts and Chamber members Full Mix Marketing have been chosen by Norfolk Chamber Gold Patrons MIGSOLV to help them gain more customers in the East of England.
Full Mix Marketing were asked to pitch against four other agencies to secure the long-term relationship marketing Norfolk and Suffolk’s only purpose built data centre.
“We’re delighted to have the opportunity to help MIGSOLV grow” says Sarah West, Managing Director of Full Mix Marketing. “With the increased threat of terrorism, extreme weather and data theft, business continuity is a hot topic”
The Gatehouse in Norwich secures computer servers and data for national and international companies. Now Full Mix Marketing are delivering a comprehensive marketing strategy to help owners MIGSOLV target local businesses who need to increase their business resilience, save space and reduce costs.
“It’s been a fantastic and diverse start to 2107” continues Sarah. “We’ve begun relationships with businesses in manufacturing, energy, recruitment, IT and engineering. What they all have in common is the desire to identify and deliver the right marketing for the best results.”
As Chartered Marketers, Full Mix Marketing provide all the marketing businesses need to grow, including marketing plans & strategies, branding, full digital & social media marketing, as well as directing marketing campaigns, advertising & PR.
“Sarah and her team simply gave us the confidence they could deliver the results we need” says David Manning, Managing Director of MIGSOLV. “They showed that more than just having a new website or advertising, it’s about understanding our potential customers and finding the best ways to reach them”.
Gold Patrons of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce since 2016, MIGSOLV discovered Full Mix Marketing through the Chamber Directory. “Being members of Norfolk Chamber has been very positive for us” says Sarah. “It regularly generates opportunities and is often a strong part of the marketing mix we recommend our B2B clients”.
Commenting on the labour market figures for April 2018, published today by the ONS, Suren Thiru, Head of Economics at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:
“The continued rise in employment, coupled with a further drop-in the unemployment rate, is further evidence that the UK jobs market remains in good shape, with firms continuing to recruit despite sluggish economic conditions. However, the rising number of hours worked indicates that the recent pick-up in UK productivity is likely to be short lived.
“The end of a prolonged squeeze on real wage growth is an important moment, although maintaining positive real wage growth could prove challenging without sustained increases in productivity and relieving the high upfront costs which restrict pay increases. The return to positive real wage growth is unlikely to translate into materially stronger spending in the near term with consumers expected to remain under pressure from uncomfortably high debt levels, particularly if interest rates rise further.
“Against this backdrop, ministers must do more to support firms looking to recruit and grow their business, including easing upfront business costs and plugging the growing skills gaps. Working with businesses to deliver meaningful reform to the Apprenticeship Levy, so it works better for everyone, would be a good place to start.”
Norfolk Chamber believes that getting the A47 fully dualled is vital to the future success of Norfolk. So we are working in partnership with Norfolk County Council and the Eastern Daily Press on a Just Dual It! Campaign.
The campaign will highlight how vital the need for further improvements along the A47 really are. It is already evident that poor infrastructure is restricting business growth in Norfolk. Improvements along this significant east/west trunk road will help every sector of the business community, right across the county and will enable them to deliver greater economic growth and jobs for our region.
We are asking businesses and the general public to complete ‘Wish We Were Dualled’ postcards to highlight why you want to see the A47 dualled. The postcards will be collated in the summer with the intention of taking them down to Westminster to evidence the strong support that exists for getting the A47 dualled.
To date over 1,700 postcards have been returned – but we want more!
Pick up a Just Dual It! postcard from receptions in any of the following buildings:
Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, 9 Norwich Business Park, Whiting Road, Norwich
Norfolk County Council, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich
The Eastern Daily Press, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich
Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Town Hall, Hall Plain, Great Yarmouth, NR30 2QF
Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, Kings Court, Chapel Street, King’s Lynn
Tweet your support for the campaign using the hashtag #justdualit. If you include your full name and location (e.g. village/town name) in the tweet, we will transfer your message onto a postcard for you
Please help us to show the Government how important this is to Norfolk. Thank you for your support!
We are pleased to announce that Tudor Lodge Consultants is now working with Playfair Capital (https://playfaircapital.com/). Helping to improve the online presence and search engine optimisation (SEO) of the Playfair Capital website and brand, we are working to ensure the brand and the company gets the exposure it needs.
Playfair Capital are leading, London-based seed stage investors, having worked with dozens of ambitious brands and companies offering a wide range of products and services.
Why SEO?
Although many people perceive SEO as only being perfect for product-based businesses and offerings, this is in fact not the case. SEO is remarkably effective at helping service-based businesses too. Helping company websites climb the search engine rankings allows for a great deal more exposure to one of the most engaged audiences out there; those that are already searching for your services.
By climbing the rankings, companies can expect to receive increased traffic to their website as well as increased engagement and much more time spent on the website generally. By increasing the numbers of engaged users and those that interact with a website, a brand and its offering, companies can reasonably expect to increase business and importantly, profits and sales.
As a medium to longer term strategy, SEO is also a lot more cost-effective than other marketing channels including pay-per-click (PPC) and traditional methods of advertising like radio, TV and billboard advertising campaigns.
Unlike PPC which charges advertisers based on each click, SEO is an investment in the ongoing presence of a website and contributes most strongly to the earned or ‘organic’ positions via Google and other search engines.
Key Elements of SEO Covered
Rather than a product-related offering where the key point of sale and conversion relies purely on individual and collective sales, service-based companies and businesses require a great deal more awareness online. This means that although ultimately offering a commercial or busines product or service, it is not just about ‘straight up sales,’ but is, in large part about ensuring they are seen and engaged with above and beyond their competitors in their target areas online.
There are a number of key areas within SEO which we are covering for Playfair Capita which include:
Crawling and Understanding – Key to how and where a site is positioned on Google is the ability of the search engine algorithms or ‘spiders,’ which crawl websites to discover and understand what is on a website as well as each webpage. Thus, we are working on ensuring Playfair Capital’s website is not just filled with content, but is understood in the context of the offerings, aims and their wider industry.
Online PR – The online reputation and therefore PR in SEO is important to websites. Acting a strong trust signal to Google and other search engines, online PR in the form of strong, clean and relevant backlinks are a key tenet to the SEO works undertaken.
User Experience (UX) – Although content used to be king when it came to SEO, in more recent years, it is a lot more user focused. This means that rather than having to fill up websites with inordinate amounts of content for the sake of it, it is the user experience and their interactions with a website which play a far more important role when it comes to where a given website should rank. Moreover, good UX allows for better experiences for the users that will inevitably reach the website in question.