We were delighted to be tasked with redesigning the Norwich Housing Society website, a not-for-profit organisation which provides affordable housing for older people.
Our brief was bring the website up to date, make it easier to use, more accessible and attractive. Bigfork developed many new features for the new website including a search filter to help visitors quickly find suitable housing and an easy to manage document library for providing resources.
The board of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has approved £8.2m from its Local Growth Fund towards the second phase of the Environment Agency’s work to protect Great Yarmouth against flooding. The £39m Great Yarmouth Flood Defences project aims to protect housing and businesses through the construction and refurbishment of 3.8 kilometres of flood defence walls, unlocking economic growth in the town estimated to create: • 7,100 new jobs • 1000 new properties • 500 new businesses • £405m per annum GVA growth for Great Yarmouth Central government money for flood risk management together with a number of other sources will fund the remaining £31m. The Environment Agency carry out the project, subject to its own appraisal of the scheme. Work is expected to start in autumn 2019. New Anglia LEP’s total Growth Deal from Government is £290m to 2021. Through investment in skills capital projects, innovation centres, transport and infrastructure projects and targeted business support it is estimated to create more than 54,000 new jobs, 6,800 new homes and to generate more than £600m in additional public and private investment. Doug Field, chair of New Anglia LEP, said “This is an exciting time for Great Yarmouth. Our energy coast is at the centre of the world’s largest market for offshore wind and is of huge strategic importance to our economy. “Safeguarding the town’s coastal economy, allowing homes to be built and businesses to grow without fear of disruption is key to its future prosperity. This project will allow that to happen and the LEP is delighted to be able to contribute.” Dr Charles Beardall, Area Director at the Environment Agency, said: “We are delighted that the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership will be making such a significant financial contribution to this vital flood risk project in Great Yarmouth. This comes after many months of close co-operation between Great Yarmouth Borough, its Tidal Defences Business Partnership and New Anglia, and recognises the importance of flood risk infrastructure to providing economic growth.” In a joint statement, Cllr Graham Plant, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Cllr Carl Smith, chairman of the Environment Committee and Cllr Trevor Wainwright, Labour Group Leader, said: “This brilliant and positive decision for our borough reflects the strength of our funding bid and the borough’s economic prospects, as well as successful lobbying and partnership work by the borough council, Environment Agency and local businesses. “We would like to thank the LEP for their investment in this vital infrastructure, which is central to reducing flood risk to thousands of homes and businesses, while attracting and sustaining business investment and jobs in key industries that are essential to the prosperity of our local and regional economies.” The funding bid was supported by the Tidal Defences Business Partnership, a business-led group working together to move ahead the tidal defences works as quickly as possible. Keith Vincent, chairman of the Tidal Defences Business Partnership, said: “Great Yarmouth’s Tidal Defences are a huge benefit to us all, they protect our homes, our jobs, and the highways and infrastructure we need to ensure everything works safely and smoothly on a day by day basis. As businesses they protect our places of work, our staff and equipment; essentially they give us the confidence to continue to invest in, and grow our businesses in Great Yarmouth. “This crucial and really welcome investment by the LEP in Great Yarmouth is a key goal which the Tidal Defences Business Partnership has been working towards and will help the Borough to realise its full economic potential, unlocking huge opportunities for businesses based in the Borough.”
Energy services company, Proserv has officially opened its new purpose-built Centre of Excellence within Great Yarmouth’s Beacon Park. Developer, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, together with New Anglia LEP and key stakeholders, joined Proserv at the 65,000 sq ft ‘Artemis House’ – named after the site’s ‘Artemis 2G’ (A2G) subsea control system technology – to mark the occasion with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Artemis House is the largest site within Beacon Park, featuring modern offices, 25% additional manufacturing space and a yard area. There is also the ability to add a further 20,000 sq ft of workshop capacity in the future and increase office headcount. Davis Larssen, COO of Proserv, welcomed the guests. During his opening speech, he highlighted the importance of the move to the enhanced site, underlining Proserv’s long-term commitment to the area and, indeed, the energy industry. He said: “”Having just began building this exceptional site a little over a year ago, I would like to thank everyone involved in helping us reach this key milestone. This opening is a new chapter for us as we consolidate more than 180 employees from our previous two sites in the area. It’s fantastic to see our workforce unite, ensuring we are well placed to not only meet customers’ expectations but exceed them, now and in the future.” In a joint statement, the borough council’s political group leaders, Cllr Graham Plant and Cllr Trevor Wainwright, said: “This landmark HQ is a symbol of Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s partnership work as a proactive authority dedicated to supporting local investment, jobs and growth, as well as bolstering Beacon Park’s national reputation as an established energy hub and top-performing Enterprise Zone. “Artemis House will ensure that these skilled jobs, mostly held by local people, will continue to be based within the borough, while generating rental income which will be used to help support vital public services. As the developer, we would like to thank the skilled team who helped to make this important development a reality, and we’re sure that Proserv’s staff will enjoy their brand new purpose-built workplace.” Doug Field, chair of New Anglia LEP, added: “The completion of Artemis House is great news for Proserv, its employees and the wider economy. LEP investments through our Growing Places Fund are targeted to make an impact, and this project will do exactly that. It’s further evidence of the strength of our energy coastline – within which Proserv is a key supplier and employer – and of our Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Enterprise Zone in attracting and retaining investment in the East.” Beacon Park is part of the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft (New Anglia) Enterprise Zone, which focuses on attracting and supporting energy-related businesses within the East of England. Great Yarmouth Borough Council, with support from the Local Enterprise Partnership, developed the site and remain landlord for the facility. Proserv is a technology-driven company providing products, services and bespoke solutions to clients across the energy industry. Operating worldwide through 22 operating centres based in 12 countries, the company has won a string of industry awards over the years in recognition of its achievements. For more information about Proserv visit: www.proserv.com For more information about Beacon park visit: www.beaconpark.co.uk
KLM UK Engineering entered a team of 6 colleagues to take part in the East Anglian Air Ambulance EPIC 50 mile cycle ride Friday 18th May. Colin Gamson, Paul Green, Mark Walker, Janel McFadyen, Shane Boyle & Steve Batten completed the ride as a team on this North Norfolk course starting & finishing at North Walsham Rugby Club.
A big thank you to our team for volunteering and completing this challenge and to East Anglian Air Ambulance & Pedal Revolution for organising this charity event. We look forward to next years event!
Archant Local Impact is a new marketing services business brought to you by Archant in partnership with Hearst.
Local Impact aims to offer small businesses a full marketing service. It will offer customers everything from simple advice to a complete marketing campaign. With a range of products including print advertising, digital display, content marketing, social media, search engine optimisation, email marketing, pay per click and digital presence management, Local Impact aims to help local businesses to improve their marketing presence across a range of platforms.
Local Impact customers also have access to a unique, easy to use, reporting portal. This portal allows clients to track how each element of their campaigns is performing in real time, providing measureable and accurate results and allowing companies to simply and quickly see how ads are performing. It also allows them to make changes to their campaigns and elements all within one simple tool.
Archant have partnered with Hearst, who are one of the world’s major media and information companies and whose portfolio includes worldwide magazines and numerous newspaper titles in the US. Hearst is the parent company of Local Edge, its internet and marketing services business. Local Edge has been in business since 2004 and has helped thousands of customers in the US, Australia and Canada to grow their businesses. This new partnership with Archant means that UK SMEs are now able to benefit from the same service and level of experience exclusively through Local Impact.
TaxAssist Accountants has announced a strategic partnership with Receipt Bank, the award-winning bookkeeping automation platform. The software and services provided by Receipt Bank will ensure that TaxAssist franchisees and their clients are prepared for the latest advances in technology and legislative developments. The partnership comes as TaxAssist Accountants seeks to equip its franchisees with best-in-class software to ensure their services remain valuable, profitable and scalable. Receipt Bank offers a quick and easy way for clients to send their transaction data directly to their accountant’s operating system, via app or email, with no paper and no data entry required.
Alex Smith, from TaxAssist Accountants Plymouth, describes the effect Receipt Bank has had on his business: “The service we offer enables clients to submit expenses using the phone app and/or email-in. “With this high use of automation, I envisage my team being able to serve a much higher number of bookkeeping clients than our previous approach permitted, and without additional software costs, this means additional work at a high margin. “In six weeks, we have rolled ‘Real Time Bookkeeping’ out to around 10 clients who were not previously buying bookkeeping from us. Clients also value this service more than much of our routine compliance for them, presumably as it’s a way of taking away what has been a pain point for them.” This partnership will allow other TaxAssist franchisees to focus more on their clients’ business needs, instead of manual processing, explains Group Operations Director Sarah Robertson. “Our members are embracing new technologies at all levels in order to pass on the benefits of their experience and expertise to their clients,” she explained. “As practices prepare for the arrival of Making Tax Digital, tools like Receipt Bank will be essential for implementing digital processes and improving efficiency.” Receipt Bank CEO Alexis Prenn, added: “The role of an accountant in a business has never been more important, helping them understand new technology and processes. We’re excited to combine our best-in-class technology with TaxAssist Accountants expertise.”
Start-Rite Shoes has appointed Kate Tansley as Product Director to provide leadership and direction for the strategic development of its product portfolio.
Kate has extensive experience in product environments; her last role was that of Brand Director at Multiyork where she was responsible for its creative and brand strategies, as well as the briefing of all product design and development. Prior to this, Kate held positions with Harrods, Tesco’s, TK Maxx and British Home Stores.
Ian Watson, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Kate boasts a very strong, category focussed background and will be instrumental in bringing our strategic vision to life. She will have overall responsibility for our Product, Technical and Design teams and we’re delighted to have her on board.”
Kate Tansley, Product Director, Start-Rite Shoes, said: “I am delighted to be joining the team at Start-Rite. I have a passion for product and design and I’m excited to be applying this to a new category. Children’s shoes are close to my heart and I’m looking forward to developing the product portfolio with our expert design and technical team. I’ve always been a Start-Rite customer, they are a brand that inspires trust through their great heritage and expertise. Our new brand positioning builds from this while refocusing on the pioneering spirit that was so central to Start-Rite in the past. We know kids and take a lot of time and care to understand what they need from their shoes as they grow and develop – that for me is what makes our design approach so refreshing.”
Staff at East Anglian accountancy firm, Aston Shaw, which has its head office in Norwich, have announced they will be fundraising for Norfolk and Waveney cancer charity, Big C, over the next 12 months.
Big C was chosen following a staff vote from four local charities and follows Aston Shaw’s support for EACH over the past three years.
Staff at Aston Shaw had already run a Big C biscuit appeal for a charity dress-down day. The biscuits were delivered to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) Big C Centre for visitors to enjoy. The team will continue to fundraise via ‘Casual Fridays’ and hope to take on some sporting challenges.
Charlie Maylin, marketing executive at Aston Shaw said, “Big C is a fantastic local charity and we can’t wait to start fundraising through a variety of events and activities. As a team we feel it is so worthwhile to be contributing towards ground-breaking cancer research, state of the art equipment and Big C’s support and information centres across Norfolk.
Dr Chris Bushby, Chief Executive at Big C, said, “Our grateful thanks to Aston Shaw for voting for us as their named charity. It is this kind of support which makes such a significant difference to those in our community affected by cancer.
To learn more about the work Big C does to improve the lives of those affected by cancer in Norfolk and Waveney, please visit www.big-c.co.uk
The Big C story:
2018 is shaping up to be quite a year for Norfolk and Waveney’s cancer charity, Big C. This summer the charity looks set to hit a phenomenal fundraising total of £30 million since Big C was founded in 1980 by local men David Moar and Clive Bamford. Having been through their own cancer journeys and enduring lengthy journeys to receive treatment, the pair passionately wanted to ensure that local people had access to outstanding treatment and support, close to where they are.
From its first small, but important fundraising project providing chemotherapy equipment at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Big C has grown into an impressive organisation which funds specialist life-saving equipment and internationally significant research projects based at the Norwich Research Park. These projects greatly benefit local people and have a global impact on our understanding and treatment of the many types of cancer.
The charity has also established three Big C centres located at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, in Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth and a hub at the Louise Hamilton Centre in Gorleston. These centres provide an oasis of specialist emotional and practical support for those with a cancer diagnosis and their loved ones away from a clinical environment.
ROTA are an innovative start-up and mobile application which helps those in the hospitality, catering and hotel industries find temporary staff for their needs. They also help those looking for hospitality jobs in London and other related part-time work in these industries acquire the perfect role. We are proud to be working closely with the great team at ROTA, helping them increase their positions online through clean, white hat search engine optimisation (SEO).
With an app as well as their website, there are some unique challenges. As is the case with other app-reliant businesses, getting users and customers to download and utilise the mobile application is paramount to the success of ROTA. Hence, as part of the strategy for the website, the app has remained at the forefront of our minds at all times and continues to do so.
Some of the Challenges
Upon starting our works with the team at ROTA, their website was not performing fast enough and was not responsive. This meant that many users upon landing upon the site were leaving before engaging with any aspect of the website. Moreover, those that reached the site and attempted to engage were often unable to do so at all times due to the slight lack in responsiveness. The website was also not optimised technically for SEO.
This manifested in the site ranking for some irrelevant keyword terms. It also did not satisfy some basic SEO best-practices and ranking criteria. This was as a result of a distinct lack of meta data (titles and descriptions) and content not being relevant enough to ensure accurate rankings. In addition, the backlink profile of the site (links pointing towards ROTA from other websites) was quite full of spammy and potentially toxic links, which were greatly holding back the performance and rankings of the entire website.
With regards to targeting and the strategy, there was previously only very sparse keyword and search term tracking set up. This means that as well as not performing as well as it should, the site’s progress was also not being tracked efficiently.
What We Are Doing
With a very aesthetically pleasing website, there was not much design-related work to be done on the ROTA website. However, we have been carrying out a number of other important tasks which are already paying dividends; getting the website up the rankings on Google and other search engines:
Website Performance – We removed a number of defunct functions and plugins from the website. This lead to almost immediate increases in website speed and responsiveness with various plugins having slowed down the site previously. We have also ensured wherever possible that a wide range of website files and media files have been sufficiently compressed to allow for much faster rendering and loading of the site
Website Crawlability – With numerous important factors missing from the site, the website was simply not being read properly by search engines. We therefore optimised the meta data, ensuring what Google reads and what users see in search engine results pages (SERPs) is fully optimised. As well as increasing positions online, this has also increased the click-throughs of users via search engines. We have also ensured that only relevant keywords and search terms are targeted and tracked to be able to accurately monitor progress over time
Links and Natural PR – Having previously been signed up to old-fashioned and spammy web directories as well as toxic ‘link farms,’ there was a great deal of negative link work which had been done upon the ROTA website in the past. Hence, we disavowed (disassociated) the spammy and toxic links, which numbered in the hundreds. We have also started to build ROTA a clean and natural backlink profile from strong and reputable sites. This is also working in ROTA’s favour as this acts as traditional PR in an online sphere, increasing the number of relevant users finding the ROTA brand through other naturally associated websites.
Professional recruitment specialists Pure has been awarded an Investors in People Gold Award. Described as an achievement of ‘world class best practice’, IIP Gold is only given to organisations who can demonstrate excellence in developing and supporting staff to achieve high performance.
Investors in People is an internationally recognised accreditation held by more than 30,000 organisations across the world, but only 1.5% of these achieve the prestigious Gold award. Pure was first awarded the Gold standard in 2016 and following another assessment it has been awarded the top accolade for another three years.
The leading recruitment organisation, which has offices in Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich and Chelmsford, was described as a ‘growing, forward-thinking company that prides itself on being a values-led organisation in a market where by far the majority are financially led’. The assessors described how people choose to work for Pure because of this approach and enjoyed the working environment created by the Executive team, and original founders, Gill Buchanan, Ian Walters and Lynn Walters.
Gill Buchanan, Chief Operating Officer at Pure, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and a highly desirable accreditation for businesses to hold. We’re extremely proud of this external recognition of the fact we like to do things differently and our ongoing focus on our company values, which are all based around making Pure a rewarding and positive place to work. We have created a supportive environment where people work flexibly, a culture of teamwork is fostered, and we are passionate about ensuring all our team are fully engaged to go the extra mile for our clients and candidates alike. Our focus is on establishing long-term relationships as trusted advisors and our targets are focused on outcomes rather than making a quick return.”
Organisations are only awarded with the Gold status following assessments in all aspects of people development, communications and engagement, through employee surveys, interviews and observations.
Pure was founded in 2002 and specialises in Accountancy, Financial Services, IT, Human Resources, Marketing and Office Support recruitment solutions at all levels, including board level appointments through its specialist Executive division. As well as its values led approach, the Investors in People assessors highlighted Pure’s strengths in open and transparent communication, the encouragement of innovation and its reward and recognition schemes which ensure everyone feels appreciated and valued for their hard work.
The Eastern Landlords Association (ELA) has formed a strategic partnership with Abate Pest Management to support its members with pest control services. The ELA has 1,400 members located throughout the Eastern region and Abate is perfectly located to support them on a proactive contract basis, making regular visits to properties or on an ad-hoc emergency call out service. Abate is already responsible for servicing more than 25,000 residential properties for private landlords, letting agents and housing associations.
ELA members will receive qualified discounts from Abate Pest management for work carried out by quoting their membership number.
Abate Pest Management are experts in domestic and commercial pest control and have been controlling and eliminating pests throughout the Eastern region for over 19 years. They are accredited with ISO 9001, 18001, 14001, CHAS, Safecontractor and are full servicing members of the BPCA (British Pest Control Association).
From their operations centre near Wymondham in Norfolk they manage a team of Technicians and Field Surveyors covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
KLM UK Engineering Limited 2018 Charity Golf Day was a great success & we would like to thank all the attendees and generous sponsors, who helped us raise £1,500 for East Anglian Air Ambulance!