NORWICH, Tuesday 26th August 2014 – AIRPORT REACHES NEW HEIGHTS IN WHICH? UK AIRPORT PASSENGER SURVEY The annual Which? Member survey of UK airports has just been released and finds that small airports are, on average providing a better experience than larger airports.
The survey rates airports on areas that matter the most to customers, including seating provision, distance to the boarding gates, and queues at security, passport control and baggage reclaim. Norwich International Airport managed to achieve a full five-star rating in five of the ten categories with an overall customer score of 72%.
The survey results show Norwich International is now rated ninth in the small airport category, which is an increase of one place from 2013.
Richard Pace, the airport’s Operations Director commented, “We are delighted with Norwich Airport’s performance in this year’s survey. The airport team is committed to making the airport experience an easier, speedier and less stressful one for all of our passengers and these results are testament to the hard work the airport has undertaken over the past few years to improve facilities at the airport.”
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Notes to editors Which? Conducted the survey in June 2014 and asked their members to complete an online survey about their experiences of flying from and to an airport in the UK. Results are based on experiences from 7,011 members. Large airports have four million or more terminal passengers every year. Small airports have fewer than four million passengers.
SSCS visited Mexico for a week in July to attend meetings with the Port Authority and related bodies as well as with PEMEX, the single offshore oil and gas Major in the region.
SSCS recently appointed Canega Offshore Services as their Mexican based agent and used this trip as an opportunity to provide information and product training to their management team.
Following the positive outcome of the meetings SSCS and Canega are in discussions with PEMEX and other key bodies about utilising the SSCS Frond Mats for scour control around offshore assets, as well as for near shore and inshore erosion control requirements.
Such projects would add to the manufacture and supply of the SSCS Frond Mats to overseas clients from our Norfolk base.
SSCS have recently returned from a week long trip to China to spend time with our partner, Shandong Henovo Group, and meet with clients to provide technical presentations and discuss current matters.
During our week in China we met with representatives from all 3 of the Oil & Gas majors – CNOOC, CNPC and SINOPEC – to discuss past and present projects on which SSCS are involved in supplying our Frond Mats for requirements including pipeline freespan remediation works.
The week was very successful with positive outcomes from all meetings including details on future requirements for our Frond Mats, all to be manufactured in Norfolk and exported to China in the coming months / years.
As well as attending technical meetings with clients, SSCS also provided product and installation training to our partners current diving supervisors and a number of their dive team.
When SSCS began working with Henovo in 2006 Henovo did not have their own divers, however following the success of the SSCS Frond Mats in the region and the related work attained by Henovo they have been able to expand significantly and now have over 50 inhouse divers split into 3 dive teams who regularly undertake work using the SSCS Frond Mats.
Following the visit we are certain China will remain one of SSCS’s key export destinations and we will continue to work closely with our partners to ensure successful utilisation of our Mats thoughout the region.
Norwich based web designers, Bigfork, have launched the new website for Oilennium (part of the Petrofac group). Oilennium specialises in e-learning courses for the oil and gas industry and appointed Bigfork to improve their website. The new website needed to showcase their wide range of courses and position them as the oil and gas experts in e-learning.
The new site has a clean, modern look with easy navigation and is designed for mobile devices. The site is powered by a SilverStripe content management system so that Oilennium can update the site inhouse.
“We chose Bigfork to assist in the design and implementation of our new website as they clearly understood our requirements and had the right experience. We are very impressed with the results and would have no hesitation in recommending Bigfork.” Marketing Manager, Oilennium
Wymondham based social business Swarm Apprenticeships has appointed Chris Perry as new Managing Director after 18 months on the non-executive Board.
Chris brings with him a wealth of business and training industry experience from his previous roles as Business Manager at the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce and over ten years working in the apprenticeships industry with national training provider, First 4 Skills.
Chris Perry comments “I am really pleased to be able to step into the role, to work alongside Robert in leading the Swarm team achieve our vision of growing the number of young and talented Enterprise apprentices across the region who will deliver real added value to their employers. Swarm is currently embarking on a new phase of growth and there are a lot of exciting things happening that give our young apprentices the extra support and tools needed to become even more effective in delivering a return on investment for their employers”.
“We find ourselves in the right place at the right time,” added Robert Ashton, Swarm’s founder, “which means growing interest in our philosophy of putting the employer first and making sure they get a measurable return on their investment in every apprentice.”
Chris Reeve, currently on Swarm’s apprenticeship scheme working for Robert Ashton, said this on Chris Perry’s appointment: “I have already learnt a lot of useful tips from Chris and look forward to working alongside him on the way to becoming UK’s No 1 choice in providing Business & Enterprise Apprenticeships.”
Swarm is currently recruiting businesses and potential apprentices from across Norfolk and launches in Suffolk next month. The company was shortlisted recently by social investor Big Issue Invest to take part in their ‘corporate social venturing’ program. This can provide both the investment and support needed to take Swarm national in 2015.
Summer can turn a usually busy office into a place of relaxed deadlines, and no matter how eager you may be to progress with certain projects, the holidays can slow things down somewhat. So ahead of the upswing in activity that September will bring, it’s a good idea to use this time wisely.
Although you may not be as busy as you’d like, you can still make the most of the quieter weeks, to boost your value as an employee.
Since Pure advises with a wide diversity of professionals on their career development, we know just what people need to do in order to give their ambitions the best possible chance.
So, instead of wondering how to progress while you wait for people to start filtering back after the holidays, here’s how you can succeed this August.
Enhance your expertise Now is a great chance to step up your skills. If you’ve been planning some training, but rarely find time to do it, why not talk to your manager about signing up to online courses or attend seminars this month? Whether your specialism is recruitment, bookkeeping or marketing strategy, search for opportunities that’ll increase your value to your employer, especially if you’re thinking of going for a promotion soon.
Increase your industry insight These days most industries move quickly, mainly thanks to technology. When you’re busy with everyday tasks it can be a challenge keeping on top of news from your sector. August is ideal for investing time into researching and subscribing to the best news outlets: from popular bloggers to e-newsletters published by your favourite websites, newspapers or magazines. Social media is also a great source of the latest updates and opinions – follow key spokespeople who’ll top up your industry insight. Your boss will be suitably impressed!
Create ideas with colleagues If the atmosphere in your workplace is more laid back than usual, why not gather together some colleagues to brainstorm new ideas for upcoming projects? With a few people from different areas of your organisation in one room, you could all benefit from exchanging ideas, potentially resulting in new perspectives on challenges. As long as you have a goal in mind, this could be a very fruitful and creative way of spending the quieter weeks.
Refresh your CV and online profile If you are thinking about a making your next career move, now is the time to update your CV and LinkedIn profile. Spend a few evenings listing your latest achievements and new skills, and think about how they can be of value to your own organisation or a new employer. When life gets back to normal in September you’ll be ready to hit the job hunt or set up meetings to explore new opportunities with your current employer.
Plan the work social calendar If nobody in particular is responsible for the social events at work, it’s worthwhile volunteering to do the research and draft a diary of events over the next few months. Such tasks are fun but also time consuming – if your workload has taken a temporary downward turn, get online and google ideas. By using your initiative, you could catch the eye of senior directors who are generally keen for staff to get involved in non-work activities. After all, it all helps maintain everyone’s wellbeing at work.
The school holidays may mean a few weeks when key decisions are put on hold, but as you can see, there are some fantastic ways to give yourself and your career a real lift!
Minister for Life Sciences George Freeman has opened a landmark new building ‘Centrum’in Norwich. The new £11.5M BBSRC funded hub building will be the heart of innovation and enterprise at the Norwich Research Park.
It offering flexible laboratory and office accommodation and a business centrefor the region’s businesses housing bookable meeting rooms with AV/video conferencingat competitive prices plus a drop-in restaurant/café with free Wi-Fi that is open to all.
Centrum will be a hub building for the Park, it will provide commercial space for early-stage, start-up companies in the appropriate sectors looking to locate onto the Park.
Life Sciences Minister George Freeman said: “The Government’s continued investment in Norwich Research Park is helping to create and support a first-class innovation hub in the East of England based on world-leading bioscience. The science community will now be able to share access to this unique and specialist facility that will help to drive growth, foster innovation and support the Norwich, Norfolk and East Anglia life science cluster to create the jobs and businesses of tomorrow.”
Dr Sally Ann Forsyth, Chief Executive Officer for Norwich Research Park said: “With the support of the BBSRC we have been able to create Centrum, a facility that embodies innovation, knowledge exchange and collaboration.”
With the summer holidays upon us, you may currently find yourself juggling family life with the demands of a job. It can be a challenge to make it through the long school break, balancing your work commitments with family life. But we at Pure might just be able to help!
Every mum and dad has their own way of handling the school holiday challenge, but here are a few more ideas to add to your box of tricks.
1. Request flexible working hours At the end of June the government extended the right to request flexible working hours. Formerly only available to people who are carers and those with childcare responsibilities, others can now put in a request to their employers to flex their hours. So now, not only can you request flexible working hours, if you have a relative that is helping with childcare, they can request the same of their employer too. But remember, it’s not guaranteed that you’ll get it – it’s ultimately comes down to their boss’ decision.
2. Informal flexible working If your employer is already letting you flex your hours or do a job share, then continue this conversation throughout the year so you can make holiday arrangements accordingly. Ask if you can start work extra early and finish early so you can make the most of those warm long afternoons and light evenings with your little ones.
3. Use your TOIL If you have accrued lots of time off in lieu (TOIL), you could ‘cash it in’ this summer. As with annual leave, you’ll probably need to schedule it in advance, but if your workplace is quieter than usual, now is the ideal time to use it.
4. Delegate tasks at work Do you have colleagues happy to help during the school holidays by sharing some of your tasks? If their workload is lighter than at other times of year, it’s worth asking if they would mind looking after some of the more straightforward jobs when you’re not there. This can free you up to be with your family. But remember to be ready to support your colleagues in return one day.
5. Plug into your parent network It’s highly likely the other parents in your community are also struggling so it might be an idea to group together and share childcare. If children can spend the day with different parents on a rotation basis, this could save everyone the headache of making other arrangements.
6. Summer clubs for kids How about booking places on a summer club? It could provide your children with the perfect break from the usual school environment. Many local clubs offer fantastic activities such as circus skills workshops, cinema trips, picnics and seaside visits. Children get to spend a few hours a day making new friends, having fun and even learning new skills.. Since many businesses are becoming more and more flexible and supportive, we hope that the long school break will become less stressful as time goes by. In the meantime, we hope our list of ideas helps make summer fun for the whole family!
Abellio Greater Anglia’s last train to Sheringham to run later on Fridays and Saturdays from December 2014 in response to customer and community feedback
Abellio Greater Anglia is to move the last train departure from Norwich to Sheringham on Fridays and Saturdays back from 22.45 to 23.05 from December – 5 months earlier than was expected to be possible. The train operator had originally proposed the move to the Bittern Line Community Rail Partnership in response to local customer and community feedback. To enable the positive change to take place Network Rail has kindly agreed to adjust their essential overnight safety and operational maintenance arrangements. The infrastructure operator already only has a short window between 00.45 and 05.00 to undertake its track maintenance work and checks.
The timetable improvement will enable residents or visitors in North Norfolk to enjoy longer evenings out in Norwich and make it more practical to take the train to see some theatre and cinema performances. It also means that passengers can catch a later train back from London after a day out in the capital (the 20.00 instead of the 19.30).
The upgrade will be another boost for the line, which in October will see the start of all year round hourly Sunday services, as part of a series of Sunday service improvements being introduced on the Marks Tey – Sudbury, Norwich – Sheringham, Ipswich – Lowestoft, Norwich – Lowestoft and Norwich – London routes.
Commenting on the Friday and Saturday night service improvement Jonathan Denby, Head of Corporate Affairs said:
“We’re very pleased to able to provide a later last train departure to Sheringham on Fridays and Saturdays from December this year. We initiated the plans to deliver this improvement following local customer and community feedback, allied with support from the Bittern Line Community Rail Partnership. Thanks to the assistance of Network Rail adjusting their maintenance schedules, not only are we able to make this positive change, but we are able to do so 5 months earlier than expected. It will enable residents and visitors to enjoy more options for nights out in Norwich, thereby also supporting the local economy and local businesses.”
Ted Gadsden Chairman of the Bittern Line Community Rail Partnership (CRP) said:
“We are delighted that the last train from Norwich to Sheringham on Friday and Saturday nights will be moving to 23.05 (from 22.45). It is great news for passengers and communities along the line and will be another step forward after the extension of the hourly Sunday service to all year round operation from October. The Bittern Line continues to thrive and the combination of Abellio Greater Anglia, the CRP and the local community working together make a real impact on the quality of life for rural communities.”
Norwich Airport’s Giant Step towards Step Free Aircraft Access
Norwich International Airport has taken a giant step to becoming one of the first UK airports to implement Aviramp’s aircraft boarding ramps. These ramps are self-contained mobile passenger boarding system designed to provide access for all including passengers with reduced mobility.
The Aviramp, which was introduced in July, has already made a huge impact on the way the airport handles many passengers with reduced mobility and wheelchair users. In most cases these passengers can board aircraft under their own steam with the dignity that ramp access offers.
For all other travelling passengers, children and parents carrying children can board without needing to negotiate a steep staircase. Elderly passengers and nervous passengers do not face the daunting climb up steep stairs when beginning their journey, just a nice stroll up the ramp.
For the airline the Aviramp offers a new dimension of guaranteed on-time turnaround. The equipment removes any reliance on secondary high lift equipment for disabled passengers, as all passengers can board and disembark through one point of access. Aviramp brings all the benefits of a traditional style terminal connected jet-ways to the Airport’s stands, which in turn promotes satisfied passengers who do not experience delays.
Andrew Bell, CEO of Norwich International Airport said: “We are committed to making the airport experience an easier, speedier and less stressful one for all of our passengers and the arrival of the Aviramp system is another step towards improving their journey through the airport”
Aviramp is the world’s only provider of portable jet bridges designed to provide one point of access for all passengers including those with reduced mobility. The Shropshire based company designed a product line which allows passengers with reduced mobility to board and disembark an aircraft in a similar way in which abled passenger board when jet ways are not available. Managing Director, Graham Corfield devised the idea in 2009 and launched the product in 2010. Since then Aviramp has been brought by a number of airports all over the world; Japan, Kuwait, Italy, France and America.
Graham comments “It’s been a long hard slog to get Aviramp to what it is today, especially as I soon realised that it is more difficult to change the way an industry operates than I first thought. The ramps are now sold worldwide except for the UK and one of my personal milestones has been to bring Aviramp into the here. When management from Norwich first visited our plant they immediately saw the benefits that it could bring to the airport. Thanks to their vision of the future, that milestone is now achieved and I am sure that other airports will look at Norwich with envy and follow their lead – thanks very much Norwich “
Blue Sky Professional Development to deliver internationally recognised training to local managers
Local business leaders in East Anglia are being encouraged to gain the edge over their competition by taking management qualifications from the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), which will soon be delivered in Norwich by Blue Sky Professional Development.
Blue Sky Professional Development has recently successfully achieved the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) Approved Centre status and will begin delivering ILM qualifications from the autumn 2014.
Joining the largest awarding body for leadership and management qualifications in the UK and a global network of over 2,000 accredited centres, Blue Sky Professional Development will offer qualifications in Leadership and Management at levels 3 and 5.
Throughout ILM training, participants work through the skills needed to manage their teams effectively and make sure they are achieving organisational goals.
Beth Russell said: “We went through a rigorous approval process to achieve our ILM status and are delighted that we will provide specialist leadership and management qualifications to individuals and employers from our local area. We are registering students now for a start in the autumn”
“We would strongly encourage anyone in a position of leadership or management to consider taking an ILM qualification. By investing in management development, organisations can ensure that their leaders are confident in their abilities and able to lead employees through the challenging times ahead. Nurturing effective leaders through management development is the single most cost-effective investment.”
ILM qualifications are designed to help managers increase staff efficiency and motivation, ensuring that their businesses run at an optimum level of productivity. Training courses can be tailored to the needs of individual organisations and their managers.
For further information about ILM qualifications soon to be available from Blue Sky Professional Development please visit www.blueskypd.co.uk
For further information please contact: Beth Russell 01603 821177