EAST MIDLANDSFASTEST 40 All the winnersROUND TABLE Renewable energyMIPIMFlying the flagwww.blmgroup.co.uWWW.EASTMIDLANDSBUSINESSLINK.CO.UKMARCH 2015EAST MIDLANDS LEADING BUSINESS E-MAGFINE TUNING THEMIDLANDS ENGINEROOM We’re the experts.www.demystifythecloud.co.uk @demystifycloud info@demystifythecloud.co.uk Want to move to the cloud?demystifydemystifyworking in the cloudworking in the cloudEDITOR’S NOTESwww.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link 3There has been much talk lately of devolution, and what this will mean for the regions.Typically, the northern cities of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and right across to Hull havebeen vociferous about creating what they're calling a 'Northern Powerhouse'. Whither theMidlands?Enter David Cameron and George Osborne, who, on a recent visit rto Bombardier in Derbysaid that the Midlands was the 'engine room' of the economy. Cue much misty-eyed reverieabout the region's manufacturing base, but there might just been something in this.John Forkin, at our pre-MIPIM round table, pushed forward the idea that the Midlands - Eastand West - should come together, with Birmingham as it's "capital" and other outlying citiessupporting it. Those who have been around the East and West Midlands for any period of time will knowthat bringing the two regions together is not simply a matter of holding hands and hoping forthe best. Forkin tabled the idea that the decision should be taken out of the hands of politicians,who are sometimes led by their ego, and handed over to businesses, who he said had a bettersense of "economic reality". It's hard to disagree. There is a danger, as Heather Dixon of Flint Bishop pointed out at the same event, thatBirmingham thinks it can do it all alone, but that would be a mistake. The East Midlandsactually has a larger manufacturing base than its counterpart in the West, and if the region is tochallenge not only on a national but also an international basis then a way of moving forwardas a unified region has to be seriously considered at every level.Of course, this could be a slow burner. It's only recently that the realistion that Derby,Leicester and Nottingham can't thrive in perfect isolation has come to the fore. It could takeyears before the East and West Midlands comes to the same conclusion. But it's surely a paththat we should all pursue keenly?Sam MetcalfEditorCome together W ContentsMarch 2015Latest News 6The latest news from the regionAppointments8Who’s moving where Property News 10All the latest from the property sectorCommercial Property 12With no new build coming to the market, refurbishmentprojects are gathering pace in the city to satisfy pent updemand.• Innes EnglandThe Bricks15Fast-expanding law firm Buckles is the latest business tothrow its weight behind The Bricks - East MidlandsBusiness Link’s brand new commercial property awards.Round Table17Can companies and organisations which are early adoptersof renewable energy get a lead on their rivals? Our latestround table, sponsored by SHARC and the EnergyTechnologies Institute, answered the questions.Fastest 40 Awards 20It was a great night for Matthew Tucker, the founder andmanaging director of consulting engineers Morgan Tucker,who was crowned overall winner at East MidlandsBusiness Link’s Fastest 40 Awards.Manufacturing 22Manufacturing set for 4th Industrial RevolutionJohn van Geest Cancer Research Centre24MIPIM26As the commercial property sector packs its bags for itsannual jaunt to Cannes for the MIPIM show, East MidlandsBusiness Link takes a look around the region to find outwhat our cities will be showcasing.Recruitment 28What makes a good recruiter, and what do businessesneed when they’re looking to staff up? We asked two ofthe region’s best-known recruitment professionals to giveus their verdict.Coaching 30Stuart Ross of Global High Growth was recently workingwith a successful company in Silicon Valley when the issueof recruitment was raised...Clumber Consultancy 32Set in the heart of Sherwood Forest, Clumber Consultancyare a niche Pension Trustee practice with the ability to findsuitable insurance arrangements for most businesses.Business Choices 33We all have choices… By Vicky Bailey of Delphinus tmcPartnerships 34Chris Smith, CEO at digital recruitment specialist OpinioGroup, advises on the peaks and pitfalls of choosing theright business partner.Public Relations 35According to Greg Simpson of Press for Attention PR,someone once said: “Eighty per cent of success isshowing up.”Motoring36Competition is fierce in the executive car market which isgood news for buyers as build quality, standard equipmentand comfort are all now better than ever. But, whichmodels cut it and which don’t? Here’s our selection ofwhat’s hot and what’s not…• Soper BMW• Smart forfourConstruction 42Designing schools means designing projects by JoeTaylor, Franklin Ellis Associates420East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk24EditorSam Metcalfs.metcalf@blmgroup.co.ukAdvertisingLisa Muckle l.muckle@blmgroup.co.ukAccounts & SubscriptionsAngela Sharman, Dawn Cookaccounts@blmgroup.co.ukTel: (01472) 310301 Fax: (01472) 310311Design & ProductionGary Jorgensen, Mark Casson,Rachel Greenstudio@blmgroup.co.ukTel: (01472) 310304Fax: (01472) 310314E-Mail:eastmidlands@blmgroup.co.ukPublisherHaychart Ltd, t/a Business Link Magazine Group,Armstrong House, Armstrong Street, Grimsby, N.E. Lincs., DN31 2QE.All rights reserved. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, transmitted, photocopied,recorded or otherwise without expresspermission of the copyright holder, for whichapplication should be addressed first to thepublisher. While every reasonable care is taken,neither the publisher nor its participating agentsaccept liability for loss or damage to prints,colour transparencies, negatives or othermaterial of whatever nature submitted to thispublication. The views expressed in thispublication are not necessarily the views of thoseheld by the publisher.@BLMEastMidlandsBLMEastMidlands5www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East MidlandsBusiness Link Cover photo:shutterstock.com/donvictorioShakespeares set for WaterfrontHouse moveLaw firm Shakespeares is set to leave its Friar Lane offices next month - andmove into Waterfront House, next to the city's railway station.Speaking to East Midlands Business Link, Shakespeares' new chief executiveAndy Raynor said that the move would mean "better connections" for staff andclients, and that the firm was committed to staying in Nottingham and Leicestercity centres.Raynor also said that although Shakespeares would continue to growthrough acquisitions, there was also room for organic expansion."Any acquisitions we make will be strategic rather than opportunistic," hesaid. "This is a £50m-plus turnover company, and we have to celebrate andbuild on what we have achieved. We've got people of huge quality in thisbusiness, some very ambitious people, and I want them to go out there and -not to put too finer point on it - win clients from our opposition."Raynor, who is spending his time between Shakespeares East and WestMidlands offices, says he's learned from past experiences when it comes togrowing through acquisition. "What I know now is that the business you'rebuying or merging with has to be the right fit. I've also learned that you needthe right non-executives on board to give you the most useful advice."Speaking about future acquisitions, Raynor said that Shakespeares wouldcontinue to look at the Nottingham legal market. He said: "I do think the legalsector in Nottingham holds some great opportunities, and this capacity togenerate opportunities is something to celebrate. However, we'll take a one-step approach, geographically, when it comes to future acquisitions ormergers."Raynor took over as chief executive at Shakespeares in January, after PaulWilson announced he was leaving to take a position in Canada.Burton software company wins Aussie contractsBurton-on-Trent software developer BookWise Solutions has won a trio of international contracts with hospitals in Australia, and isforecasting a leap in annual sales.The new business wins come as the company says it is on course to achieve record sales figures, with a 50 per cent rise in turnoveron the previous year.Facilities managers at the Box Hill, Maroondah and Yarra Ranges Health hospitals, Melbourne, have chosen BookWise’s schedulingsoftware which helps staff to quickly allocate appointments to the appropriate clinical staff, improving efficiency, reducing costs andensuring patient appointments run on time.BookWise’s managing director Denise Williamson said: “We secured a contract to supply the Oncology Department at the RoyalMelbourne hospital in 2012 and were able to make reference to the success of this project in order to influence the hospital’s nearneighbours.“Consummate health professionals often share good practice and thankfully BookWise was a central pillar of the new, efficientworking practices introduced at the Royal Melbourne.”BookWise also supplies the healthcare sector with oncology, outpatient and renal care products.Three new FoodEnterprise ZonesFood Enterprise Zones (FEZs) that will "unleash theentrepreneurial spirit of the East Midlands’ countryside andlocal food producers" are to be created, the government hasannounced.In Lincolnshire funding has been allocated to create threeFEZs.The Lincolnshire Agricultural Showground and HemswellCliff Business Park have been allocated funding to build a foodenterprise zone to grow local food businesses. A partnershipwith Bishop Burton College will also see support training,research and technology development opportunities.The National Centre for Food Manufacturing in Holbeachwill support development of a food enterprise zone aimed atsmall and medium sized food businesses, and start-upbusinesses.In Leicestershire funding has been allocated to foodbusinesses in Melton – home to iconic foods such as theMelton Mowbray Pork Pie and Stilton Cheese – to improvesupply chains and make it easier for farmers to expand theirfacilities and grow their businesses.Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “FoodEnterprise Zones will help unlock the potential of local foodand farming businesses, boosting local economies andattracting more investment.“Consumers both here and abroad want to buy GreatBritish food. These zones will ensure we can grow more topquality produce and expand our food industry, which is worthmore than £100bn a year to the UK economy – more than carsand aerospace combined.“Food and farming is at the heart of our long-termeconomic plan and vital to securing Britain’s economicfuture.”Grants of up to £50,000 will be available to set up FEZs.East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk6LATEST NEWSNorthantslogistics firm tocreate 100 jobsA logistics company in Northampton isset to train and recruit up to 100 newdelivery drivers in the next 12 months.Set up by the directors of Northamptonbased Action Express, AE Driver Trainingand Recruitment will fund the full cost ofCategory C+E licences and provide aguaranteed full time job for those whopass.The move follows Transport Secretary,Patrick McLoughlin’s warning of drivershortages ahead of Christmas, which sawconsumers urged to shop earlier to avoiddisappointment.Building on 33 years’ experience in the logistics industry, the new company will provideprofessionally trained delivery drivers for local businesses.Elaine Harries, who setup the new company with business partner Syed Ziaullah, said:“There’s currently a major shortage of Category C + E drivers here in the UK, while at thesame time the ever increasing popularity of internet retailing has meant there is greaterdemand for drivers than ever before.“In order to attract more people into the industry we’ve made the decision to fully fund thecost of acquiring up to a Category C+E licence, with a guaranteed full time job at the end forthose that pass.”KPMG commits toLeicester andNottinghamAn accountancy giant has committed itself tostaying in Leicester and Nottingham city centresafter its new senior partner for the East Midlandssaid that moving to out-of-town offices "isn'tsomething we're prepared to do."Ian Borley, who took over from Wayne Coxearlier this month, said that KPMG's clients expectthem to stay in the city centre. "Our clients demandthat we're close to them, and so, whilst I canunderstand why some firms might want to moveto out-of-town locations, it's not something we'reprepared to do."KPMG has sizeable offices in both cities, andwhilst rivals such as Cooper Parry have moved outof Nottingham and Leicester, Borley says his firmwon't be following them.He added: "It's important that we're in closeproximity of the city centre, as we find it helps uskeep well-connected to businesses, something thatcan be difficult if you're out of town."Borley did tell East Midlands Business Link thatKPMG operates as one practice across the twocities, and that he'd been spending more and moretime in Nottingham over the past year."The new role is a natural progression for me,"he said. "When Wayne Cox announced he wasstepping down, it was the obvious thing for me totake over. I've obviously got a bigger team and abigger patch across Leicestershire,Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire even across intoLincolnshire."We've got ambitious growth targets for thebusiness, and we're looking more and more atSMEs and owner-managed businesses. We're alsoseeing a marked growth in transactions - the M&Amarket has really picked up, and we need to bringthat to bear in the minds of KPMG's local clients."Borley takes over from Cox, who spent 29 yearswith the firm.Sellick Partnership on the move inDerbyRecruitment business Sellick Partnership have moved to new premises on Pride Park inDerby.The team are now based in Donington House in Pride Park.Nikki Graham, associate director of the Midlands team said: “It is a great time for our teamto be moving to this new office. Demand for our recruitment offering is at a peak and ourheadcount has doubled over the past 12 months in order to continue delivering the qualitythat our clients have come to expect.”“Confidence has returned to the jobs market over the past 18 months, with a wealth ofopportunities arising in both the commercial and public sector for finance, procurement andproject management professionals, and whilst we remained busy with temporary roles duringthe recession, we’ve seen a 35 per cent rise in permanent roles since the start of 2014.”Sellick Partnership has forecast growth across all business streams for the end of itsfinancial year, and Spring 2015 will see the opening its seventh office in London, the first inthe South of England.www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link 7LATEST NEWSOrchid IT founder joins PKFCooper ParryPKF Cooper Parry has appointed serial entrepreneur Brett Critchley to head up its ITteam, as it looks to expand its Microsoft Cloud offering, infrastructure & IToutsourcing services.Critchley established his first company, Orchid IT in 1996. Initially working fromhis bedroom at home, the Derbyshire company turned over £10m before beingsold to GCI in 2011.Critchley said: “As soon as I met Ade Cheatham CEO, and the other partners, Iknew PKF Cooper Parry was a place I wanted to work. You walk in and you see200 plus people with smiles on their faces in a vibrant, quirky office - and the lastthing you think is ‘accountants’.“The people, the culture and the outlook are exactly in line with my experienceand skills – particularly the strong focus on putting customer service at theforefront of the business. What really drew me to PKF Cooper Parry was the factthat, yes, they are a very well respected firm of accountants and businessadvisers, but they also offer a really robust and impressive IT solution on top ofthat.“This role will be a fresh challenge for me and I can’t wait to get started. AtPKF Cooper Parry there is already a well established growing IT team, and myremit will be to strategically enhance that success.“This will include expanding the suite of cloud services on offer, improvingthe firm’s voice, data and infrastructure offering and expanding its DynamicsNAV provision.”Vicky Dytrych, director of IT, said Brett’s appointment was an important stepforward in the team’s development.She said: “Our vision is to be the number one IT Solutions provider in theMidlands and we know that Brett will help us achieve that goal.“He has a wealth of experience in the sector, having set up the number one ITprovider in Derby from scratch himself. We are keen to take direction from Brett inhelping us to get our customer service to its best level yet, ensuring we areproviding the best in class service to our clients.“We are currently seeing more opportunities and enquiries than ever before andwe know this interest, particularly in Cloud, is only going to keep growing. Byappointing Brett, we are making sure we are ready for that increased demand andready with a service that will be second to none.”APPOINTMENT NEWSLee lands at BibbyBibby Financial Services has added to its corporatefinance team with theappointment of BarryLee as corporatemanager in theEast Midlands.Vastlyexperienced,Lee joins Bibbyfrom GE Capital.He said: “Thecorporatefinance team atBibby FinancialServices is the bestin the industry and I’mdelighted with my newrole. I’m looking forward tohelping establish our presence in the corporate marketin the Midlands even further.”Formed in 2012, BFS’ Corporate team is focused ondeveloping larger transactions. Over the past two yearsthe team has structured 270 deals, providing availablefunds of £220million.Corporate sales director for Bibby Financial Services,Kevin Craven, said: “Our corporate team is a force to bereckoned with and over the past two years we haveperformed exceptionally well, delivering on our promiseof speed and professionalism. We are growing our teamand have big ambitions, so I’m delighted to welcomeBarry to the business.“With his extensive experience and knowledge of thecorporate funding environment, I’m confident Barry willbe a great asset to us.”Lee is based in the funder’s Leicester office and isresponsible for developing invoice finance and assetbased transactions for businesses with turnover of £5mor more.East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk8Williams races in to Grant ThorntonBusiness and finance adviser Grant Thornton has appointed Eddie Williams as partner to leadthe firm’s restructuring team in the Midlands.Williams has spent 18 years working in the region, most recently leading PwC’s restructuringteam in the East Midlands.In the last three years, Williams has led the administration and sale of both camera retailerJessops and WR Refrigeration.He said: “I am pleased to be joining an organisation with a proven track record of delivering forits clients within the region and strong ambitions for growth, particularly within advisory services.As part of Grant Thornton’s restructuring team within the UK of over 600 people and a corporatefinance team leading the way in the mid- market, I believe we are ideally placed to provide theexpertise and sector insight that our clients expect whilst maintaining the personal relationshipsthat are key to working effectively in restructuring advisory services within the Midlands.“As the economy grows, the strategic decisions facing many local businesses and theirmanagement teams such as funding, expansion, sale, restructuring or exit are likely to come intofocus. This will create challenges that we are well placed to support as the restructuring team hasdone on recent assignments such as Eco Plastics, Specialist Computer Bookshops and John CheatleGroup.”Geoff Davies, head of Grant Thornton’s Advisory business in the Midlands, added: “Eddie’s arrivaladds further depth to our advisory services to clients. His track record demonstrates complementaryskills to those of Raj Mittal and the wider restructuring team and I am looking forward very much toworking with him.”Two hires for HalbornsEmployment law firm Halborns has appointed twonew members of staff at its city centre Nottinghamoffice.Stefan Mars joins as a senior associate, whilstMatthew Dennis has been appointed as a legal assistantto provide research and ‘Intelligent Employment’assistance.Director Ginny Hallam said: “Stefan and Matt havebeen recruited to ensure that we deliver beyondexpectations and can offer our clients somethingdifferent from the usual, traditional law firm approach.”Hampton set tomake animpressionDigital marketing expert LauraHampton has joined Nottingham-based agency Impression fromHallam Internet.Her appointment is the sixth in asmany months for Impression, whichwas founded in November 2012 byuniversity graduates Tom Craig andAaron Dicks.Craig said: “We’re pleased towelcome Laura to the team as wecarry on growing the companyand winning new clients this year.“In order to be able to providethe best service to businesses inthe East Midlands, we need to have the best people working for us. Having Laura on boardmeans we have a team of digital marketing experts to rival any Nottingham agency, and in acompany that’s less than three years old.“Laura’s industry knowledge is second-to-none and her reputation for delivering results isendorsed by leaders of businesses big and small right across the region.”Buckles hiresHargrave asconstruction teamgrowsLaw firm Buckles has appointed KarenHargrave as senior associate. She joins from anin-house role in Derby.Previously, Hargrave spent 13 years atFreeths in Nottingham and Derby, where shewas a procurement, development andconstruction specialist acting for clients in thepublic and private sector.James Coppinger, head of office inNottingham, said: “Over the past couple ofyears, the construction and developmentindustry has boomed, and our business in thissector has increased exponentially. We’vebeen looking to recruit someone with Karen’slevel of expertise for some time, so we’redelighted that she’s joined our growing teamin Nottingham. Her skill set will alsocompliment our commercial property andplanning services allowing us to provide a“one stop” solution to our developmentclients.“We’re convinced Karen will settle intoour Nottingham office well, and she bringswith her a host of high-profile contacts.The fact we continue to attract top classlawyers is testament to our growingprofile and reputation in the city.”Hargrave added: “It’s great to returnto Nottingham after a period ofworking in Derby – and especiallywith such a progressive andambitious firm as Buckles.Nottingham is certainly goingplaces, and I’m excited to be partof that.“My role at Buckles allows mean invaluable level ofautonomy, which means I canget extremely close to clientsand ensure we deliver abespoke service to meetand exceed theirrequirements.”APPOINTMENT NEWSwww.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link 9Next >