Solicitors’ care conference supports local charities
Law firm Timms Solicitors have presented cheques to two local charities following its annual childcare conference for fellow professionals which focused on the impact of family proceedings on siblings and how they are treated by the legal system.
The firm organised its tenth annual conference recently at Derby’s Pride Park Stadium which was attended by delegates from across the East Midlands including social workers, CAFCASS, barristers and many solicitors from four Local Authorities and from private practice.
The aim of the conference was to provide a thought-provoking insight into how siblings are treated in care and adoption proceedings and beyond. Guest speakers included Daniel Monk – Professor of Law at Birkbeck, University of London and leading academic and researcher in this field; Consultant Clinical Psychologist Dr Jacqueline Lynch and Barrister David Payne.
The not-for-profit event raised £500 which was split between Derby and Burton child contact centre where non-resident parents or grandparents and their children can meet, play and interact.
Timms managing partner Fiona Moffat, who presented the cheques, said: “This was the largest care conference that we have organised to share key topical knowledge across the profession, giving advice and understanding to help everyone in their day to day jobs.
“Timms always donate to a charity as part of this event and we were delighted to again support Derby and Burton Child Contact Centres who have a very important role to play in the childcare system.”
Practical completion reached for major new Nottingham logistics scheme
Construction of a significant new logistics facility in Nottingham has reached practical completion, delivering 362,289 sq ft of warehouse and distribution space.
The development has been funded by Barwood Capital’s Regional Property Growth Fund IV and delivered in partnership with Premcor Estates.
Situated just five minutes from Junction 26 of the M1 motorway, Nottingham 360 is a high-bay logistics / production facility with a warehouse on the ground floor of 329,415 sq ft and additional office space of 32,874 sq ft, which includes a hub office to the service yard.
“Nottingham 360 is ideally located in the heart of the UK road network with good accessibility to the M1 motorway and strong employment demographics. With a key focus on ESG, the development has achieved BREEAM Excellent, Net Zero in construction and is Net Zero in operation enabled,” said Adam Smith, Asset Management Director at Barwood Capital.
Simon Hawkins, Director at Premcor Estates, added: “Nottingham 360 offers a best-in-class logistics and production facility with leading ESG credentials. We look forward to working with Barwood and the joint agents in letting the building. We are encouraged by the positive level of demand we are seeing in the market.”
The scheme has been delivered by Winvic as main contractor and C4 Projects and Project Manager. Occupiers nearby include DHL, DPD, Bestway Wholesale and ASDA.
Retained agents for the scheme are James Clements and Edward Kennerley of Knight Frank and Steve Moriarty of Moriarty & Co.
Planning and listed building consent granted for former Bennetts store in Derby
Commercial property investment company, Manston Investments Ltd, has obtained planning and listed building consent to repurpose its property at 8-9 Iron Gate in the heart of Derby city centre.
The property, still known to many in Derby as ‘the former Bennetts Department store’, became vacant just before the first Covid lockdown when the former business went into administration.
The building amounts to over 36,000 sq ft over four floors, together with an extensive basement. It has been adapted many times since it first became a department store in the late 19th century to provide the labyrinth of space people remember from the old ‘Bennetts’ days.
With the help of a local team comprising architects JSA Consulting, cost consultants Armsons Barlow, and Heritage Planners Urban Fabric, the approved scheme will provide a range of accommodation much better suited to town centre uses post Covid.
Partial demolition at the rear of number 8 will allow for secondary access and a goods receiving area – this will also facilitate better daylighting to the upper floors. Internally, the former large single occupier space will be divided to cater for a variety of independent uses.
The approved plans show two smaller independent ground floor units fronting Iron Gate and suited to retail, food and beverage or other leisure uses. There will be an independent suite of offices to the rear, and a first floor with potential for open plan or serviced office use. The upper floors show eight residential units.
Allowing for the proposed demolition, the building will offer a total area in its proposed format of approximately 30,000 sq ft.
Commenting on the proposed scheme, Tom Boardman-Weston, director of Manston Investments said: “This has been a lengthy process due to the historic single use nature of the building and also the Grade 2 Listed status of number 9 Iron Gate.
“Repurposing the floorspace to attract a range of current day uses more readily has been a complicated task, but we are delighted that a way forward is now clearer.”
John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, added: “We are delighted to see that Derby City Council has granted planning permission and look forward to working with Manston Investments to shape a new chapter for a wonderful building that has played an important role, both in Derby’s heritage and in its future.”
Manston Investments intends to bring the property to the market early in the New Year and has instructed joint agents Rigby & Co. and OMEETO in this regard.
Subsidence specialist secures seven-figure loan to support acquisitions
A Midlands-based business which specialises in subsidence monitoring has secured a seven-figure debt funding package from Frontier Development Capital (FDC) to support its acquisition plans.
SML Group has already acquired and successfully integrated six businesses in the past 10 years and now employs 160 staff at its headquarters in Leicester and its offices in Edinburgh, Peterborough, Norfolk, Swansea and Arundel, Sussex.
The group operates through a range of brands including My Home Needs, Subsidence Monitoring, Geo Info, Landmark Surveys, Ratcliff Land Surveys, Drillline GPR and The Survey Store. In addition to subsidence monitoring for loss adjusters and insurers, it provides geo-spatial surveys and geo-technical services including materials testing and inspection to the construction industry.
SML Group has doubled its turnover in the past 18 months to £12m and aims to continue this rapid growth in the next five years through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. The business was founded in 2007 by subsidence specialist Thomas Harpin in response to the growing demand for monitoring services.
Thomas Harpin, who is the group’s CEO, said: “SML Group aims to bring innovation into the traditional world of surveying by providing a single point of contact for multiple services and adopting the latest technologies to give our clients added value.
“We have a strong track record for integrating and successfully growing the businesses we acquire. Surveying is a very fragmented market with lots of small firms so we see scope for further acquisitions. The funding will support our ambition to become the largest multi-disciplinary surveying company in the UK.”
The Frontier Development Capital team included Charlie Robinson and Kathryn Hoverd. Charlie Robinson, Investment Director, said: “Tom and his team have impressed us with their strategic and operational approach to the subsidence industry.
“SML Group is already a leading service provider and has a clear plan for expansion via both organic and acquisitive growth. This funding will allow the business to take advantage of the opportunities and continue on its growth path. We are looking forward to partnering with the business on its next stage of development.”
Stephen Humphrey provided fundraising advice to the company and will take on the role of group Chairman going forward. Paul Tallon and Olivia Dowdeswell of Cooper Parry provided financial due diligence to FDC while Iain Wright of Claritas provided tax advice to the company. Chris Jones, Karem Al-Dahleh and Ginny Tan of Gateley plc provided legal advice to FDC, while BHW provided legal advice to SML Group.
Partnership delivers 348 new homes to Nottingham city centre
blocwork, the partnership between Network Rail and property developer bloc Group, has completed its first build-to-rent scheme for Grainger plc in Nottingham.
The Barnum – a 348-home scheme situated adjacent to the city’s railway station – was delivered in partnership between blocwork and Grainger, the listed residential landlord, and marks the regeneration of a significant area of brownfield land.
The scheme is the first delivered in partnership between blocwork and Grainger, and follows the recent announcement that they will partner again with the potential to deliver some 2,000 new purpose-built BTR homes across sites in major cities across the UK.
Richard Thomas, development director at bloc Group, said: “blocwork was created with the aim of repurposing railway land and buildings into sustainable long-term assets, and The Barnum has been a great project to kick the partnership off.
“As well as the partnership with Network Rail, we’ve worked very closely with Grainger and the contractor Graham to create a development that not only brings much-needed new homes to Nottingham, but also brings life to an area of the city that had previously been restricted to railway infrastructure.”
Robin Dobson, group property director at Network Rail, said: “Combining Network Rail’s infrastructure experience with the private sector development expertise of bloc Group has proved to be a fruitful partnership, which is clear by the successful launch of The Barnum.
“Delivering developments through Partnerships like blocwork are important for Network Rail Property as we look to build housing and mixed-use regeneration across our brownfield estate in a way that can be accelerated and scaled across our portfolio.”
Curve hails one of its most successful years with turnover at an all-time high
Leicester’s Curve theatre has released its 2022/23 Annual Report, detailing one of the theatre’s most successful ever years, with turnover at an all-time high of £17m.
The first full year of in-person performances and activities since the pandemic, across the year Curve welcomed 249,900 audience members to see work on its stages. Under the theatre’s Made at Curve banner of produced and co-produced work, 840,500 tickets were sold at the theatre’s Leicester home, on tour nationally and internationally.
Off-stage, Curve reported more than 30,000 participants of all ages engaged with its learning, community and artist development work, and the theatre continued to inspire local pupils and students, with over 430 schools and colleges attending performances and participating in activities.
2022/23 also saw the first full year of Curve’s Neighbour-Hubs programme, an initiative which aims to develop long-term, meaningful and creative partnerships with schools, SEND and Alternative Education Providers, and Community and Elders groups across five key areas in Leicester city identified as having high levels of deprivation, high levels of ethnic diversity or low levels of engagement with Curve.
Curve continued its commitment to supporting and developing local artists, with over 1,100 creatives, theatre-makers and practitioners taking part in its artist development sessions across the year, and 44 local artists taking part in its New Work Festival.
Speaking about the 2022/23 report, Curve’s Chief Executive Chris Stafford and Artistic Director Nikolai Foster said: “In the first full year we’ve been able to welcome audiences in-person since the pandemic, it’s a testament to all the terrific artists, creatives, practitioners, partners and of course, Team Curve, we can report 2022/23 as arguably Curve’s most successful year to date in so many ways.
“On stage we have shared phenomenal work, and off-stage there is equal cause for celebration, with our community, learning and artist development work thriving.”
Thanks to higher than ever ticket sales at its Leicester home and on tour, Curve has reported a turnover of more than £17m across the year, however, the success comes at a time of increasing costs and further squeezes on audience members’ budgets.
“Whilst we celebrate these highlights,” Stafford and Foster continued, “we must also consider these achievements within the context of a challenging landscape. This year has seen soaring production costs, rising electricity rates (leaving our theatre facing a six-figure bill increase) and a cost of living crisis further squeezing budgets.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to maintain our artistic ambitions, our community engagement programmes and our accessible pricing, but we must acknowledge and be mindful of the fact that we are navigating an exceptionally difficult period.
“We know the next few years will continue to be a challenge for both Curve and our industry, but we remain ambitious and determined for our future success. Our sincere thanks go to Team Curve, our Board of Trustees, our principal funders Arts Council England and Leicester City Council and all of our loyal audiences and supporters – you all play a vital role in making Curve the special place it is.”
2024 Business Predictions: Kul Mahay, founder of Ignite Your Inner Potential
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Kul Mahay, emotional intelligence expert and founder of Ignite Your Inner Potential.
The culture within workplaces is changing – and organisations will need to continue to work at relationships with employees and be certain of their core values if they are to succeed in 2024.
Over the past few months, I have seen more and more organisations ensuring that their goals and their ethos aligns with that of their employees and clients or, quite bluntly, they’re cutting ties. We’re a changed world, and leaders need to stay relevant and informed if they are to retain talented members of staff.
People are our greatest resource as business owners and they need to be seen, heard, valued and appreciated. Creating workplace cultures where people are looked after, and feel psychologically safe is probably the number one priority right now. Only then can they thrive.
Organisations need to understand the power of Human Centred Leadership and the value that it can bring in getting the best from your people. Virgin’s Richard Branson is a great example of a human-centric leader; he’s consistently good and knows the value of people.
We will see lots of varying leadership styles in the spotlight over the next 12 months, especially with a general election looming. It will be interesting to see and study the contrasting methods of leadership, and maybe take a few notes to bring back to the workplace.
Flex office operator supports nationwide literacy campaign
Flex office operator, Cubo, has thrown its support behind a campaign aimed at transforming children’s lives through the joy of reading – and has launched its own fundraising campaign aimed at encouraging members and businesses to ‘Gift a Child a Book at Christmas.’
The company, which has nine sites across the UK including two workspaces in Nottingham and one in Derby, has adopted Bookmark Reading Charity as its annual charity for 2024 and is encouraging donations from Cubo members and the wider business community to provide books to children across the area.
Recent SATs results from July 2023 have revealed that one in four children leave primary school without the ability to read proficiently. In addition, the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers has reached its widest point in a decade (FEA, 2022).
Bookmark was founded by Sharon Pindar in 2018 and aims to change children’s life stories through the joy of reading.
A data driven, impact-focused charity, Bookmark works with children who face barriers to becoming readers by providing one-to-one reading programmes, both online and in person.
The charity also equips schools with dedicated resources to offer wraparound support, providing diverse, high-quality books, materials for extracurricular reading, and on-going support for teacher training and development.
As part of its mission, Bookmark aims to deliver 50,741 one-to-one reading sessions to children over the next year. This time, when scheduled back-to-back equates to three years of non-stop reading. The charity also aims to send out thousands of books and reading resources to children across the country, putting them directly into the hands of children who need them most.
Commenting on their partnership with Bookmark, Rebecca Brough, CMO at Cubo, said: “We’re thrilled to announce Bookmark as our annual charity for 2024 and are really excited to be launching our ‘Gift a Child a Book at Christmas’ fundraising campaign.
“We believe that access to books is fundamental to a child’s development, and through our partnership with Sharon and her team at Bookmark, we hope to make a difference to the lives of young readers.
“All our management team have young families and share Bookmark’s passion for fostering a love for reading and providing vital resources to children in need.
“We hope Cubo members, and the wider business community will support our Christmas campaign and the other exciting initiatives we have planned for 2024.”
Sharon Pindar, Founder & Chair of Trustees at Bookmark, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Cubo as their chosen 2024 Charity of the Year and for the very special ‘Gift a Child a Book at Christmas’ campaign.
“With recent research from the National Literacy Trust showing that almost a million children and young people do not have a book of their own, it is more important than ever to fill this resource gap. This is vital to ensure that children have the tools they need to become confident and joyful readers.
“Giving a child a book is a gift that will last a lifetime and can be the spark that is needed to ignite the joy of reading.
“Thank you to the team at Cubo for supporting Bookmark’s mission. We look forward to working with you throughout the year!”
To donate to Cubo’s Gift a child a book this Christmas’ appeal, visit bit.ly/Donate-cubo.
BDO makes parter appointment to Midlands audit team
Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP has strengthened its Midlands team with the appointment of Chris Cole.
Chris joins the audit team as partner. He brings more than 19 years’ experience to the firm, with particular expertise in auditing US-listed businesses under the United States Public Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) standards, including auditing SOX controls – measures put in place by companies in order to identify and prevent errors or inaccuracies in financial reporting.
Having worked in the US, UK and Australia throughout his career, Chris adds significant strength and depth to BDO’s international credentials, while bringing expertise across a wide range of sectors, such as automotive, international manufacturing, and mining. At BDO, he will be responsible for leading the region’s US reporting proposition, while working alongside the London Audit Group’s US team. He joins from KPMG.
Kyla Bellingall, Regional Managing Partner at BDO in the Midlands, said: “Chris is a fantastic addition to the team and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to attracting the region’s best talent.
“His deep-rooted experience in advising US-listed businesses will help to strengthen our international proposition in the region and adds an exciting dimension to the services we offer in the complex area of audit and assurance. We’re delighted to have him on board.”
Chris said: “I’m very excited to be joining BDO and embarking on the next stage of my career at a firm with significant global reach and auditing capabilities. The firm continues to invest significantly in audit quality, with people and technology at the centre of that. I look forward to working alongside the team and bringing a unique perspective to the role.”
His appointment follows the promotion of Sam Lifford as partner in the firm’s Not For Profit (NFP) audit practice on 1 November. Sam, an established RI in the NFP market, has demonstrated exceptional capability in managing a substantial portfolio in higher education, charities, and housing. Sam is the Regional Head of NFP, making a substantial contribution to BDO’s national strategy and activity in this area.
Estate agency listed as ‘exceptional’ for seventh successive year
The North Derbyshire and Sheffield-based firm has once again listed as exceptional in the Best Estate Agent Guide, taking home the Gold award for its sales and lettings service for the seventh year. At the ceremony, its trademarked SecureMove service, designed to minimise fall-throughs and speed up sales for buyers and sellers, also earned the firm a place on the shortlist for the Innovation Award.
Redbrik‘s national commendation has been complemented by a flurry of accolades over the past few months including a regional win. At The Negotiator Awards in London, Redbrik’s letting department received Highly Commended status in the competitive Property Management Department of the Year category.
Closer to home, the team was crowned Property & Construction Company of the Year at the inaugural unLTD Business Awards. Judged by some of the region’s most accomplished business leaders, this award acknowledges the company’s achievements and contributions within the property industry in South Yorkshire.
MD Mark Ross said: “We have continuously aimed to set the standard for excellence in the property sector, and our win at the unLTD Business Awards, alongside our recognitions at The Negotiator Awards and EA Masters, are a well-deserved acknowledgement of the team’s ongoing dedication and hard work.
“This year, the implementation of SecureMove has been a game-changer, redefining our sales service and elevating the experience for movers by improving the efficiency and security of moving home. It is fantastic to receive recognition for the work we are doing to improve the home moving process and the industry as a whole.
“We can’t wait to build on our success in 2024 and continue to provide the best possible support for those considering a move.”
