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 Paul Morris, development director at St James Securities. Whilst there are a lot of reasons for doom and gloom at present, I prefer to start a new year on a positive note. Although 2023 is set to be another challenging year for the economy with the cost of living crisis and record inflation, on the demand side a number of sectors are currently bucking the trend, both locally and nationally. There continues to be a major housing shortage and this will result in significant growth in the Build to Rent (BTR) sector, which will go from strength to strength in 2023. St James Securities are currently considering future phases of BTR at our award-winning Becketwell Derby scheme, which will go some way to meeting the demand for high quality rented accommodation in the city centre. The student accommodation market also remains pretty strong and I believe the demand for purpose-built student accommodation will continue to increase over the next few years as more young people choose to go to University. The office market is set to see a strong focus on energy efficiency as the drive towards achieving carbon zero continues. By 2030, all non-domestic rented buildings will need to meet EPC Band B, which is a substantial raising of the bar. Buildings moving towards carbon zero will lease well and I hope this will result in an overall improvement in the quality of rented accommodation. The pandemic has strengthened the demand for flexible office space, and this is set to continue this year and beyond, with hybrid working now part of the fabric of the workplace. As leases come up for renewal, more and more businesses are likely to reassess their accommodation strategies and consider a move towards flexible office space. Employers need to make it attractive for employees to come back to the office and they will need to offer a great working environment in order to attract the best calibre of staff. I believe the hotel sector will remain reasonably resilient. In Derby there is latent demand for an upper mid-scale four-star hotel. We have plans to meet this demand with the introduction of a hotel into a future phase of the Becketwell scheme. Overall, the general outlook is definitely one of caution. We as developers have been through challenges like this before in the early 1990’s, 2002 and 2007-2010 and are in it for the long haul. As we all know, business is full of challenges and we just need to work through any setbacks and find different ways to achieve our aims.

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 John Crockett, health and safety manager at Acorn Safety Services, an independent health and safety consultancy based in Northampton. With businesses across the UK facing the threat of recession and economic uncertainty fears are growing that some may choose to cut corners when it comes to keeping on top of their health and safety obligations. In the past year, we have already seen a steep increase in the number of businesses being fined for not carrying out regular surveys and assessments, something I believe we could see continue well into 2023 and beyond. But turning your back on health and safety is the worst thing you can do. In fact, being proactive and engaging with a health and safety expert at the very beginning of your project could be the best decision you ever make. Take asbestos for example. If you think it’s a problem from the past, think again. Despite being banned from all new buildings since 1999, a report published by the Asbestos Testing and Consultancy Association (ATaC) has highlighted the enormous scale of the asbestos problem currently facing the UK. Of more than 128,000 buildings surveyed between October 2021 and March 2022, a staggering 78% were found to contain asbestos. In total more than 700,000 individual items of asbestos were found and 71% of those were damaged, posing a significant threat to health. On some construction sites, building work has begun without an asbestos survey even taking place, putting everyone on site at risk of developing deadly mesothelioma. While next year will undoubtedly be challenging for many businesses, health and safety in all its forms should remain right at the top of everyone’s agenda.

Figures just released show that more new businesses were established in Nottinghamshire during 2022 than in any previous year to date – making it one of the UK’s most successful counties. A total of 9,235 new formations were registered in Nottinghamshire during the last 12 months, an increase of 4.8% on 2021 when 8,810 were recorded. This brings the number of registered companies in the county to an all-time high of 62,142. The statistics are taken from the Inform Direct Review of Company Formations, using data from Companies House and the Office for National Statistics. Nottingham formed the highest number of new businesses (3,612), followed by Mansfield (1,060) and Rushcliffe (828). John Korchak, Managing Director at Inform Direct said: “It is great that Nottinghamshire can celebrate a record year for the number of new businesses established. “The last few years have been turbulent for businesses, with inflation and a cautious economic outlook following the impact of the pandemic. However, in these figures we see evidence of the ambition, creativity and resilience of entrepreneurs in Nottinghamshire, as well as the benefits from the county’s support for a range of enterprises. “This positivity is mirrored in the overall picture for the UK which saw a record number of new companies established during 2022, exceeding 800,000 for the very first time.” The UK saw 805,141 new companies, compared to 771,617 in 2021, which represents an increase of 4.3% and brings the total number of companies to 5,236,227. Dissolutions of UK companies totalled 578,679, down on 2021 when 606,912 were recorded, suggesting that new and existing businesses are adapting to survive in a post-pandemic business environment.”

An East Midlands start-up is planning to modernise its products and revamp its website following a successful consultancy project with students from Nottingham Business School (NBS), part of Nottingham Trent University. East Midlands Roller Doors was established in 2021 and supplies residential electric garage doors across the region. Following a successful first year of trading, the company is looking to expand into the commercial market with a view to recruiting more local talent to the organisation. Six students from MSc Management and International Business and MSc Global Supply Chain Management courses carried out a competitor and SWOT analysis and explored the potential size of the market and the scope for the company to enter into it. They also considered steps that East Midlands Roller Doors could take to develop the commercial side of their business. Their recommendations covered customer finance options, product diversification and the business rationale for developing a strong brand identity. Greg Spencer, founder and manager of East Midlands Roller Doors, said: “As a new start-up we were looking for fresh ideas on how we could grow our business. We set the students the task of looking at how big the potential market is for roller doors in the East Midlands area. We also asked them to find out what could set us apart from other garage door companies working in the region. “Throughout the project they were passionate, motivated and it was a pleasure working with them. After several weeks of research, the students presented their feedback to us. “We will certainly be using some of the recommendations. We are looking at new, innovative features that will modernise our products. We’re also incorporating some of the student ideas into our new website build. We now have some exciting things we’re working on that will be released in the coming months.” Prajwal Hulikere Mohan Kumar, MSc Management and International Business student, said: “This professional consulting project was a highly motivating experience for a Masters’ student like me to step into the professional world. This project gave us the real time experience to understand the requirement of a real business and analyse their challenges. “We had an initial meeting with our client to understand their aim and what they wanted to achieve in the next few years. After analysing their requirements, we presented frameworks and recommendations for the best strategy to enter the commercial market. “As a team we were happy that we could achieve our task with hard work and meet the client’s expectation. This consulting project helped me learn how to handle a client and understand their requirements in real time business.” The project is one of 45 NBS student projects which took place over the autumn. The teams are supported by an academic supervisor who guides them through the process. During 2021/22 NBS arranged 157 business projects for more than 700 post graduate students – 92% of organisations surveyed said they’d recommend these projects to others. Greg Spencer added: “It has been a very good learning experience for us and given us ideas to take into the new year that will help us achieve our goals. I highly recommend companies working with NBS on these projects as the fresh ideas can be eye opening and it’s all useful information for potential growth.” NBS is looking for businesses to host new projects from May 2023. Organisations interested in taking part can email nbsstudentprojects@ntu.ac.uk for further information.

A company must pay more than £100k after one of its employees was left with life-changing injuries when a pallet of glass weighing more than one tonne fell on top of him. Andrew Potts, from Nottingham, was left permanently disabled and reliant on a cocktail of medication after breaking his neck in five places following the incident at a depot in Lichfield on 30 September 2016. The pallet had shifted during transportation and fell on to the 58-year-old, who has not been able to work since with his wife Dawn having to give up her own job to become his full-time carer. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that United Pallet Network (UK) Limited’s (UPN) system of working was inadequate and not communicated with staff. They also failed to provide adequate training in how to recover shifted loads. “This has been extremely hard to deal with, emotionally, physically and financially,” Mr Potts said. “I had to stay in Royal Stoke University Hospital for nine days following the incident. “Dawn used to come home crying, wondering whether I would make it, and how she and the family would cope. I have been left physically, partially disabled. “I am having to adjust to this new way of being as I continue to struggle to accept what has happened. I had recurring nightmares following the incident – I would wake up screaming, sweating or crying. “The incident left me severely depressed.” As well as the multiple neck fractures, which resulted in a halo being screwed into his head for several weeks, Mr Potts also suffered many other injuries including broken bones in his leg and feet. Those injuries resulted in eleven pins being inserted into one of his feet, three of which will remain for the rest of his life. “I can’t walk very far at all, I use walking poles in an attempt to keep me as upright as possible to walk outside of our home,” he said. “Depending on where we are actually going, like shopping for instance, I use a powerchair to enable me to get around, even so, all these physical tasks are simply exhausting. “Our lives will never be the same again, the accident was absolutely life changing. We are learning to live again and adjusting to enjoy a different kind of life, because life is a gift.” Stafford Crown Court heard how on the evening of 30 September 2016, a lorry containing a consignment of four pallets of glass arrived at United Pallet Network (UK) Limited’s (UPN) pallet hub at Fradley Park, Lichfield. The pallets had not been appropriately loaded or secured and fell out of the trailer onto Mr Potts as he made attempts to rectify the problem. United Pallet Network (UK) Ltd of Vantage Business Park, Leicester pleaded guilty to Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and it was fined £94,667 and ordered to pay costs of £7,590.34. HSE inspector Andrew Johnson said after the hearing: “This is yet another tragic, and avoidable workplace incident that should never have happened. “Had UPN devised and trained its employees in suitably safe systems of work to deal with shifted loads, then Mr Potts would have continued living the life he had before this incident. “This is why it is crucial that transport companies get their trailer loading and unloading systems right.”