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Businesswww.bristolpost.co.uk

POWER STRUGGLE

Why Bristol needs moreauthority to grow faster – p3

ANIMATED INVESTMENT

Kids glued to cartoons? Turnit into an investment – p4

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Your hand-written signatureis no longer required – p5

162014JUL

Forget California, give London’s Silicon Roundabouta miss. Bristol is the new tech hub. Find out why

TECH CITY BRISTOL

SPECIAL REPORT

– see pages 8&9

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2 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 3We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

BUSINESS leaders and politi-cians are calling for Bristolto be given more power tocontrol and spend taxes inorder to shape the local eco-

n o my.Think Bristol argues that for sus-

tained economic growth, our citiesmust be more powerful and betterfunded.

Bristol Mayor George Fergusonand Bristol Chamber executive dir-ector James Durie are spearheadingthe campaign locally.

Mr Ferguson said cities werepowerful engines of the economy butneeded more autonomy to make themost of that.

He said: “Cities are this country’sprincipal drivers of growth and it isvital that we’re given the freedoms weneed to maximise this for the benefitof our regions and the national eco-n o my.

“That we’re so far behind many ofour foreign counterparts in terms ofdevolving power to cities is a nationalembarrassment given the demon-strable benefits it brings elsewhere.

“Cities need the autonomy to maketheir own decisions and the financialself-sufficiency to allocate funding toaddress local needs.

“More control over property taxesis a good place to start, providing anincome which is at least partiallylinked to growth and ensures thatcities reap the rewards of contrib-uting to the country’s economy.

“Currently little more than five percent of our total tax take is retainedlocally, leaving us with the indignityof having to beg for what is due to usfrom the Government of the time.

“As a leader of a relatively pros-perous UK core city I am sure wewould be able to deliver services moreefficiently and contribute even moreto the UK economy if we have greaterfreedom to make decisions locally.”

Mr Durie, who is also a director atBusiness West, said: “Think Bristol isbringing together key voices fromacross the city to make the case formore powers and freedoms at a locallevel ahead of the next General Elec-

tion.“We have long called for greater

devolution for our cities and now isthe time for politicians to deliver.”

He said the campaign would belobbying hard in the lead-up to thegeneral election next May.

Mr Durie added: “Only through bet-ter funding and more local authoritypowers will Bristol be able to unlockthe huge growth potential that existswithin the city – for the benefit of thepeople who live here, and the UK’sfuture economic growth.”

Think Bristol is part of a nationalcampaign linking up with other

major cities.The wider Bristol area, including

Bath, boasts four universities and is aworld-leading hub for both the cre-ative and tech sector and aerospace.

More than a third of UK-ownedFTSE 100 companies have a presencein the area. But there is pressure onhousing and transport infrastruc-ture: the average home costs ninetimes the average wage.

With more powers and financialfreedoms, campaigners argue the citycould respond better to local needsand opportunities, and ensure Bristolremains a an affordable and attract-

Eco n o myCleaning and supplies

Family business still goingstrong after 125 years

PATTERSONS might be 125years old, but the business isalways looking to the future.The cleaning goods and pubtrade equipment supplier is

a landmark on Winterstoke Road,where it moved 10 years ago.

The business, founded in 1889, isstill in the Patterson family. ChrisPatterson recently stepped up tochairman while his wife Sheila is adirector and nephew Alisdair Lock-wood and cousin James Patterson arein the company too.

Chris said: “The family ethos hasalways been important to us, and Iconsider our staff as part of the wider

family, with six of the team havingbeen with us for over 25 years – s eve nif you count my father, Bryan, who inhis mid-80s still attends monthlyboard meetings – and a further 25have put in 10 years or more in-cluding my cousin James and neph-ew Alisdair.

“Without the dedication and hardwork of every one of them, we wouldsimply not be in a position to give thelevel of service we believe is im-portant to offer our customers.”

But its long history and traditions,d o n’t stop the company being for-w a rd - l o o k i n g .

It was an early adopter of the in-ternet, one of the first businesseswith a web page, although just a staticone at the time.

Now e-commerce is a big part of thebu s i n e s s.

More than half existing customers

order online now, which has risenfrom none 10 years ago.

And more new customers are find-ing the firm through online searchnow too.

The business is growing, havingbought wholesale cleaning productssupplier KMC Cox in 2011 and morerecently janitorial product supplierJang ro.

The company now delivers in Bris-tol, Bath, Somerset and Gloucester-shire with its own fleet of vans,meaning customers get a personalservice from someone who gets toknow their business. Further a fieldit uses couriers to get supplies na-t i o n w i d e.

Most of its customers are in the puband hospitality trade but schools andoffices buy from Pattersons too, andincreasingly savvy members of thepublic are visiting the showroom.

Chris said: “From our first days onRedcliffe Hill, generations of my fam-ily have been grateful for the op-portunities offered by Bristolbusinesses to supply them with any-thing from tools and ironmongery,cattle troughs or fencing.

“We have seen many changes in ourcustomer and stock profile over theyears, most notably seeing our in-dustrial and agricultural businessmake way for catering and cleanings u p p l i e s.

“I have no doubt that the next 25years will continue to see an ac-celeration in the pace of change andthe level of competition will continueto grow. Our goal is to ensure that weare always ready to embrace change,so that we can continue to offer anunrivalled personal service to bothour Bristol and national customersand thrive until our 150th birthday.”

Web start-ups

Women wanted to shake up digital industry

Bank looking tolend its support� A CHALLENGER bank is movingits focus in Bristol as it looks to findsmall and medium-sized businessesto support.

Cambridge & Counties Bank haslent more than £160 million tobusinesses since its launch in 2012,mainly in the East Midlands andEast Anglia.

But now it is looking to lend inBristol and the South West afterappointing Bristolian Paul Howard,who lives in Warmley, to buildbusiness locally.

Paul, who previously worked forAllied Irish Bank and Barclays in thecity for many years, said: “TheSouth West is a market ofowner-managed businesses.Cambridge & Counties currentlylends backed by property and a lotof the region’s SMEs have propertyin them. So it looks a good fit.”

On joining the bank, he said thebank stood out as a “fresh face inthe market”.

He said: “Part of the attractionwas to leave the familiarity of a largeorganisation and work for a youngventure sharing many of thecharacteristics such as ambition,confidence and innovation that arefound in the businesses andentrepreneurs we want to help.”

Imperial buys famousAmerican brands� BRISTOL firm Imperial Tobacco isto buy some famous Americancigarette brands including Winston,Maverick and Kool, as well ase-cigarette Blu.

A subsidiary of Imperial hasreached an agreement with rivalsReynolds and Lorillard to buy£4.2 billion of assets as theAmerican firms prepares to ditchsome brands in order to pushthrough a merger.

Imperial’sstrategy is tofocus on itsg ro w t hmarkets,includingthe US,and chiefexecutiveAlisonCooper said thedeal with give thefirm a significant foothold.

She said: “This is a greatopportunity to transform our USbusiness and secure a significantpresence in the world’s largestaccessible profit pool.

“We plan to build a US brandportfolio through nationaldistribution and create a stronger,more competitive business. Weintend to internationalise blu, the USleader in e-cigarettes and enhanceits growth opportunity with ourk n o w - h o w.

“We expect opportunities for costoptimisation through integration.

“The acquisition of these assets,without historic product liabilities forthe cigarette brands, on reasonableterms means that it is expected tooffer a return of over 10 per cent,well in excess of our cost of capitalin its first full year and is expected tobe significantly earnings enhancingin the first full year post completion.

“The value this will create forshareholders and the strategictransformation of our position in akey growth market, makes this anoutstanding opportunity.”

The brands Imperial is buyingequate to 20 billion cigarettes a year,worth about $2.4 billion in revenue,and about 10 per cent of the USmarket. Although buying the brands,Imperial won’t be taking on anyhistorical liabilities for the products.

SMEsTo ba cco

Business leaders say ‘Give us morepower over our city’s finances’

A COMPETITION has been launchedlooking for women to shake up thedigital industry.

Upstart Women is offering£10,000 and a place in theWebStart Bristol busi-ness incubator to thewomen with the bestidea for a web or appbusiness. The contest isbeing run by WebStartBristol and women’s en-trepreneur networkWomen Outside the Box.

Network founder JoniFarthing spent 10 weeks on theWebStart programme learning howto develop her business online.

Joni (p i c t u re d ) said there were

fewer women in tech start-ups.“Women in general, according to

our WOTB survey last year, worrymore about taking on risk than

men do,” said Joni.“Very few tech start-ups

can scale without invest-ment, and women worryabout committing whenthey are not sure if thestart-up will succeed.

“But most start-upsfail, and those that suc-

ceed usually dramaticallyalter their product – so tak-

ing on risk is even more es-sential for tech start-ups than forother types of enterprise.”

But she said they key was that tech

was now a part of business, not just aniche, so women needed to get on-board, even if they have no teche x p e r i e n c e.

“If you have no tech experience,t h at ’s perfect.Then we can show thatyou don’t need to code to make it.

“You just have to brief the digitalpeople involved well. That will be thekey to success for businesses goingforward. And women really need toget on board. Stop worrying if youd o n’t know enough – an entrepren-eur gathers a team about herself whoknow enough between them.

“Her job is to have a brilliant ideaand manage her team – oh and raisei nve s t m e n t .

“T hat’s what this competition is all

about – changing the mindset ofwo m e n . ”

The most recent cohort of 10 Web-Start Bristol businesses includedjust one women, Rebecca Wasley, whowas developing recruitment app Tal-entBlok. She said she wasn’t a techie,but was an entrepreneur.

And that’s what WebStart Bristolfounder Mike Jackson is lookingfo r.

“It is all about finding great en-trepreneurs with strong ideas forbuilding a fast growing web or appbusiness, and giving them the initialinvestment and guidance to make themost of their potential.”

Entries close on August 1. Sign upat w w w. w o m e n o u t s i d e t h eb ox . c o. u k .

Assistant Editor (Business)Gavin Thompson

Call 0117 934 3336Email gavin.thompson

@b-nm.co.ukTwitter @gavin_thompson1

Get in touch

Writer Rupert JanischEmail business@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising RobertRodgerson

Call07828 941469Email ro b e r t . ro d g e r s o n

@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising JaneChapmanCall 01179 343025Email jane.chapman@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising ShamaAbokor, Regional

Business AccountExecutive

Call 0117 934 3426Emailshama.abokor@

b-nm.co.uk

ive place to live, work and invest.A survey carried out for the cam-

paign round three-quarters of peopleliving in marginal constituenciessupport the idea of more localp owe r s.

There has been limited devolutionof tax spending to Bristol. The West ofEngland Local Enterprise Partner-ship is able to borrow against futureincreases in business rates generatedfrom the Temple Quarter EnterpriseZone. This money is helping fund theplanned arena, but is a drop in theocean in the context of the whole cityre gion.

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

D es i g n

Consultants win grant for jobs and new techAN award-winning design con-sultancy has secured a grant to hirenew people and invest in new tech-nolog y.

Kinneir Dufort, based in HostStreet, central Bristol, plans to invest£1 million over three years and isbeing supported by a grant from theWest of England Growth Fund.

Managing director Jim Orkneysaid: “We ’re so pleased to have beenawarded this grant, as it will help usto fulfil our plans to further improveour team and facilities.

“The funding, which represents 20per cent of our initial round of in-vestment, will help enable ourgrowth as clients around UK and theworld increasingly recognise the be-

nefits of working with us to developtheir products, user experiences andb r a n d s. ”

The grant will provide 20 per centmatch funding up to £80,000.

It will allow the firm to increase its3D printing capabilities as demandfor the facility continues to grow.

Up to 10 new skilled jobs will becreated by the investment pro-g ramme.

The Growth Fund, administered bythe West of England Local EnterprisePartnership, was supported by theBristol Post’s Going for Growth cam-paign which saw more than 300 busi-nesses apply for money that wouldhelp them create or secure jobsacross a range of sectors.

Andrew Youl, project manager forthe LEP, said: “I’m delighted that wehave announced the allocation offunding to Kinneir Dufort which hasambitious plans for their future.

“The fund is designed to assist justsuch a company and I will be keenlyinterested in seeing them grow overthe coming years.”

Kinneir Dufort employs 65 peoplefrom its base near the Colston Hall.

The firm was set up in 1997 and hasachieved success as a product design,research and development con-sultancy, working with customersranging from global corporations toentrepreneurs and in sectors includ-ing healthcare, communications,food and drink and personal care.

� SMALL businesses need betterbroadband if they are to compete,according to a new report.

The Federation of SmallBusinesses, which has 3,500members across the Greater Bristolarea, has called for the Governmentto be more ambitious in its targetsto roll out high-speed broadband.

The organisation found that 94 percent of small businesses viewed itas critical to their success but only15 per cent were satisfied with theirp ro v i s i o n .

Mark Owen, chairman of the FSBin the West of England, saidimproving broadband access tosmall businesses was vital to thelocal economy.

He said: “This nationwide report,coupled with a lot of stories we herefrom throughout our Gloucestershireand West of England region showsthat this is a problem which isaffecting city, town and rural areasalike.

“It is clear progress has beenmade with improving the broadbandservice to the residential market, butsmall businesses have not alwaysenjoyed the same benefits which isclearly stopping them from growingand developing.”

The current target is to provide24Mbps access for 95 per cent ofthe population by 2017 and 2Mbpsfor the remaining five per cent. TheFSB wants the slower speed uppedto 10Mbps by 2018.

Small businesses needbetter broadband

I n te r n et

Sign uphere forbusinessnews directto yourinboxevery day

Managing director Jim Orkney

“Thisgrant ...willhelp usto fulfilourplans tofurtherimprove our team andfacilities

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

� Left, chairman ChrisPatterson outsidePattersons onWinterstoke Road.Above, Chris with thewarehouse team, fromleft, Simon Vowles,Chris Williams, SimonHenley, Nigel Vowles,Paul Griffee and ChrisMorriss. Below, thedistinctively shapedheadquartersPhotographs:Barbara Evripidou

Mayor George Ferguson

“Cities are this country’s principal drivers ofgrowth and it is vital we’re given the freedomswe need to maximise this for the benefit of ourregions and the national economy.

Bristol Chamber executive director James Durie

“We have long called for greater devolution forour cities and now is the time for politicians tod e l i v e r.

� Buildings at Temple Quay – symbols of the city’s regeneration

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2 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 3We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

BUSINESS leaders and politi-cians are calling for Bristolto be given more power tocontrol and spend taxes inorder to shape the local eco-

n o my.Think Bristol argues that for sus-

tained economic growth, our citiesmust be more powerful and betterfunded.

Bristol Mayor George Fergusonand Bristol Chamber executive dir-ector James Durie are spearheadingthe campaign locally.

Mr Ferguson said cities werepowerful engines of the economy butneeded more autonomy to make themost of that.

He said: “Cities are this country’sprincipal drivers of growth and it isvital that we’re given the freedoms weneed to maximise this for the benefitof our regions and the national eco-n o my.

“That we’re so far behind many ofour foreign counterparts in terms ofdevolving power to cities is a nationalembarrassment given the demon-strable benefits it brings elsewhere.

“Cities need the autonomy to maketheir own decisions and the financialself-sufficiency to allocate funding toaddress local needs.

“More control over property taxesis a good place to start, providing anincome which is at least partiallylinked to growth and ensures thatcities reap the rewards of contrib-uting to the country’s economy.

“Currently little more than five percent of our total tax take is retainedlocally, leaving us with the indignityof having to beg for what is due to usfrom the Government of the time.

“As a leader of a relatively pros-perous UK core city I am sure wewould be able to deliver services moreefficiently and contribute even moreto the UK economy if we have greaterfreedom to make decisions locally.”

Mr Durie, who is also a director atBusiness West, said: “Think Bristol isbringing together key voices fromacross the city to make the case formore powers and freedoms at a locallevel ahead of the next General Elec-

tion.“We have long called for greater

devolution for our cities and now isthe time for politicians to deliver.”

He said the campaign would belobbying hard in the lead-up to thegeneral election next May.

Mr Durie added: “Only through bet-ter funding and more local authoritypowers will Bristol be able to unlockthe huge growth potential that existswithin the city – for the benefit of thepeople who live here, and the UK’sfuture economic growth.”

Think Bristol is part of a nationalcampaign linking up with other

major cities.The wider Bristol area, including

Bath, boasts four universities and is aworld-leading hub for both the cre-ative and tech sector and aerospace.

More than a third of UK-ownedFTSE 100 companies have a presencein the area. But there is pressure onhousing and transport infrastruc-ture: the average home costs ninetimes the average wage.

With more powers and financialfreedoms, campaigners argue the citycould respond better to local needsand opportunities, and ensure Bristolremains a an affordable and attract-

Eco n o myCleaning and supplies

Family business still goingstrong after 125 years

PATTERSONS might be 125years old, but the business isalways looking to the future.The cleaning goods and pubtrade equipment supplier is

a landmark on Winterstoke Road,where it moved 10 years ago.

The business, founded in 1889, isstill in the Patterson family. ChrisPatterson recently stepped up tochairman while his wife Sheila is adirector and nephew Alisdair Lock-wood and cousin James Patterson arein the company too.

Chris said: “The family ethos hasalways been important to us, and Iconsider our staff as part of the wider

family, with six of the team havingbeen with us for over 25 years – s eve nif you count my father, Bryan, who inhis mid-80s still attends monthlyboard meetings – and a further 25have put in 10 years or more in-cluding my cousin James and neph-ew Alisdair.

“Without the dedication and hardwork of every one of them, we wouldsimply not be in a position to give thelevel of service we believe is im-portant to offer our customers.”

But its long history and traditions,d o n’t stop the company being for-w a rd - l o o k i n g .

It was an early adopter of the in-ternet, one of the first businesseswith a web page, although just a staticone at the time.

Now e-commerce is a big part of thebu s i n e s s.

More than half existing customers

order online now, which has risenfrom none 10 years ago.

And more new customers are find-ing the firm through online searchnow too.

The business is growing, havingbought wholesale cleaning productssupplier KMC Cox in 2011 and morerecently janitorial product supplierJang ro.

The company now delivers in Bris-tol, Bath, Somerset and Gloucester-shire with its own fleet of vans,meaning customers get a personalservice from someone who gets toknow their business. Further a fieldit uses couriers to get supplies na-t i o n w i d e.

Most of its customers are in the puband hospitality trade but schools andoffices buy from Pattersons too, andincreasingly savvy members of thepublic are visiting the showroom.

Chris said: “From our first days onRedcliffe Hill, generations of my fam-ily have been grateful for the op-portunities offered by Bristolbusinesses to supply them with any-thing from tools and ironmongery,cattle troughs or fencing.

“We have seen many changes in ourcustomer and stock profile over theyears, most notably seeing our in-dustrial and agricultural businessmake way for catering and cleanings u p p l i e s.

“I have no doubt that the next 25years will continue to see an ac-celeration in the pace of change andthe level of competition will continueto grow. Our goal is to ensure that weare always ready to embrace change,so that we can continue to offer anunrivalled personal service to bothour Bristol and national customersand thrive until our 150th birthday.”

Web start-ups

Women wanted to shake up digital industry

Bank looking tolend its support� A CHALLENGER bank is movingits focus in Bristol as it looks to findsmall and medium-sized businessesto support.

Cambridge & Counties Bank haslent more than £160 million tobusinesses since its launch in 2012,mainly in the East Midlands andEast Anglia.

But now it is looking to lend inBristol and the South West afterappointing Bristolian Paul Howard,who lives in Warmley, to buildbusiness locally.

Paul, who previously worked forAllied Irish Bank and Barclays in thecity for many years, said: “TheSouth West is a market ofowner-managed businesses.Cambridge & Counties currentlylends backed by property and a lotof the region’s SMEs have propertyin them. So it looks a good fit.”

On joining the bank, he said thebank stood out as a “fresh face inthe market”.

He said: “Part of the attractionwas to leave the familiarity of a largeorganisation and work for a youngventure sharing many of thecharacteristics such as ambition,confidence and innovation that arefound in the businesses andentrepreneurs we want to help.”

Imperial buys famousAmerican brands� BRISTOL firm Imperial Tobacco isto buy some famous Americancigarette brands including Winston,Maverick and Kool, as well ase-cigarette Blu.

A subsidiary of Imperial hasreached an agreement with rivalsReynolds and Lorillard to buy£4.2 billion of assets as theAmerican firms prepares to ditchsome brands in order to pushthrough a merger.

Imperial’sstrategy is tofocus on itsg ro w t hmarkets,includingthe US,and chiefexecutiveAlisonCooper said thedeal with give thefirm a significant foothold.

She said: “This is a greatopportunity to transform our USbusiness and secure a significantpresence in the world’s largestaccessible profit pool.

“We plan to build a US brandportfolio through nationaldistribution and create a stronger,more competitive business. Weintend to internationalise blu, the USleader in e-cigarettes and enhanceits growth opportunity with ourk n o w - h o w.

“We expect opportunities for costoptimisation through integration.

“The acquisition of these assets,without historic product liabilities forthe cigarette brands, on reasonableterms means that it is expected tooffer a return of over 10 per cent,well in excess of our cost of capitalin its first full year and is expected tobe significantly earnings enhancingin the first full year post completion.

“The value this will create forshareholders and the strategictransformation of our position in akey growth market, makes this anoutstanding opportunity.”

The brands Imperial is buyingequate to 20 billion cigarettes a year,worth about $2.4 billion in revenue,and about 10 per cent of the USmarket. Although buying the brands,Imperial won’t be taking on anyhistorical liabilities for the products.

SMEsTo ba cco

Business leaders say ‘Give us morepower over our city’s finances’

A COMPETITION has been launchedlooking for women to shake up thedigital industry.

Upstart Women is offering£10,000 and a place in theWebStart Bristol busi-ness incubator to thewomen with the bestidea for a web or appbusiness. The contest isbeing run by WebStartBristol and women’s en-trepreneur networkWomen Outside the Box.

Network founder JoniFarthing spent 10 weeks on theWebStart programme learning howto develop her business online.

Joni (p i c t u re d ) said there were

fewer women in tech start-ups.“Women in general, according to

our WOTB survey last year, worrymore about taking on risk than

men do,” said Joni.“Very few tech start-ups

can scale without invest-ment, and women worryabout committing whenthey are not sure if thestart-up will succeed.

“But most start-upsfail, and those that suc-

ceed usually dramaticallyalter their product – so tak-

ing on risk is even more es-sential for tech start-ups than forother types of enterprise.”

But she said they key was that tech

was now a part of business, not just aniche, so women needed to get on-board, even if they have no teche x p e r i e n c e.

“If you have no tech experience,t h at ’s perfect.Then we can show thatyou don’t need to code to make it.

“You just have to brief the digitalpeople involved well. That will be thekey to success for businesses goingforward. And women really need toget on board. Stop worrying if youd o n’t know enough – an entrepren-eur gathers a team about herself whoknow enough between them.

“Her job is to have a brilliant ideaand manage her team – oh and raisei nve s t m e n t .

“T hat’s what this competition is all

about – changing the mindset ofwo m e n . ”

The most recent cohort of 10 Web-Start Bristol businesses includedjust one women, Rebecca Wasley, whowas developing recruitment app Tal-entBlok. She said she wasn’t a techie,but was an entrepreneur.

And that’s what WebStart Bristolfounder Mike Jackson is lookingfo r.

“It is all about finding great en-trepreneurs with strong ideas forbuilding a fast growing web or appbusiness, and giving them the initialinvestment and guidance to make themost of their potential.”

Entries close on August 1. Sign upat w w w. w o m e n o u t s i d e t h eb ox . c o. u k .

Assistant Editor (Business)Gavin Thompson

Call 0117 934 3336Email gavin.thompson

@b-nm.co.ukTwitter @gavin_thompson1

Get in touch

Writer Rupert JanischEmail business@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising RobertRodgerson

Call07828 941469Email ro b e r t . ro d g e r s o n

@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising JaneChapmanCall 01179 343025Email jane.chapman@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising ShamaAbokor, Regional

Business AccountExecutive

Call 0117 934 3426Emailshama.abokor@

b-nm.co.uk

ive place to live, work and invest.A survey carried out for the cam-

paign round three-quarters of peopleliving in marginal constituenciessupport the idea of more localp owe r s.

There has been limited devolutionof tax spending to Bristol. The West ofEngland Local Enterprise Partner-ship is able to borrow against futureincreases in business rates generatedfrom the Temple Quarter EnterpriseZone. This money is helping fund theplanned arena, but is a drop in theocean in the context of the whole cityre gion.

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

D es i g n

Consultants win grant for jobs and new techAN award-winning design con-sultancy has secured a grant to hirenew people and invest in new tech-nolog y.

Kinneir Dufort, based in HostStreet, central Bristol, plans to invest£1 million over three years and isbeing supported by a grant from theWest of England Growth Fund.

Managing director Jim Orkneysaid: “We ’re so pleased to have beenawarded this grant, as it will help usto fulfil our plans to further improveour team and facilities.

“The funding, which represents 20per cent of our initial round of in-vestment, will help enable ourgrowth as clients around UK and theworld increasingly recognise the be-

nefits of working with us to developtheir products, user experiences andb r a n d s. ”

The grant will provide 20 per centmatch funding up to £80,000.

It will allow the firm to increase its3D printing capabilities as demandfor the facility continues to grow.

Up to 10 new skilled jobs will becreated by the investment pro-g ramme.

The Growth Fund, administered bythe West of England Local EnterprisePartnership, was supported by theBristol Post’s Going for Growth cam-paign which saw more than 300 busi-nesses apply for money that wouldhelp them create or secure jobsacross a range of sectors.

Andrew Youl, project manager forthe LEP, said: “I’m delighted that wehave announced the allocation offunding to Kinneir Dufort which hasambitious plans for their future.

“The fund is designed to assist justsuch a company and I will be keenlyinterested in seeing them grow overthe coming years.”

Kinneir Dufort employs 65 peoplefrom its base near the Colston Hall.

The firm was set up in 1997 and hasachieved success as a product design,research and development con-sultancy, working with customersranging from global corporations toentrepreneurs and in sectors includ-ing healthcare, communications,food and drink and personal care.

� SMALL businesses need betterbroadband if they are to compete,according to a new report.

The Federation of SmallBusinesses, which has 3,500members across the Greater Bristolarea, has called for the Governmentto be more ambitious in its targetsto roll out high-speed broadband.

The organisation found that 94 percent of small businesses viewed itas critical to their success but only15 per cent were satisfied with theirp ro v i s i o n .

Mark Owen, chairman of the FSBin the West of England, saidimproving broadband access tosmall businesses was vital to thelocal economy.

He said: “This nationwide report,coupled with a lot of stories we herefrom throughout our Gloucestershireand West of England region showsthat this is a problem which isaffecting city, town and rural areasalike.

“It is clear progress has beenmade with improving the broadbandservice to the residential market, butsmall businesses have not alwaysenjoyed the same benefits which isclearly stopping them from growingand developing.”

The current target is to provide24Mbps access for 95 per cent ofthe population by 2017 and 2Mbpsfor the remaining five per cent. TheFSB wants the slower speed uppedto 10Mbps by 2018.

Small businesses needbetter broadband

I n te r n et

Sign uphere forbusinessnews directto yourinboxevery day

Managing director Jim Orkney

“Thisgrant ...willhelp usto fulfilourplans tofurtherimprove our team andfacilities

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

� Left, chairman ChrisPatterson outsidePattersons onWinterstoke Road.Above, Chris with thewarehouse team, fromleft, Simon Vowles,Chris Williams, SimonHenley, Nigel Vowles,Paul Griffee and ChrisMorriss. Below, thedistinctively shapedheadquartersPhotographs:Barbara Evripidou

Mayor George Ferguson

“Cities are this country’s principal drivers ofgrowth and it is vital we’re given the freedomswe need to maximise this for the benefit of ourregions and the national economy.

Bristol Chamber executive director James Durie

“We have long called for greater devolution forour cities and now is the time for politicians tod e l i v e r.

� Buildings at Temple Quay – symbols of the city’s regeneration

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4 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 5We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

I nvest m e n t

MUMS and dads who haveseen their children gluedto their favourite televi-sion show will see thevalue of a new investment

opportunity... a Bristol firm is askingpeople to buy shares in its next chil-d re n’s production.

Bristol-based CFH Enterprises isthe finance arm of animators Cos-grove Hall Fitzpatrick, the creators offavourites including Danger Mouse,Count Duckula and Postman Pat.

It is launching a scheme designedto take advantage of tax breaks forentertainment introduced by Chan-cellor George Osborne in a bid tokeep talent and business in the UK.

Chief executive Adrian Wilkins(abov e right) said people would investin new companies set up for each new

ch i l d re n’s TV show made by the stu-d i o.

He said: “The capital raised will beused to develop and produce theshows for broadcast.

“Each investor will havea stake in at least oneshow in production, aswell as in new shows ind eve l o p m e n t .

“Investors stand tobenefit from the reven-ue generated by theshows in which they in-vest through the sale ofbroadcasting, licensing andmerchandising rights and manyother monetisation avenues.”

For investors, as well as being ableto actually see the fruits of the labouron television, they will get higher taxre l i e f.

Investments will be split betweenshows in production, which will qual-ify for up to 30 per cent income taxrelief from the Enterprise InvestmentScheme, and shows still in devel-

opment, which benefit under the SeedEnterprise Investment Scheme offer-ing up to 50 per cent tax relief. There

are a number of other complex taxbenefits thrown in to boot.

CFH Media Group wasformed in 2011, born out of

Cosgrove House anima-tion studio which pro-duced a host of popularch i l d re n’s shows includ-ing Wind In The Willows

and Roary The RacingCar. The new company’s

first offering is an anim-ated show called Pip Ahoy!,

first broadcast last month onChannel Five’s Milkshak e ch i l d re n’sslot.

Sir David Jason, a non-executivedirector of the firm, provides thevoice of Salty Cove’s sea captain Skip-per in the series. Former X Factorcontestant and TV presenter StacySolomon is also one of the voices.

CFH Enterprises is based in Cliftonand employs nine people.

Chance to buy sharesin children’s TV show

� Sir DavidJason andStacey Solomonfeature in thenew children’sanimation seriesPip Ahoy! onChannel 5

Electronic signatures

Sign of change forage-old tradition

WITH all the stories about ro-bots, smart cities and holo-grams in these pages, you’dthink all businesses were hurt-ling into a world of technology.

But some old practices have been resistantto change.

One of those was the good old-fashionedsignature. Most deals, whether a big con-tract or a simply tenancy agreement, havebeen sealed with a signature written byhand.

Finally, however, an entrepreneur inDownend is gradually dragging even thatold custom into the 21st century.

Bristolian Olly Culverhouse started webdesign business Centation after graduatingfrom university in Swansea in 2007.

He found it frustrating that it took time toget documents signed by hand when busi-nesses were not local.

So in 2009 he came up with Signable.Electronic signatures were already popularin the United States but little used in theUK.

A bit of research uncovered that electronicsignatures had been legal in the UK sincethe Electronic Communications Act waspassed in 2000, so Olly saw a gap in them a rke t .

In recent years the old business has movedinto the background and Signable has be-come the focus.

Now the 28-year-old’s business is growing.He has more than 500,000 clients and thenumbers have been doubling each year. Thesite sends out 15,000 documents each

month.“People use electronic signatures already

without thinking about it,” said Olly.“When you sign for a parcel on a handheld

device, for example.”He said a signature is a legal way to prove

it is really you giving authorisation, but itdoes not have to be the scrawl you have onthe back of your debit card.

The person sending the document whichneeds signing creates an account on theSignable website.

The company then sends the recipient anemail with a unique link where they clickand sign. The recipient doesn’t need toregister. They can sign using their finger ona touch screen tablet or phone or by typingtheir name on a PC.

“The system traces the signature process,which makes it legal,” said Olly.

“It can trace where in the world it wassigned and what computer was used and allthat is printed on a certificate, which makesit much more secure than a written sig-n at u re. ”

The main benefit of the service, however,is speed.

Olly said: “Rather than emailing or post-ing the document to the signer, you can sendit out via Signable and literally get it signedin a matter of minutes for a fraction of thecost.

“Signers can sign on their desktop or theirmobile device, quickly and easily whilst wemake sure the document is legally bindingand secure.”

With all the contracts and deals donebetween companies which are increasinglyfurther away from one another, and moreremote and home working, there’s certainlya big potential market.

One that’s ready to take another small stepinto the future.

� Olly Culverhouse at Signable, in Downend Photograph: Barbara Evripidou : BRBE20140709B-2

Airline service toAberdeen boosted� AIRLINE bmi regional is boostingits Bristol to Aberdeen service tothree times daily on Wednesday andThursday from September.

The new service, aimed primarilyat business customers. departsBristol at 11.30amand arrives inAberdeen at12.50pm.Retur nd e p a r t u ref ro mA b e rd e e nat15.00pm,arriving intoBristol at16.25pm.

The airline hasbeen increasing its business routesacross its UK airports.

CEO Cathal O’Connell (above)said: “We connect key regional UKairports with leading commercialcentres across the UK and Europe,which are in high demand bybusiness and leisure travellers.

“Bristol and Aberdeen arefinancial and industrial centres thatrequire connectivity to thrive andexpand, and by boosting ourschedule we’re enabling businessand tourism to flourish.”

Trave lDevice for testingelectro-surgical tools� A SOFTWARE testing firm inBristol is breaking into the medicalfield.

Test and Verification Solutions hasdeveloped a device to testelectro-surgical tools that will beused to reduce and also stopbleeding during medical proceduresfor Welsh firm Creo Medical.

Creo Medical chief executiveCraig Gulliford said: “We engagedTVS as they have specialistknowledge of testing safety-relatedsoftware and had a detailedunderstanding of the test tool.

“They didn’t let us down. Theyquickly grasped the software designand provided us with an effectiveand efficient way forward forsoftware unit testing.

“They kept us fully informed ofprogress at all times and achievedthe timescales that we were keen tomeet so that we could progress thecertification of the Croma system forhuman use.”

TVS, which is based in the EngineShed and has other offices aroundthe world, came up with a plan anda fixed-price proposal, then sentone of its engineers to spend threeweeks working with Creo’s productdevelopment team.

S of twa re

Agreement reachedover test site leases� A BRISTOL firm has secured therights to test its marine turbines insites around the British Isles.

Marine Current Turbines hasreached lease agreements for sitesoff the Mull of Galloway, Scotland,Portland Bill, off the English southcoast, and Strangford Lough inNorthern Ireland.

The firm identified the sites ashaving the right conditions to testand demonstrate its next generationof SeaGen technology and hasagreed the deal with the CrownEstate.

Sven Stoye, chief executive officerof Siemens’ owned MCT, which isbased at the Bristol and Bath SciencePark in Emerson’s Green, said: “Thestrategic decision to push forwardwith developing commercial-scaleprojects demonstrates Siemenscommitment to the tidal sector andour confidence that there will be afuture market for its SeaGentechnology. This is an important firststep in investigating the sites as partof the wider development process.”

Marine turbines

80% of businessesplanning for growth� FOUR in five Bristol businessesare planning for growth this year,according to research issued byHSBC.

The Ambitious Business reportfound three in five (60 per cent)local business leaders whoresponded are confident in thecurrent economic climate, up from36 per cent the same time lasty e a r.

Some remain cautious, however,with two fifths (42 per cent) stillbelieve it is too risky to makesignificant investment.

But nearly half (47 per cent)believe if they don’t invest ingrowth they could fall behind themarket.

Gary Burton, South West andWales regional commercial directorfor the bank, said: “The findingsmirror what we’re seeing in theSouth West, with businesseslooking to the future nowconfidence has beenacknowledged across the region.

“We ’ve experienced consistentgrowth in overall new businesslending in the last year, withopportunities emerging across anumber of business sectors andour customers seeking our supportfor their investment plans.

“With improving conditionshelping to boost SME revenues,there is no better time forbusinesses to be accessing ouradvice and support.”

The bank has set aside £6 billionfor new lending to small andmedium sized businesses in 2014.

Repor t

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

B R I S T O L’S commercial propertymarket is on the up, according to tworeports released this week.

Commercial property agent AlderKing reports office take up in Bristolhas risen 22 per cent in the first half ofthe year, in its mid-year Market Mon-itor. It says 515,000 sq ft of office spacehas been taken up compared with422,000 in the same six months lastye a r.

The monitor says there is demandfor about 500,000 sq ft of space alreadyidentified in the city centre and out oftown so the year looks likely to see alot more business done than 2013,

when 735,000 sq ft of space was takenup over 12 months.

Meanwhile CBRE’s quarterly re-port looks at the city centre, report-ing space let in the first six months of2014 increasing to 295,350 sq ft, upfrom 292,751 sq ft.

Philip Morton, head of agency anddevelopment at the firm, said: “T hereare really encouraging signs in themarketplace and it appears Bristol isstarting to emerge from the down-turn with a lot of positive senti-ment.

“Several large deals are on theverge of going through, which will

only add to the momentum; we havenot seen such high levels of interestfor several years and all the signs arevery positive.”

Commercial property

Market on up as largedeals add momentum

� Philip Morton of CBRE

But he said the downside of raisingdemand was a fall in the supply ofspace available to rent. The trend,following changes in the law, to allow

more old offices to be turned into flatshas increased this squeeze.

The changes have seen one millionsq ft of office space being taken out ofthe Bristol market, meaning there is1.5 million sq ft of available officespace in the city - a fall of 11 per centover the last six months.

But new developments are comingthrough, such as 2 Glass Wharf inTemple Quay and 66 Queen Square.

Simon Price, head of agency atAlder King, said: “Demand is nowapproaching pre-recession levels.Supply is constrained in manycentres but speculative office andindustrial development is now un-derway with a number of schemesdue to complete in the next 12months, The outlook for the secondhalf of 2014 looks very exciting.”

Both firms put the average rent inBristol for prime office space un-changed at £27.50 per square foot butthat could rise in the comingm o n t h s.

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Meet-the-buyer eventpraised as ‘excellent’� MORE than 30 small businesses inBristol had the chance to pitch theirwares directly to a number of majorcompanies at a specialmeet-the-buyer event.

The event, at Regus Temple Quay,had been jointly organised by BristolCity Council and the Bristol branch ofthe Federation of Small Businesses(FSB) to give smaller firms a chanceto try and win contracts with leadingprivate and public sector companies.

Organisations such as Lloyds Bankand the Ministry of Defence wereamong the potential buyers.

Rory MccGwire, the chief executiveof Atom Content Marketing, in Bristol,was one of the suppliers and said ithad been an “excellent” event.

He said: “We were invited to pitchto three major organisations that hadeach read our profile and liked whatthey saw. Local procurement forthese bigger organisations is awin-win when there are so many firstclass suppliers right here on theirdoorstep.”

C o n t ra c ts

� Simon Price of Alder King

Part of the Local World group

AN Event Services provide audio visual equipmentand support for all your event needs. We offer aprofessional and experienced approach withpre-show, on-site and post-show technical support.

Staging your event doesn’thave to cost a fortune...

Whatever the event, we’ve got it covered

Call us on: 01684 575832Email us at: enquiries@aneventservices.co.ukVisit us at : www.aneventservices.co.uk

EPB-E01-S3

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E01-

S3

4 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 5We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

I nvest m e n t

MUMS and dads who haveseen their children gluedto their favourite televi-sion show will see thevalue of a new investment

opportunity... a Bristol firm is askingpeople to buy shares in its next chil-d re n’s production.

Bristol-based CFH Enterprises isthe finance arm of animators Cos-grove Hall Fitzpatrick, the creators offavourites including Danger Mouse,Count Duckula and Postman Pat.

It is launching a scheme designedto take advantage of tax breaks forentertainment introduced by Chan-cellor George Osborne in a bid tokeep talent and business in the UK.

Chief executive Adrian Wilkins(abov e right) said people would investin new companies set up for each new

ch i l d re n’s TV show made by the stu-d i o.

He said: “The capital raised will beused to develop and produce theshows for broadcast.

“Each investor will havea stake in at least oneshow in production, aswell as in new shows ind eve l o p m e n t .

“Investors stand tobenefit from the reven-ue generated by theshows in which they in-vest through the sale ofbroadcasting, licensing andmerchandising rights and manyother monetisation avenues.”

For investors, as well as being ableto actually see the fruits of the labouron television, they will get higher taxre l i e f.

Investments will be split betweenshows in production, which will qual-ify for up to 30 per cent income taxrelief from the Enterprise InvestmentScheme, and shows still in devel-

opment, which benefit under the SeedEnterprise Investment Scheme offer-ing up to 50 per cent tax relief. There

are a number of other complex taxbenefits thrown in to boot.

CFH Media Group wasformed in 2011, born out of

Cosgrove House anima-tion studio which pro-duced a host of popularch i l d re n’s shows includ-ing Wind In The Willows

and Roary The RacingCar. The new company’s

first offering is an anim-ated show called Pip Ahoy!,

first broadcast last month onChannel Five’s Milkshak e ch i l d re n’sslot.

Sir David Jason, a non-executivedirector of the firm, provides thevoice of Salty Cove’s sea captain Skip-per in the series. Former X Factorcontestant and TV presenter StacySolomon is also one of the voices.

CFH Enterprises is based in Cliftonand employs nine people.

Chance to buy sharesin children’s TV show

� Sir DavidJason andStacey Solomonfeature in thenew children’sanimation seriesPip Ahoy! onChannel 5

Electronic signatures

Sign of change forage-old tradition

WITH all the stories about ro-bots, smart cities and holo-grams in these pages, you’dthink all businesses were hurt-ling into a world of technology.

But some old practices have been resistantto change.

One of those was the good old-fashionedsignature. Most deals, whether a big con-tract or a simply tenancy agreement, havebeen sealed with a signature written byhand.

Finally, however, an entrepreneur inDownend is gradually dragging even thatold custom into the 21st century.

Bristolian Olly Culverhouse started webdesign business Centation after graduatingfrom university in Swansea in 2007.

He found it frustrating that it took time toget documents signed by hand when busi-nesses were not local.

So in 2009 he came up with Signable.Electronic signatures were already popularin the United States but little used in theUK.

A bit of research uncovered that electronicsignatures had been legal in the UK sincethe Electronic Communications Act waspassed in 2000, so Olly saw a gap in them a rke t .

In recent years the old business has movedinto the background and Signable has be-come the focus.

Now the 28-year-old’s business is growing.He has more than 500,000 clients and thenumbers have been doubling each year. Thesite sends out 15,000 documents each

month.“People use electronic signatures already

without thinking about it,” said Olly.“When you sign for a parcel on a handheld

device, for example.”He said a signature is a legal way to prove

it is really you giving authorisation, but itdoes not have to be the scrawl you have onthe back of your debit card.

The person sending the document whichneeds signing creates an account on theSignable website.

The company then sends the recipient anemail with a unique link where they clickand sign. The recipient doesn’t need toregister. They can sign using their finger ona touch screen tablet or phone or by typingtheir name on a PC.

“The system traces the signature process,which makes it legal,” said Olly.

“It can trace where in the world it wassigned and what computer was used and allthat is printed on a certificate, which makesit much more secure than a written sig-n at u re. ”

The main benefit of the service, however,is speed.

Olly said: “Rather than emailing or post-ing the document to the signer, you can sendit out via Signable and literally get it signedin a matter of minutes for a fraction of thecost.

“Signers can sign on their desktop or theirmobile device, quickly and easily whilst wemake sure the document is legally bindingand secure.”

With all the contracts and deals donebetween companies which are increasinglyfurther away from one another, and moreremote and home working, there’s certainlya big potential market.

One that’s ready to take another small stepinto the future.

� Olly Culverhouse at Signable, in Downend Photograph: Barbara Evripidou : BRBE20140709B-2

Airline service toAberdeen boosted� AIRLINE bmi regional is boostingits Bristol to Aberdeen service tothree times daily on Wednesday andThursday from September.

The new service, aimed primarilyat business customers. departsBristol at 11.30amand arrives inAberdeen at12.50pm.Retur nd e p a r t u ref ro mA b e rd e e nat15.00pm,arriving intoBristol at16.25pm.

The airline hasbeen increasing its business routesacross its UK airports.

CEO Cathal O’Connell (above)said: “We connect key regional UKairports with leading commercialcentres across the UK and Europe,which are in high demand bybusiness and leisure travellers.

“Bristol and Aberdeen arefinancial and industrial centres thatrequire connectivity to thrive andexpand, and by boosting ourschedule we’re enabling businessand tourism to flourish.”

Trave lDevice for testingelectro-surgical tools� A SOFTWARE testing firm inBristol is breaking into the medicalfield.

Test and Verification Solutions hasdeveloped a device to testelectro-surgical tools that will beused to reduce and also stopbleeding during medical proceduresfor Welsh firm Creo Medical.

Creo Medical chief executiveCraig Gulliford said: “We engagedTVS as they have specialistknowledge of testing safety-relatedsoftware and had a detailedunderstanding of the test tool.

“They didn’t let us down. Theyquickly grasped the software designand provided us with an effectiveand efficient way forward forsoftware unit testing.

“They kept us fully informed ofprogress at all times and achievedthe timescales that we were keen tomeet so that we could progress thecertification of the Croma system forhuman use.”

TVS, which is based in the EngineShed and has other offices aroundthe world, came up with a plan anda fixed-price proposal, then sentone of its engineers to spend threeweeks working with Creo’s productdevelopment team.

S of twa re

Agreement reachedover test site leases� A BRISTOL firm has secured therights to test its marine turbines insites around the British Isles.

Marine Current Turbines hasreached lease agreements for sitesoff the Mull of Galloway, Scotland,Portland Bill, off the English southcoast, and Strangford Lough inNorthern Ireland.

The firm identified the sites ashaving the right conditions to testand demonstrate its next generationof SeaGen technology and hasagreed the deal with the CrownEstate.

Sven Stoye, chief executive officerof Siemens’ owned MCT, which isbased at the Bristol and Bath SciencePark in Emerson’s Green, said: “Thestrategic decision to push forwardwith developing commercial-scaleprojects demonstrates Siemenscommitment to the tidal sector andour confidence that there will be afuture market for its SeaGentechnology. This is an important firststep in investigating the sites as partof the wider development process.”

Marine turbines

80% of businessesplanning for growth� FOUR in five Bristol businessesare planning for growth this year,according to research issued byHSBC.

The Ambitious Business reportfound three in five (60 per cent)local business leaders whoresponded are confident in thecurrent economic climate, up from36 per cent the same time lasty e a r.

Some remain cautious, however,with two fifths (42 per cent) stillbelieve it is too risky to makesignificant investment.

But nearly half (47 per cent)believe if they don’t invest ingrowth they could fall behind themarket.

Gary Burton, South West andWales regional commercial directorfor the bank, said: “The findingsmirror what we’re seeing in theSouth West, with businesseslooking to the future nowconfidence has beenacknowledged across the region.

“We ’ve experienced consistentgrowth in overall new businesslending in the last year, withopportunities emerging across anumber of business sectors andour customers seeking our supportfor their investment plans.

“With improving conditionshelping to boost SME revenues,there is no better time forbusinesses to be accessing ouradvice and support.”

The bank has set aside £6 billionfor new lending to small andmedium sized businesses in 2014.

Repor t

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

B R I S T O L’S commercial propertymarket is on the up, according to tworeports released this week.

Commercial property agent AlderKing reports office take up in Bristolhas risen 22 per cent in the first half ofthe year, in its mid-year Market Mon-itor. It says 515,000 sq ft of office spacehas been taken up compared with422,000 in the same six months lastye a r.

The monitor says there is demandfor about 500,000 sq ft of space alreadyidentified in the city centre and out oftown so the year looks likely to see alot more business done than 2013,

when 735,000 sq ft of space was takenup over 12 months.

Meanwhile CBRE’s quarterly re-port looks at the city centre, report-ing space let in the first six months of2014 increasing to 295,350 sq ft, upfrom 292,751 sq ft.

Philip Morton, head of agency anddevelopment at the firm, said: “T hereare really encouraging signs in themarketplace and it appears Bristol isstarting to emerge from the down-turn with a lot of positive senti-ment.

“Several large deals are on theverge of going through, which will

only add to the momentum; we havenot seen such high levels of interestfor several years and all the signs arevery positive.”

Commercial property

Market on up as largedeals add momentum

� Philip Morton of CBRE

But he said the downside of raisingdemand was a fall in the supply ofspace available to rent. The trend,following changes in the law, to allow

more old offices to be turned into flatshas increased this squeeze.

The changes have seen one millionsq ft of office space being taken out ofthe Bristol market, meaning there is1.5 million sq ft of available officespace in the city - a fall of 11 per centover the last six months.

But new developments are comingthrough, such as 2 Glass Wharf inTemple Quay and 66 Queen Square.

Simon Price, head of agency atAlder King, said: “Demand is nowapproaching pre-recession levels.Supply is constrained in manycentres but speculative office andindustrial development is now un-derway with a number of schemesdue to complete in the next 12months, The outlook for the secondhalf of 2014 looks very exciting.”

Both firms put the average rent inBristol for prime office space un-changed at £27.50 per square foot butthat could rise in the comingm o n t h s.

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

Meet-the-buyer eventpraised as ‘excellent’� MORE than 30 small businesses inBristol had the chance to pitch theirwares directly to a number of majorcompanies at a specialmeet-the-buyer event.

The event, at Regus Temple Quay,had been jointly organised by BristolCity Council and the Bristol branch ofthe Federation of Small Businesses(FSB) to give smaller firms a chanceto try and win contracts with leadingprivate and public sector companies.

Organisations such as Lloyds Bankand the Ministry of Defence wereamong the potential buyers.

Rory MccGwire, the chief executiveof Atom Content Marketing, in Bristol,was one of the suppliers and said ithad been an “excellent” event.

He said: “We were invited to pitchto three major organisations that hadeach read our profile and liked whatthey saw. Local procurement forthese bigger organisations is awin-win when there are so many firstclass suppliers right here on theirdoorstep.”

C o n t ra c ts

� Simon Price of Alder King

Part of the Local World group

AN Event Services provide audio visual equipmentand support for all your event needs. We offer aprofessional and experienced approach withpre-show, on-site and post-show technical support.

Staging your event doesn’thave to cost a fortune...

Whatever the event, we’ve got it covered

Call us on: 01684 575832Email us at: enquiries@aneventservices.co.ukVisit us at : www.aneventservices.co.uk

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3

6 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 7We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

The Big Interview

RESEARCH shows that mer-gers between law firms fallthrough more often than notand, even when they do pro-ceed, the results can disap-

point.So for Chris Miller, the managing

partner at Bristol firm Barcan Wood-ward, who recently announced a mer-ger with fellow city practice KirbySheppard, it’s essential not to fall intofamiliar traps.

And in this particular case, be-cause of the people involved, MrMiller is confident that the firms willwork in harmony when unified. “T heBristol legal world is a fairly smallone so we know Kirby Sheppardfairly well,” he said. “There is a mu-tual respect already there.

“There are a certain number ofrecognised, well-thought-of firms inBristol – we know who they are. Themost important thing for me was tomerge with a firm that shared thesame values, ethos and approach tothe best level of client care, as well asbeing great people to work with.

“It also offers an opportunity for usto expand existing teams and offerour clients new services that willmake the new firm a force to bereckoned with, within the compet-itive Bristol legal sector.”

Professional services firm Deloittehas published extensive articlesabout the challenges of post-mergerintegration (PMI). The risks are cat-egorised fourfold – synergy, struc-tural, project and people.

The full extent of these issues affectlarge corporations, not perhaps twoBristol law firms which even whenmerged will fill the gap between thecity’s small practices and the bigfir ms.

But the principles are consistentthroughout the full spectrum of busi-nesses and they are ones which MrMiller has borne in mind throughoutthe merger process.

“We ’ve certainly thought very care-fully about how the two firms willmesh together,” he said. “I’m abso-lutely confident that we can worktogether and our departments will bestronger, complementing each otherwell and providing a full range ofservices to our clients.

“Ultimately, it’s about the people ateach firm being able to work together.We ’ve put a lot of thought into thingslike who will head up each team andalthough there’s still some fine detailto go through we’re very confidentabout the future.”

It’s an exciting time for Mr Miller, a52-year-old father of three. A lawyerfor 24 years, he was a junior solicitorwhen Barcan Woodward was formedin 1992 and currently works from thefir m’s office in North Street, Bed-m i n s t e r.

Mr Miller was appointed managingpartner of Barcan Woodward in Janu-ary 2013. The firm was thriving, doub-ling in size in the previous five yearswith offices in Horfield, Bedminsterand King Street.

However he was keen to fast-trackthe firm’s growth, conscious of chan-ging trends in the legal professionand lack of larger mid-sized firms inBristol’s scene, between the manysmall practices and the major firms.

“I believed we needed to start look-ing at options because of the way themarket is going. In the future thebigger firms which have better re-sources for areas like IT, HR, com-pliance and so on – these are going tobe the winners and small firms aregoing to find it hard.

“I felt we needed a step change tomove into new areas of working. Theother option was to bring in lateralhires and associates. But that’s al-ways risky because they don’t ne-cessarily share your values andc u l t u re s.

“I was aware of Kirby Sheppard, Ilooked in detail at the areas bothfirms had and whether we could worktogether, thought about it long andhard individually and with my part-

AVOIDING THE MERGER TRAPSMergers are a moment of upheaval that can lead to growth orcreate tension and uncertainty. Which makes it the perfecttime for Rupert Janisch to meet Chris Miller, as he embarkson such a path at law firm Barcan Woodward

ners before I made any approach.”When Mr Miller eventually met his

counterpart Bill Willcox, managingpartner of Kirby Sheppard, the meet-ing took place over coffee at a cafe inQueen Square, near Kirby Shep-p a rd ’s offices. The pair got on in-stantly and discussed plans for theirbusinesses at length, for two hours attheir first meeting.

“We both felt it could work,” saidMr Miller. “We ’ve had lots of meet-

My working dayWake up: 6.15am

B re a k f a s t ? C e re a l

Start work: 8am

Typical working day: A mixture of going tomeetings, responding to emails, spendingtime at court

Go home? Usually between 6 and 6.30pm

Do you take work home or attendfunctions Yes, most weeks

Name: Chris MillerAge: 52School: Marlborough College

Vital statistics

My downtimeMy perfect weekend Some sporting activitysuch as five-a-side football or tennis, thenseeing friends, a little beer or wine,preferably in the sunshine!

My favouritebook/film/TVshow MadMen (left),Borgen andThe Bridge

HobbiesTe n n i s

ings since then – essentially we sharethe same values, which give us a solidbasis from which to merge the busi-nesses together.”

Now that the announcement aboutthe two firms’ intentions to mergehas been made – not only to thebusiness community but also theirclients and, most importantly, thefir ms’ staff – the next few monthsprovide an opportunity for the in-dividual teams to get to know eacho t h e r.

Business will continue as usual butunder the knowledge that the twofirms will be operating under a newname – yet to be announced – f ro mApril 1 next year.

Mr Miller said: “T here’s a lot ofwork to do to ensure that the trans-ition is seamless. We are integratingtwo practices which, in the case of ourpersonal injury and clinical negli-gence team, has a national reputa-tion.

“But the merger is about making usstronger, a key player in the city’slegal scene. We don’t want to be alarge corporate firm but we do wantto secure our future, while buildingon our existing reputation for ex-cellent service and client relation-ships. That’s something I’mpersonally dedicated to see continu-ing after the firms merge.”

TRADERS in Park Street are showingthe way in working together to savemoney and bring in more custom-e r s.

New research suggests retailers inhigh streets and small centres whocooperate will reap rewards.

Colliers International retail spe-cialist Nick Turk has called on otherareas to follow the example of ParkStreet in Bristol, where traders havedone just that.

The Value of Collaboration report,carried out by Conlumino for Amer-ican Express, found joint marketingcampaigns, loyalty schemes and localevents and collaborations could lift ac o m p a ny ’s sales by an average of£30,000 annually.

While helping each other out on theeveryday stuff, such as minding thestore or taking in deliveries, couldsave an independent business on av-

erage £3,000 a year in labour costs.Colliers has been working with a

collective of traders alongside mar-keting firm Destination CMS on asocial media campaign to raise thes t re e t ’s profile.

Nick said: “It is just this type ofcommunity cooperation we havebeen trying to foster through ourSocial iStreet campaign, steeringmore people to the area via socialmedia chatter and prompts.”

Three months into the campaign,the benefits are being seen with so-cial media likes and followers top-ping the 1,000 mark and levels ofshared content increasing.

The audience reach of that activityhas exceeded 300,000 in the same peri-od.

Nick said: “Park Street is a mi-crocosm of many of the trends oc-curring across the UK. It

demonstrates the importance of awide food and beverage choice, a goodindependent fashion offer in additionto strong international brands.

“Its strong independent streak andquirky, highly individual shopsprovide a vibrant counterpoint toclick-and-collect and its distinctivecharacter places it in the same leagueas top shopping areas in London suchas Carnaby Street and ConnaughtVillage and tenants or traders as-sociations can maximise this kind ofcl o u t . ”

Nick said tenants could now takecontrol of promoting and managingtheir high street by working withfirms such as Colliers, rather thanleaving it to the landlord.

As well as the social media cam-paign the firm organised businessrates clinics with the traders asso-c i at i o n .

Working together to bring in trade

� A FLEET vehicle dealer isresponding to the change trends inworking patterns by introducingovernight servicing.

City West Commercials,M e rc e d e s - B e n z ’s commercialvehicle partner in the South West,has started overnight servicing inAv o n m o u t h .

The new out-of-hours servicing atthe company’s headquarter site, willenable customers to drop offpre-booked vehicles for inspectionand routine service work at the closeof business and pick them up thenext day.

Graeson Clarke, dealer principal ofCity West Commercials said: “Wepride ourselves on the quality of ourservice and support.

“The out-of-hours service we offeris as important for the small andmedium-sized businesses as it is forthe big fleet, all of whom can losecustom and suffer financially fromhaving vehicles off the road duringthe working day.

“We feel that everyone shouldbenefit from these customer centricservice offerings.”

Graeson said the company wasresponding to the changing needs ofcustomers as businesses becomemore 24-hour.

He added: “We are entering a veryexciting time for the business andour 24-hour service facility is just thefirst of several developments comingout of City West Commercials overthe coming months.”

Ve h i c l es

Dealer brings inovernight servicing

Sign uphere forbusinessnews directto yourinboxevery day

� AN independent wind turbinemanufacturer has established a newbase near Bristol as it plans to growits market share in the UK.

Norvento has set up at Portburydock as the South West is a hub ofthe wind farm industry with largenumbers of turbines across Devonand Cornwall and also because it iswell connected to other parts of thecountry with more potential forg ro w t h .

The firm makes a mid-sizedturbine, the nED100 (below), which itbelieves bring some of the benefitsof larger-scale projects to the smallercustomer such as farmers.

Ivo Arnús, director of businessdevelopment, said: “The Avonmoutharea is becoming something of arenewable energy hub, with anumber of wind turbine develop-ments recently commissioned thatbuild on the existing ones and somefirms in the sector basing their

ABUSINESSMAN who foun-ded a company supplyingdrugs to care homes hasbounced back after the busi-ness went into administra-

tion.Tariq Muhammad founded Phar-

macy Plus in 1994 when he took over arun-down chemist and built it firstinto a chain then a supplier of drugsto more then 600 care homes acrossEngland.

Last year he handed over control toa private equity firm and the busi-ness then went into administrationin May, with the loss of all 240 jobs.

At the heart of its growth was thedevelopment of a system called theProactive Care System, which usedbarcodes to make sure patients gotthe right medicine.

Now Tariq has secured the intel-lectual property rights to the systemand set up a new company.

Tariq said many care homes hadcome to rely on and value the systemand he felt there was still a successfulbusiness to be had from it.

“PCS was a hugely popular systemfor medicines management in careh o m e s, ” he said.

“It remains the only solutionwith experience of successfully op-erating at scale in over 600 careh o m e s.

“It delivered greatly improvedsafety record preventing episodes ofharm and identifying thousands of

near misses in medicines adminis-tration weekly.

“Since Pharmacy Plus’ closure, Ihave been contacted by many carehome organisations who said theydid not want to lose PCS and thepositive impact that it had made ontheir care delivery.”

With the IP secured, Tariq has es-tablished Invatech Health to offercare homes use of the technology butstill keep their current local phar-macy supplier.

For the local pharmacy, it meansthey can use barcodes to make dis-pensing in original manufacturerspacks possible, which helps removethe need for costly monitored doses y s t e m s.

The new business will create 50jobs in IT sales and marketing in thenext few months.

Te c h n o l o g y

Pharmacy Plus foundersets up new companyGavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

� Above, the barcode system in operation; right, Tariq Muhammad

EngineeringWind turbine makersets up new base

operations in and around the city.“Logistically it’s extremely well

connected with both London and theNorth, and in close proximity toWales, which is becoming a keytarget market for us.”

He added the firm was researchdriven and the city’s universities werea big part of the draw.

But Ivo warned constraints ofconnected to the national grid washolding the industry back.

He said: “A history of inefficiencyand a reliance on outdatedtechnology in the UK medium windsector has not allowed farmers andlocal communities to maximise theirincome and returns on investment.

“With nED100, Norvento is seekingnot only to address these challengesbut also to raise the standard. Thetechnological innovation of theturbine is supported by unmatchedwarranties, such as power curve,noise and eventual availabilityguarantees. Norvento also offersinnovative financing packages thatmake the purchase of new unitseasier and more profitable.”

The 4,000 square metre base willbe the main warehouse anddistribution hub for the UK market.

� Chris Millerof BarcanWo o d w a rd ;and belowwith BillWillcox ofKirbyS h e p p a rd

Nick Turk of Colliers International

“ It is just this type of communitycooperation we have been trying tofoster ... steering more people tothe area via social media chatterand prompts.

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6 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 7We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

The Big Interview

RESEARCH shows that mer-gers between law firms fallthrough more often than notand, even when they do pro-ceed, the results can disap-

point.So for Chris Miller, the managing

partner at Bristol firm Barcan Wood-ward, who recently announced a mer-ger with fellow city practice KirbySheppard, it’s essential not to fall intofamiliar traps.

And in this particular case, be-cause of the people involved, MrMiller is confident that the firms willwork in harmony when unified. “T heBristol legal world is a fairly smallone so we know Kirby Sheppardfairly well,” he said. “There is a mu-tual respect already there.

“There are a certain number ofrecognised, well-thought-of firms inBristol – we know who they are. Themost important thing for me was tomerge with a firm that shared thesame values, ethos and approach tothe best level of client care, as well asbeing great people to work with.

“It also offers an opportunity for usto expand existing teams and offerour clients new services that willmake the new firm a force to bereckoned with, within the compet-itive Bristol legal sector.”

Professional services firm Deloittehas published extensive articlesabout the challenges of post-mergerintegration (PMI). The risks are cat-egorised fourfold – synergy, struc-tural, project and people.

The full extent of these issues affectlarge corporations, not perhaps twoBristol law firms which even whenmerged will fill the gap between thecity’s small practices and the bigfir ms.

But the principles are consistentthroughout the full spectrum of busi-nesses and they are ones which MrMiller has borne in mind throughoutthe merger process.

“We ’ve certainly thought very care-fully about how the two firms willmesh together,” he said. “I’m abso-lutely confident that we can worktogether and our departments will bestronger, complementing each otherwell and providing a full range ofservices to our clients.

“Ultimately, it’s about the people ateach firm being able to work together.We ’ve put a lot of thought into thingslike who will head up each team andalthough there’s still some fine detailto go through we’re very confidentabout the future.”

It’s an exciting time for Mr Miller, a52-year-old father of three. A lawyerfor 24 years, he was a junior solicitorwhen Barcan Woodward was formedin 1992 and currently works from thefir m’s office in North Street, Bed-m i n s t e r.

Mr Miller was appointed managingpartner of Barcan Woodward in Janu-ary 2013. The firm was thriving, doub-ling in size in the previous five yearswith offices in Horfield, Bedminsterand King Street.

However he was keen to fast-trackthe firm’s growth, conscious of chan-ging trends in the legal professionand lack of larger mid-sized firms inBristol’s scene, between the manysmall practices and the major firms.

“I believed we needed to start look-ing at options because of the way themarket is going. In the future thebigger firms which have better re-sources for areas like IT, HR, com-pliance and so on – these are going tobe the winners and small firms aregoing to find it hard.

“I felt we needed a step change tomove into new areas of working. Theother option was to bring in lateralhires and associates. But that’s al-ways risky because they don’t ne-cessarily share your values andc u l t u re s.

“I was aware of Kirby Sheppard, Ilooked in detail at the areas bothfirms had and whether we could worktogether, thought about it long andhard individually and with my part-

AVOIDING THE MERGER TRAPSMergers are a moment of upheaval that can lead to growth orcreate tension and uncertainty. Which makes it the perfecttime for Rupert Janisch to meet Chris Miller, as he embarkson such a path at law firm Barcan Woodward

ners before I made any approach.”When Mr Miller eventually met his

counterpart Bill Willcox, managingpartner of Kirby Sheppard, the meet-ing took place over coffee at a cafe inQueen Square, near Kirby Shep-p a rd ’s offices. The pair got on in-stantly and discussed plans for theirbusinesses at length, for two hours attheir first meeting.

“We both felt it could work,” saidMr Miller. “We ’ve had lots of meet-

My working dayWake up: 6.15am

B re a k f a s t ? C e re a l

Start work: 8am

Typical working day: A mixture of going tomeetings, responding to emails, spendingtime at court

Go home? Usually between 6 and 6.30pm

Do you take work home or attendfunctions Yes, most weeks

Name: Chris MillerAge: 52School: Marlborough College

Vital statistics

My downtimeMy perfect weekend Some sporting activitysuch as five-a-side football or tennis, thenseeing friends, a little beer or wine,preferably in the sunshine!

My favouritebook/film/TVshow MadMen (left),Borgen andThe Bridge

HobbiesTe n n i s

ings since then – essentially we sharethe same values, which give us a solidbasis from which to merge the busi-nesses together.”

Now that the announcement aboutthe two firms’ intentions to mergehas been made – not only to thebusiness community but also theirclients and, most importantly, thefir ms’ staff – the next few monthsprovide an opportunity for the in-dividual teams to get to know eacho t h e r.

Business will continue as usual butunder the knowledge that the twofirms will be operating under a newname – yet to be announced – f ro mApril 1 next year.

Mr Miller said: “T here’s a lot ofwork to do to ensure that the trans-ition is seamless. We are integratingtwo practices which, in the case of ourpersonal injury and clinical negli-gence team, has a national reputa-tion.

“But the merger is about making usstronger, a key player in the city’slegal scene. We don’t want to be alarge corporate firm but we do wantto secure our future, while buildingon our existing reputation for ex-cellent service and client relation-ships. That’s something I’mpersonally dedicated to see continu-ing after the firms merge.”

TRADERS in Park Street are showingthe way in working together to savemoney and bring in more custom-e r s.

New research suggests retailers inhigh streets and small centres whocooperate will reap rewards.

Colliers International retail spe-cialist Nick Turk has called on otherareas to follow the example of ParkStreet in Bristol, where traders havedone just that.

The Value of Collaboration report,carried out by Conlumino for Amer-ican Express, found joint marketingcampaigns, loyalty schemes and localevents and collaborations could lift ac o m p a ny ’s sales by an average of£30,000 annually.

While helping each other out on theeveryday stuff, such as minding thestore or taking in deliveries, couldsave an independent business on av-

erage £3,000 a year in labour costs.Colliers has been working with a

collective of traders alongside mar-keting firm Destination CMS on asocial media campaign to raise thes t re e t ’s profile.

Nick said: “It is just this type ofcommunity cooperation we havebeen trying to foster through ourSocial iStreet campaign, steeringmore people to the area via socialmedia chatter and prompts.”

Three months into the campaign,the benefits are being seen with so-cial media likes and followers top-ping the 1,000 mark and levels ofshared content increasing.

The audience reach of that activityhas exceeded 300,000 in the same peri-od.

Nick said: “Park Street is a mi-crocosm of many of the trends oc-curring across the UK. It

demonstrates the importance of awide food and beverage choice, a goodindependent fashion offer in additionto strong international brands.

“Its strong independent streak andquirky, highly individual shopsprovide a vibrant counterpoint toclick-and-collect and its distinctivecharacter places it in the same leagueas top shopping areas in London suchas Carnaby Street and ConnaughtVillage and tenants or traders as-sociations can maximise this kind ofcl o u t . ”

Nick said tenants could now takecontrol of promoting and managingtheir high street by working withfirms such as Colliers, rather thanleaving it to the landlord.

As well as the social media cam-paign the firm organised businessrates clinics with the traders asso-c i at i o n .

Working together to bring in trade

� A FLEET vehicle dealer isresponding to the change trends inworking patterns by introducingovernight servicing.

City West Commercials,M e rc e d e s - B e n z ’s commercialvehicle partner in the South West,has started overnight servicing inAv o n m o u t h .

The new out-of-hours servicing atthe company’s headquarter site, willenable customers to drop offpre-booked vehicles for inspectionand routine service work at the closeof business and pick them up thenext day.

Graeson Clarke, dealer principal ofCity West Commercials said: “Wepride ourselves on the quality of ourservice and support.

“The out-of-hours service we offeris as important for the small andmedium-sized businesses as it is forthe big fleet, all of whom can losecustom and suffer financially fromhaving vehicles off the road duringthe working day.

“We feel that everyone shouldbenefit from these customer centricservice offerings.”

Graeson said the company wasresponding to the changing needs ofcustomers as businesses becomemore 24-hour.

He added: “We are entering a veryexciting time for the business andour 24-hour service facility is just thefirst of several developments comingout of City West Commercials overthe coming months.”

Ve h i c l es

Dealer brings inovernight servicing

Sign uphere forbusinessnews directto yourinboxevery day

� AN independent wind turbinemanufacturer has established a newbase near Bristol as it plans to growits market share in the UK.

Norvento has set up at Portburydock as the South West is a hub ofthe wind farm industry with largenumbers of turbines across Devonand Cornwall and also because it iswell connected to other parts of thecountry with more potential forg ro w t h .

The firm makes a mid-sizedturbine, the nED100 (below), which itbelieves bring some of the benefitsof larger-scale projects to the smallercustomer such as farmers.

Ivo Arnús, director of businessdevelopment, said: “The Avonmoutharea is becoming something of arenewable energy hub, with anumber of wind turbine develop-ments recently commissioned thatbuild on the existing ones and somefirms in the sector basing their

ABUSINESSMAN who foun-ded a company supplyingdrugs to care homes hasbounced back after the busi-ness went into administra-

tion.Tariq Muhammad founded Phar-

macy Plus in 1994 when he took over arun-down chemist and built it firstinto a chain then a supplier of drugsto more then 600 care homes acrossEngland.

Last year he handed over control toa private equity firm and the busi-ness then went into administrationin May, with the loss of all 240 jobs.

At the heart of its growth was thedevelopment of a system called theProactive Care System, which usedbarcodes to make sure patients gotthe right medicine.

Now Tariq has secured the intel-lectual property rights to the systemand set up a new company.

Tariq said many care homes hadcome to rely on and value the systemand he felt there was still a successfulbusiness to be had from it.

“PCS was a hugely popular systemfor medicines management in careh o m e s, ” he said.

“It remains the only solutionwith experience of successfully op-erating at scale in over 600 careh o m e s.

“It delivered greatly improvedsafety record preventing episodes ofharm and identifying thousands of

near misses in medicines adminis-tration weekly.

“Since Pharmacy Plus’ closure, Ihave been contacted by many carehome organisations who said theydid not want to lose PCS and thepositive impact that it had made ontheir care delivery.”

With the IP secured, Tariq has es-tablished Invatech Health to offercare homes use of the technology butstill keep their current local phar-macy supplier.

For the local pharmacy, it meansthey can use barcodes to make dis-pensing in original manufacturerspacks possible, which helps removethe need for costly monitored doses y s t e m s.

The new business will create 50jobs in IT sales and marketing in thenext few months.

Te c h n o l o g y

Pharmacy Plus foundersets up new companyGavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

� Above, the barcode system in operation; right, Tariq Muhammad

EngineeringWind turbine makersets up new base

operations in and around the city.“Logistically it’s extremely well

connected with both London and theNorth, and in close proximity toWales, which is becoming a keytarget market for us.”

He added the firm was researchdriven and the city’s universities werea big part of the draw.

But Ivo warned constraints ofconnected to the national grid washolding the industry back.

He said: “A history of inefficiencyand a reliance on outdatedtechnology in the UK medium windsector has not allowed farmers andlocal communities to maximise theirincome and returns on investment.

“With nED100, Norvento is seekingnot only to address these challengesbut also to raise the standard. Thetechnological innovation of theturbine is supported by unmatchedwarranties, such as power curve,noise and eventual availabilityguarantees. Norvento also offersinnovative financing packages thatmake the purchase of new unitseasier and more profitable.”

The 4,000 square metre base willbe the main warehouse anddistribution hub for the UK market.

� Chris Millerof BarcanWo o d w a rd ;and belowwith BillWillcox ofKirbyS h e p p a rd

Nick Turk of Colliers International

“ It is just this type of communitycooperation we have been trying tofoster ... steering more people tothe area via social media chatterand prompts.

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3

8 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 9We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

Focus on start-ups | Sponsored by THEME SPONSOR’S NAME HERE.

Forget Silicon Valley oreven Silicon Round-about, Silicon Gorge iswhere it’s at. Bristol isbuilding a reputation asa Tech City. SammyPayne re p o r t s

BRISTOL has been praised inrecent weeks for its growingreputation as a world-classtechnology hub. But howmuch do we really know

about the growing tech businessesbased in the city?

We ’re surrounded by huge engin-eering masterpieces such as Brunel’sss Great Britain and the Clifton Sus-pension Bridge so it’s not a hugeshock to see the city hailed as a placeof great innovation.

The Engine Shed’s Director, NickSturge, said he was not surprised tosee the city attract national newscoverage last week after beinglabeled a leader in robotics and tech-nolog y.

Nick said: “We ’ve got financial ser-vices, we’ve got high-tech, we’ve gotcreative, we’ve got digital, and we’vegot hot air ballooning. There’s a realdiversity here and a 1,000-year his-tory of exploration and innovationand bit of an independent spirit, soit’s not surprising.”

Businesses and engineers from allover the world are looking to Bristolas a leading technology sector.

Nick said investors from Londonare increasingly looking to Bristolfor interesting business ideas and tosetup innovation centres.

“Businesses come from Londonwhen they need to recruit talent andhave exhausted what’s in London,because it’s hot and over heated.

“Bristol is a nicer space, it’s cheap-er, and broadband’s better here. It’sjust a nicer pace of life.

“T here’s a lot of really creative andtechnically competent people hereand they want to stay here, so com-panies have to come to Bristol to getthem.”

Bristol has a huge range ofhigh-tech businesses and 65 of themare based inside SetSquared, whichwas recently named the best uni-versity business incubator in Europeand second in the world.

There are also many networks andorganisations of entrepreneursaround the city, such as South WestFounders, and this, Nick thinks, iswh at ’s driving Bristol’s energy fori n n ovat i o n .

Nick said: “These networks,they’re all full, they’re all busy, and

� A 26-YEAR-OLD animationgraduate, with no coding orengineering experience, set up hisown technology company in 2011 totransform the lives of blind peoplearound the world.

Ed Rogers founded Bristol BrailleTechnology because he wanted totackle the decline in literacy amongstblind people by making Brailletechnology affordable.

Ed said he started the socialenterprise because “the status quoseemed unjust and the technicalchallenge was interesting”.

The company, which uses theBristol Hackspace and the PervasiveMedia Studio spaces, is currentlydeveloping a piece of wearabletechnology that will turn any flatsurface into a Braille display ofunlimited size.

The young entrepreneur has

‘Great chances of getting started without huge overheads’ ‘Exciting place to be a part of’

Case study

� Harry Gee with his PiBot

� THE Bristol Robotics Laboratoryrecently made national news after itwas awarded £4.5million funding forits University Enterprise Zone andvisited by Secretary of State forBusiness, Vince Cable.

The business incubator, insideUWE’s Enterprise Zone in Filton, wasdescribed by Cable as the “f o re m o s tcentre for robotics research in theUK”, and is home to a number ofgroundbreaking robotics start-ups,including Agilic.

Agilic founder, 36-year-old HarryGee, is currently in Silicon Valleyshowing off his latest creation afterwinning a place on a prestigiousRobotics Mission across America.

TiddlyBot is a small robotdesigned by Harry and made with aRaspberry Pi – a smartphone-sizedand low cost computer.

The robot is designed to helpyoung people learn about science,engineering, and programming.

Harry aims to work with teachers,coders, engineers, and youngpeople to make technology andmath subjects more fun.

He said: “I first had the idea afterhelping to run workshops forteachers about the Raspberry Pi.

“I then saw that when you makeprogramming ‘real world’ it becomesmuch more interesting to teach andthen learn. I then decided to try andturn a Raspberry Pi into a robot andthings have developed from there.”

To fund his business Harry is usingsavings, a personal loan, a bankoverdraft and a crowd-fundingcampaign on Kickstarter.

The robotics enthusiast has beenworking full-time on his businesssince September 2013 and hasmade good use of Bristol’sresources, including member-runBristol Hackspace.

Harry said: “The Bristol Hackspacehas been a great place to buildprototypes and their friendly andknowledgeable members have alsohelped with advice for building thero b o t .

“I think Bristol has been a globallysignificant tech cluster since theindustrial revolution and has atradition of great ingenuity and techexcellence.

“Now it’s things like aerospace androbotics it’s leading the way with.Bristol is an exciting place to be apart of.”

Harry was one of seven people towin a tour of Silicon Valley andAmerica’s specialist robotics centres

Tech City Bristol: special report

FORGET SILICON VALLEY – THIS IS THE NEW TECH HOT SPOT

they’re growing. The number ofthese networks has tripled in just 18m o n t h s. ”

Bristol’s latest label as a ‘g l o b a l lysignificant tech cluster,’ also came asno surprise to the Creative and Di-gital Sector specialist for Invest Bris-tol & Bath, David Maher Roberts.

He explained: “We ’ve known thisfor a while. We started by leadingglobally in aerospace and microelec-tronic technology before going on toinnovate animation, gaming, soft-ware, biomedicine, and robotics.”

David thinks it’s how these sectors

Case study

cross that makes Bristol standout.“We have lots of big companies

here and start-ups. We’ve got lots oftechnological innovations and cre-ativity and lots of industries arebeginning to cross over.

“For example, we are seeing ro-botics, which Bristol is very strongat, cross over with advanced engin-eering and automation.

“A less obvious cross-over is ro-botics with entertainment and usingrobotics to aid motion-capture.

“This is what leads companies toturn up from London saying ‘we love

what you’re doing here, can we set upan innovation hub here, can we setup an innovation centre?’”

Recent advances in the technologysector have left people across Bristolexcited for the future.

David added: “I think Bristol andBath have this unstoppable mo-mentum, we’re becoming a very ser-ious player on the global stage.”

Anastasia Emmanuel, the head ofIndiegogo UK marketing in London,said investors are looking to Bristolbecause of the lack of funding avail-able outside of London for ingenuous

i d e a s.“The potential here is huge.

T here’s a real strength in engin-eering and design and we want toamplify that.”

Indiegogo UK came to Bristol lastweek because it wanted to capitaliseon great business ideas and the‘masses of talent’ ava i l abl e.

Anastasia said: “We ’ve heard greatthings about Bristol’s creative andengineering sector and the strengthof its amazing start-ups.”

“We want to see more of this incrowd-funding. We’re working with

‘Success due to rich heritage of engineering talent’as part of a national competition puton by the Technology Strategy Boardand UK Trade and Investment.

Talking about his ‘eye-opening’time in America, the Bristol basedentrepreneur said: “It’s been anamazing insight into the world ofrobots and business in America.”

Three of the seven businesses towin a place on the prestigiousrobotics tour were from the SouthWe s t .

Reach Robotics, a roboticsentertainment company based in theBristol Robotics Lab, and MapleBird,the creators of the smallestunmanned vehicles in the worldbased in the Bristol and BathScience Park, are both in Americawith Harry.

Mike Biddle, the deputy director ofinnovation programmes at theTechnology Strategy Board, said:“The mission is designed to opendoors, build networks and showcaseBritish innovation and Silicon Valleyand San Francisco are synonymouswith being at the forefront of globalrobotics and autonomous systemst e c h n o l o g y.

“These companies will benefitfrom meetings with leading robotics,academic and research institutions,gaining fresh ideas and developingnew partnerships and fundingopportunities. It’s a springboardwhich can help them to launch theirbusiness, thrive and turn theirinnovations into tangible businessopportunities.”

BRINGING together an industry ofacademia, technology, engineersand entrepreneurs has been a life-time work for the chief executive ofBristol and Bath Science Park, Bon-nie Dean.

Bonnie, who has managed the sci-ence park for seven years and alwaysworked in the field of advanced en-gineering, said Bristol’s success inthe tech sector was down to a richheritage of engineering talent.

Bonnie said: “T here’s a legacy ofhigh-tech industry here that has de-veloped over decades.

“We have three strong universit-ies, which means there’s a steadystream of skilled graduates coming

out that are available to businesseswho are growing, and we also have avery large pool of experienced man-agers and executives, which is a pos-itive for companies coming here tos e t u p. ”

Big companies like mobile solu-tions giant Somo, are moving to Bris-tol because of the access to a “ve r ydeep pool of engineering talent”, ac-cording to Bonnie.

She said: “It’s also very accessibleto London so you have access to theairports which is important if you’rean international company. I see Lon-don very much as a portal. It’s com-plementary to Bristol and I don’t seeit as a competitive situation.”

When asked about what’s comingup for Bristol, Bonnie hinted at moreexciting developments in techno-log y.

“At the moment we have things instealth mode. I can’t say who butthere is work being done that rangesfrom software development to the de-velopment of robotics and the devel-opment of solutions to autoimmuned i s e a s e s. ”

She added: “It’s a very excitingperiod right now and Bristol andBath are well situated to take ad-vantage of it. I’m biased but I thinkwe give any other city region a goodrun for its’ money. The future is verypositive for this region.”

the Creative Skills Hub to get morebusinesses off the ground by sup-porting them with resources, mediaexposure, and guidance.”

One example of a successful Bristoltechnology business born and grownin Bristol is Second Sync.

Second Sync was setup in 2011 andbought by Twitter in April thisye a r.

The company, which measuredtweets relating to TV and radioshows, has four Bristolian direct-o r s.

Founder Andy Littledale said Bris-

tol has a ‘fantastically vibrant techscene’ and it was an ideal place forthem to get established and grow.

Andy said: “We were lucky enoughto be able to rent a great office spacefrom Aardman, we gained invaluablebusiness advice from SetSquared andwe received three grants from theTechnology Strategy Board thatreally helped us get the business offthe ground.”

“Success as a start-up is determ-ined by the strength of the team and Ic a n’t think of a better place to recruitand retain talented and dedicated

individuals than Bristol."Bristol’s tech sector has expanded

very quickly over the past year and isset to continue its rapid growth withrecent funding gains.

It’s an exciting time for the SouthWest, as Jill Burnett, innovationmanager at the Bristol RoboticsLaboratory said, there is technologyin development in Bristol that ‘couldmake a huge impact on all of ourl ive s ’.

It seems people around the worldwill have to continue to watch thiss p a c e.

benefited from Bristol’s thrivingtechnology scene and comparedfinding talented engineers in Bristolto “shooting fish in a barrel”.

“It was fairly easy,” he said. “ Toname just a few ways of findingrelevant people, go talk to courseheads in the universities, go to theHackspace on a Thursday night,attend the PM Studio Wednesdaylunchtime talk, and talk to theEngineer’s Innovation Network.”

“There is a tight network of peoplewho can introduce you to almostanyone you need.”

Ed said starting a company was achallenge but Bristol’s diversebusiness incubators and creativespaces “offer great chances atgetting started without hugeoverheads”.

Ed described Bristol as an“eclectic” technological andbusiness landscape with lots ofbright young graduates to work with.

Five of Bristol’s technology hubs for budding entrepreneurs

� The Engine ShedHome to SETsquared and WebStart Bristol,this place can offer guidance for exciting appand web service ideas to high-tech and highgrowth businesses. The Engine Shed is partof Temple Meads.

� Bristol & Bath Science ParkHere to help grow science and technologybusinesses, located in Emersons Green.

� Bristol HackspaceThis is a community of engineers and makersbased in Bedminster who are keen tosupport and advise any bright idea.

� Bristol Robotics LaboratoryThis is a world-class technology incubatorand research centre based in the Universityof the West of England Frenchay campus.

� Pervasive Media StudioHere to support makers and creative thinkerswith space and resources, it can be foundinside the Watershed at the harbourside.

� The Bristol Braille team, from left, Russell Couper, Ed Rogers, StephTyszka and Nic Marshall

� The chief executive of Bristol and Bath Science Park, Bonnie Dean

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8 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 9We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

Focus on start-ups | Sponsored by THEME SPONSOR’S NAME HERE.

Forget Silicon Valley oreven Silicon Round-about, Silicon Gorge iswhere it’s at. Bristol isbuilding a reputation asa Tech City. SammyPayne re p o r t s

BRISTOL has been praised inrecent weeks for its growingreputation as a world-classtechnology hub. But howmuch do we really know

about the growing tech businessesbased in the city?

We ’re surrounded by huge engin-eering masterpieces such as Brunel’sss Great Britain and the Clifton Sus-pension Bridge so it’s not a hugeshock to see the city hailed as a placeof great innovation.

The Engine Shed’s Director, NickSturge, said he was not surprised tosee the city attract national newscoverage last week after beinglabeled a leader in robotics and tech-nolog y.

Nick said: “We ’ve got financial ser-vices, we’ve got high-tech, we’ve gotcreative, we’ve got digital, and we’vegot hot air ballooning. There’s a realdiversity here and a 1,000-year his-tory of exploration and innovationand bit of an independent spirit, soit’s not surprising.”

Businesses and engineers from allover the world are looking to Bristolas a leading technology sector.

Nick said investors from Londonare increasingly looking to Bristolfor interesting business ideas and tosetup innovation centres.

“Businesses come from Londonwhen they need to recruit talent andhave exhausted what’s in London,because it’s hot and over heated.

“Bristol is a nicer space, it’s cheap-er, and broadband’s better here. It’sjust a nicer pace of life.

“T here’s a lot of really creative andtechnically competent people hereand they want to stay here, so com-panies have to come to Bristol to getthem.”

Bristol has a huge range ofhigh-tech businesses and 65 of themare based inside SetSquared, whichwas recently named the best uni-versity business incubator in Europeand second in the world.

There are also many networks andorganisations of entrepreneursaround the city, such as South WestFounders, and this, Nick thinks, iswh at ’s driving Bristol’s energy fori n n ovat i o n .

Nick said: “These networks,they’re all full, they’re all busy, and

� A 26-YEAR-OLD animationgraduate, with no coding orengineering experience, set up hisown technology company in 2011 totransform the lives of blind peoplearound the world.

Ed Rogers founded Bristol BrailleTechnology because he wanted totackle the decline in literacy amongstblind people by making Brailletechnology affordable.

Ed said he started the socialenterprise because “the status quoseemed unjust and the technicalchallenge was interesting”.

The company, which uses theBristol Hackspace and the PervasiveMedia Studio spaces, is currentlydeveloping a piece of wearabletechnology that will turn any flatsurface into a Braille display ofunlimited size.

The young entrepreneur has

‘Great chances of getting started without huge overheads’ ‘Exciting place to be a part of’

Case study

� Harry Gee with his PiBot

� THE Bristol Robotics Laboratoryrecently made national news after itwas awarded £4.5million funding forits University Enterprise Zone andvisited by Secretary of State forBusiness, Vince Cable.

The business incubator, insideUWE’s Enterprise Zone in Filton, wasdescribed by Cable as the “f o re m o s tcentre for robotics research in theUK”, and is home to a number ofgroundbreaking robotics start-ups,including Agilic.

Agilic founder, 36-year-old HarryGee, is currently in Silicon Valleyshowing off his latest creation afterwinning a place on a prestigiousRobotics Mission across America.

TiddlyBot is a small robotdesigned by Harry and made with aRaspberry Pi – a smartphone-sizedand low cost computer.

The robot is designed to helpyoung people learn about science,engineering, and programming.

Harry aims to work with teachers,coders, engineers, and youngpeople to make technology andmath subjects more fun.

He said: “I first had the idea afterhelping to run workshops forteachers about the Raspberry Pi.

“I then saw that when you makeprogramming ‘real world’ it becomesmuch more interesting to teach andthen learn. I then decided to try andturn a Raspberry Pi into a robot andthings have developed from there.”

To fund his business Harry is usingsavings, a personal loan, a bankoverdraft and a crowd-fundingcampaign on Kickstarter.

The robotics enthusiast has beenworking full-time on his businesssince September 2013 and hasmade good use of Bristol’sresources, including member-runBristol Hackspace.

Harry said: “The Bristol Hackspacehas been a great place to buildprototypes and their friendly andknowledgeable members have alsohelped with advice for building thero b o t .

“I think Bristol has been a globallysignificant tech cluster since theindustrial revolution and has atradition of great ingenuity and techexcellence.

“Now it’s things like aerospace androbotics it’s leading the way with.Bristol is an exciting place to be apart of.”

Harry was one of seven people towin a tour of Silicon Valley andAmerica’s specialist robotics centres

Tech City Bristol: special report

FORGET SILICON VALLEY – THIS IS THE NEW TECH HOT SPOT

they’re growing. The number ofthese networks has tripled in just 18m o n t h s. ”

Bristol’s latest label as a ‘g l o b a l lysignificant tech cluster,’ also came asno surprise to the Creative and Di-gital Sector specialist for Invest Bris-tol & Bath, David Maher Roberts.

He explained: “We ’ve known thisfor a while. We started by leadingglobally in aerospace and microelec-tronic technology before going on toinnovate animation, gaming, soft-ware, biomedicine, and robotics.”

David thinks it’s how these sectors

Case study

cross that makes Bristol standout.“We have lots of big companies

here and start-ups. We’ve got lots oftechnological innovations and cre-ativity and lots of industries arebeginning to cross over.

“For example, we are seeing ro-botics, which Bristol is very strongat, cross over with advanced engin-eering and automation.

“A less obvious cross-over is ro-botics with entertainment and usingrobotics to aid motion-capture.

“This is what leads companies toturn up from London saying ‘we love

what you’re doing here, can we set upan innovation hub here, can we setup an innovation centre?’”

Recent advances in the technologysector have left people across Bristolexcited for the future.

David added: “I think Bristol andBath have this unstoppable mo-mentum, we’re becoming a very ser-ious player on the global stage.”

Anastasia Emmanuel, the head ofIndiegogo UK marketing in London,said investors are looking to Bristolbecause of the lack of funding avail-able outside of London for ingenuous

i d e a s.“The potential here is huge.

T here’s a real strength in engin-eering and design and we want toamplify that.”

Indiegogo UK came to Bristol lastweek because it wanted to capitaliseon great business ideas and the‘masses of talent’ ava i l abl e.

Anastasia said: “We ’ve heard greatthings about Bristol’s creative andengineering sector and the strengthof its amazing start-ups.”

“We want to see more of this incrowd-funding. We’re working with

‘Success due to rich heritage of engineering talent’as part of a national competition puton by the Technology Strategy Boardand UK Trade and Investment.

Talking about his ‘eye-opening’time in America, the Bristol basedentrepreneur said: “It’s been anamazing insight into the world ofrobots and business in America.”

Three of the seven businesses towin a place on the prestigiousrobotics tour were from the SouthWe s t .

Reach Robotics, a roboticsentertainment company based in theBristol Robotics Lab, and MapleBird,the creators of the smallestunmanned vehicles in the worldbased in the Bristol and BathScience Park, are both in Americawith Harry.

Mike Biddle, the deputy director ofinnovation programmes at theTechnology Strategy Board, said:“The mission is designed to opendoors, build networks and showcaseBritish innovation and Silicon Valleyand San Francisco are synonymouswith being at the forefront of globalrobotics and autonomous systemst e c h n o l o g y.

“These companies will benefitfrom meetings with leading robotics,academic and research institutions,gaining fresh ideas and developingnew partnerships and fundingopportunities. It’s a springboardwhich can help them to launch theirbusiness, thrive and turn theirinnovations into tangible businessopportunities.”

BRINGING together an industry ofacademia, technology, engineersand entrepreneurs has been a life-time work for the chief executive ofBristol and Bath Science Park, Bon-nie Dean.

Bonnie, who has managed the sci-ence park for seven years and alwaysworked in the field of advanced en-gineering, said Bristol’s success inthe tech sector was down to a richheritage of engineering talent.

Bonnie said: “T here’s a legacy ofhigh-tech industry here that has de-veloped over decades.

“We have three strong universit-ies, which means there’s a steadystream of skilled graduates coming

out that are available to businesseswho are growing, and we also have avery large pool of experienced man-agers and executives, which is a pos-itive for companies coming here tos e t u p. ”

Big companies like mobile solu-tions giant Somo, are moving to Bris-tol because of the access to a “ve r ydeep pool of engineering talent”, ac-cording to Bonnie.

She said: “It’s also very accessibleto London so you have access to theairports which is important if you’rean international company. I see Lon-don very much as a portal. It’s com-plementary to Bristol and I don’t seeit as a competitive situation.”

When asked about what’s comingup for Bristol, Bonnie hinted at moreexciting developments in techno-log y.

“At the moment we have things instealth mode. I can’t say who butthere is work being done that rangesfrom software development to the de-velopment of robotics and the devel-opment of solutions to autoimmuned i s e a s e s. ”

She added: “It’s a very excitingperiod right now and Bristol andBath are well situated to take ad-vantage of it. I’m biased but I thinkwe give any other city region a goodrun for its’ money. The future is verypositive for this region.”

the Creative Skills Hub to get morebusinesses off the ground by sup-porting them with resources, mediaexposure, and guidance.”

One example of a successful Bristoltechnology business born and grownin Bristol is Second Sync.

Second Sync was setup in 2011 andbought by Twitter in April thisye a r.

The company, which measuredtweets relating to TV and radioshows, has four Bristolian direct-o r s.

Founder Andy Littledale said Bris-

tol has a ‘fantastically vibrant techscene’ and it was an ideal place forthem to get established and grow.

Andy said: “We were lucky enoughto be able to rent a great office spacefrom Aardman, we gained invaluablebusiness advice from SetSquared andwe received three grants from theTechnology Strategy Board thatreally helped us get the business offthe ground.”

“Success as a start-up is determ-ined by the strength of the team and Ic a n’t think of a better place to recruitand retain talented and dedicated

individuals than Bristol."Bristol’s tech sector has expanded

very quickly over the past year and isset to continue its rapid growth withrecent funding gains.

It’s an exciting time for the SouthWest, as Jill Burnett, innovationmanager at the Bristol RoboticsLaboratory said, there is technologyin development in Bristol that ‘couldmake a huge impact on all of ourl ive s ’.

It seems people around the worldwill have to continue to watch thiss p a c e.

benefited from Bristol’s thrivingtechnology scene and comparedfinding talented engineers in Bristolto “shooting fish in a barrel”.

“It was fairly easy,” he said. “ Toname just a few ways of findingrelevant people, go talk to courseheads in the universities, go to theHackspace on a Thursday night,attend the PM Studio Wednesdaylunchtime talk, and talk to theEngineer’s Innovation Network.”

“There is a tight network of peoplewho can introduce you to almostanyone you need.”

Ed said starting a company was achallenge but Bristol’s diversebusiness incubators and creativespaces “offer great chances atgetting started without hugeoverheads”.

Ed described Bristol as an“eclectic” technological andbusiness landscape with lots ofbright young graduates to work with.

Five of Bristol’s technology hubs for budding entrepreneurs

� The Engine ShedHome to SETsquared and WebStart Bristol,this place can offer guidance for exciting appand web service ideas to high-tech and highgrowth businesses. The Engine Shed is partof Temple Meads.

� Bristol & Bath Science ParkHere to help grow science and technologybusinesses, located in Emersons Green.

� Bristol HackspaceThis is a community of engineers and makersbased in Bedminster who are keen tosupport and advise any bright idea.

� Bristol Robotics LaboratoryThis is a world-class technology incubatorand research centre based in the Universityof the West of England Frenchay campus.

� Pervasive Media StudioHere to support makers and creative thinkerswith space and resources, it can be foundinside the Watershed at the harbourside.

� The Bristol Braille team, from left, Russell Couper, Ed Rogers, StephTyszka and Nic Marshall

� The chief executive of Bristol and Bath Science Park, Bonnie Dean

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10 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 11We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

In pictures - event here

IN PICTURES BRISTOL’S BUSINESS COMMUNITY OUT AND ABOUTThe Hive launchMetcalfes summer party

Business diary

Email your business events togavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk.Events are sometimescancelled without us beingnotified so please check withorganisers before travelling.

FD Club: Gavin Black, associatedirector of Grant Thornton’sex-pat tax services, talks aboutwhy Britain is a great place to dobusiness, while Paul Walkerexplains changes aroundworkplace pensions at theaccountancy firm’s quarterly FDClub. Breakfast event from 8amat Hartwell House, VictoriaStreet, on Thursday, July 17.

After The Interview booklaunch: The launch of a newthriller around an interview thatgoes badly. Party at The Library,Goldbrick House, 6-8pm onMonday July 21. Also a greatchance to network. Free ticketscan be booked via Eventbrite.

Get Growing workshop:Showing how to get morestrategic about growing yoursmall business in a half-dayworkshop. From 9.30am at theEngine Shed, Temple Meads,Thursday, July 24.

Neighbourly launch: Socialnetwork for businesses with asocial conscience Neighbourlywill hold a launch event at theEngine Shed on Thursday, July24, 5pm-7.30pm.

Meet the minister: SouthGloucestershire FSB hosts aQ&A event with PensionsMinister and local MP SteveWebb. Questions must beemailed in advance. Wednesday,July 30, 7pn-9pm, at Aztec WestHotel, BS32 4TS.

Summer party: MoonConsulting holds its summerparty at the Old Fire Station, Pill,on Thursday, July 31 from6-8.30pm. The evening willfeature display of elite AstonMartin and Bentley cars courtesyof local luxury car dealers HROwen Cheltenham and twoclassic Austin Healey race cars.Fundraising for the Fire FightersC h a r i t y.

Bristol Connected: The BristolPost’s popular businessnetworking event takes place athe HiltonGarden Inn,Temple Way,from 6pm-8pmon Thursday,August 14. Achance forSMEs tonetwork aswell as meetthe Post team. John Hirst fromDestination Bristol will be amongthe speakers. To sign up go toeventbrite or scan this QR code.

THE launch of Weston-s u p e r- M a re ’s new businesscentre The Hive created a buzzamong businesses in the dis-trict.

North Somerset business and com-munity leaders, business representat-ives, the first Hive tenants and some ofNorth Somerset Enterprise Agency’sclients took a tour of the new build-ing.

Positioned in the J21 EnterpriseArea, the building has space for 40-60businesses who will all get access to theon-site support of the North SomersetEnterprise Agency, which is behindthe scheme.

NSEA chairman Charles Walkersaid: “What we have, as a result of agreat deal of hard work by all involved,is a superb environmentally-sustain-able building which delivers first classworkspace and on-site support to busi-nesses, within the perfect location – theexciting Junction 21 Enterprise Area.

“It is a building in which the whole ofNorth Somerset can take pride and wehope that the local business com-munity will get involved with TheHive, its events, its tenants and itspassionate support of up-and-comingnew business enterprises.”

ALAW firm made the most ofthe sunshine and added alittle jazz to thank its clientsand contacts with an earlyevening soiree.

Metcalfes held its summer party at,and outside, its office in QueenS q u a re.

The firm’s marketing managerLaura Walker said: “We had a greatevening attended by 70 people fromlocal Bristol businesses and theweather held out!

“Champagne and canapés,provided by Kate’s Kitchen, were en-joyed by all, with the excellent JJ’sJazz Band providing the music.”

Metcalfe’s has been raising moneyfor Headway Bristol, a charity whichhelps survivors of brain injuries tolive independent lives.

BUSINESS leaders have beentold that “Bristol is a placet h at ’s not perfect but it is on ajour ney”. The message wasdelivered by Bristol Green

Capital 2015 director Kris Donaldsonat a meeting of the West of EnglandInitiative held at Imperial Tobacco’snew global headquarters.

Kris was presenting the plans forusing our European Green Capitalstatus to position Bristol as a globalleader in sustainable urban living.

He said the award was recognitionfor a city that had its finger on thepulse of the future and was well po-sitioned as a laboratory for change.

More than 100 business peoplegathered at the meeting also heardabout another of Bristol’s innovativeprojects, Learning Ships.

This enables young people to ex-perience their heritage and their fu-ture through interacting with peoplefrom different industries, gettingthem to engage in global issuesthrough actions in their local envir-onment.

Project leader Hugh Thomas, edu-cational director at Bristol InitiativeCharitable Trust and My Future MyChoice, said: “You need to know whereyo u ’re from in order to know who youare and what you want to become sowe use the tidal environment of Bris-tol to engage young people in learningabout their heritage.”

The aim of the project initially is to

provide experimental Learning Shipsthat operate as transport and aclassroom for young people to interactdirectly with business and industrywhile exploring the past, present andfuture of the River Avon and SevernE s t u a r y.

The West of England Initiative is agroup with Business West that aims toput business at the heart of makingthe Bristol area a better place.

James Durie, executive director ofthe West of England Initiative said:

West of England Initiative

“Initiative members are engaged andare helping to shape Bristol as a globalsustainable city valuing its economy,environment and people.

“These meetings give local businessleaders the chance to play their partand hear about the great things thatare happening in the city and howthey can get involved.

“There was a great buzz about themeeting; a sense of thinking big,thinking differently, with ambitionfor our region.”

� Neale Scott of Amadeus Partnership and Terri Calcagno of Giuseppe'sRistorante & Pizzeria

� Kay McCluskey and Anne Felmingham of Metcalfes, with Kate Croucherof Headway Bristol

� David Minns of Brown in Town tailors � Nicola Parker of Triodos Bank � Derek Jenkins of St John's Chambers and Julian Bensonof Guildhall Chambers

� Networking at the meeting of the West of England Initiative, above; right,Hugh Thomas and Kris Donaldson speaking at the meeting

� MP JohnP e n ro s ecuts theribbon atthe openingceremony ofThe HiveBusinessCentre atWe s t o n -s u p e r- M a re

� Mike DayKnightstone),Sharon Bennett( Av o n / S o m e r s e tConstabulary),Clive Bodley(Alliance Homes),and Robert Brooks(Midas Group)

� Mark Ogden (Triodos Bank) and DavidGriffin (Albert Goodman Financial Planners)

� North Somerset Councillors Graham Taylor,Terry Porter and Dave Hitchins

� Phil Smith (Business West), Sarah Osborne andGraham Mitchell (South West Investment Groyp)

� Charles Walker, chairman of North SomersetEnterprise Agency

� Clive Wray (Business West) and Chris Garcier(Heart of the South West LEP).

� Angela Hicks, chief executive of NorthSomerset Enterprise Agency

� Alan Smith(Voluntary Action),

Ian and JoyceOliver (Joyce Oliver

Wealth Manage-ment) and Ian

Conway (AlbertGoodman Financial

Planners)

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10 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 11We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

In pictures - event here

IN PICTURES BRISTOL’S BUSINESS COMMUNITY OUT AND ABOUTThe Hive launchMetcalfes summer party

Business diary

Email your business events togavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk.Events are sometimescancelled without us beingnotified so please check withorganisers before travelling.

FD Club: Gavin Black, associatedirector of Grant Thornton’sex-pat tax services, talks aboutwhy Britain is a great place to dobusiness, while Paul Walkerexplains changes aroundworkplace pensions at theaccountancy firm’s quarterly FDClub. Breakfast event from 8amat Hartwell House, VictoriaStreet, on Thursday, July 17.

After The Interview booklaunch: The launch of a newthriller around an interview thatgoes badly. Party at The Library,Goldbrick House, 6-8pm onMonday July 21. Also a greatchance to network. Free ticketscan be booked via Eventbrite.

Get Growing workshop:Showing how to get morestrategic about growing yoursmall business in a half-dayworkshop. From 9.30am at theEngine Shed, Temple Meads,Thursday, July 24.

Neighbourly launch: Socialnetwork for businesses with asocial conscience Neighbourlywill hold a launch event at theEngine Shed on Thursday, July24, 5pm-7.30pm.

Meet the minister: SouthGloucestershire FSB hosts aQ&A event with PensionsMinister and local MP SteveWebb. Questions must beemailed in advance. Wednesday,July 30, 7pn-9pm, at Aztec WestHotel, BS32 4TS.

Summer party: MoonConsulting holds its summerparty at the Old Fire Station, Pill,on Thursday, July 31 from6-8.30pm. The evening willfeature display of elite AstonMartin and Bentley cars courtesyof local luxury car dealers HROwen Cheltenham and twoclassic Austin Healey race cars.Fundraising for the Fire FightersC h a r i t y.

Bristol Connected: The BristolPost’s popular businessnetworking event takes place athe HiltonGarden Inn,Temple Way,from 6pm-8pmon Thursday,August 14. Achance forSMEs tonetwork aswell as meetthe Post team. John Hirst fromDestination Bristol will be amongthe speakers. To sign up go toeventbrite or scan this QR code.

THE launch of Weston-s u p e r- M a re ’s new businesscentre The Hive created a buzzamong businesses in the dis-trict.

North Somerset business and com-munity leaders, business representat-ives, the first Hive tenants and some ofNorth Somerset Enterprise Agency’sclients took a tour of the new build-ing.

Positioned in the J21 EnterpriseArea, the building has space for 40-60businesses who will all get access to theon-site support of the North SomersetEnterprise Agency, which is behindthe scheme.

NSEA chairman Charles Walkersaid: “What we have, as a result of agreat deal of hard work by all involved,is a superb environmentally-sustain-able building which delivers first classworkspace and on-site support to busi-nesses, within the perfect location – theexciting Junction 21 Enterprise Area.

“It is a building in which the whole ofNorth Somerset can take pride and wehope that the local business com-munity will get involved with TheHive, its events, its tenants and itspassionate support of up-and-comingnew business enterprises.”

ALAW firm made the most ofthe sunshine and added alittle jazz to thank its clientsand contacts with an earlyevening soiree.

Metcalfes held its summer party at,and outside, its office in QueenS q u a re.

The firm’s marketing managerLaura Walker said: “We had a greatevening attended by 70 people fromlocal Bristol businesses and theweather held out!

“Champagne and canapés,provided by Kate’s Kitchen, were en-joyed by all, with the excellent JJ’sJazz Band providing the music.”

Metcalfe’s has been raising moneyfor Headway Bristol, a charity whichhelps survivors of brain injuries tolive independent lives.

BUSINESS leaders have beentold that “Bristol is a placet h at ’s not perfect but it is on ajour ney”. The message wasdelivered by Bristol Green

Capital 2015 director Kris Donaldsonat a meeting of the West of EnglandInitiative held at Imperial Tobacco’snew global headquarters.

Kris was presenting the plans forusing our European Green Capitalstatus to position Bristol as a globalleader in sustainable urban living.

He said the award was recognitionfor a city that had its finger on thepulse of the future and was well po-sitioned as a laboratory for change.

More than 100 business peoplegathered at the meeting also heardabout another of Bristol’s innovativeprojects, Learning Ships.

This enables young people to ex-perience their heritage and their fu-ture through interacting with peoplefrom different industries, gettingthem to engage in global issuesthrough actions in their local envir-onment.

Project leader Hugh Thomas, edu-cational director at Bristol InitiativeCharitable Trust and My Future MyChoice, said: “You need to know whereyo u ’re from in order to know who youare and what you want to become sowe use the tidal environment of Bris-tol to engage young people in learningabout their heritage.”

The aim of the project initially is to

provide experimental Learning Shipsthat operate as transport and aclassroom for young people to interactdirectly with business and industrywhile exploring the past, present andfuture of the River Avon and SevernE s t u a r y.

The West of England Initiative is agroup with Business West that aims toput business at the heart of makingthe Bristol area a better place.

James Durie, executive director ofthe West of England Initiative said:

West of England Initiative

“Initiative members are engaged andare helping to shape Bristol as a globalsustainable city valuing its economy,environment and people.

“These meetings give local businessleaders the chance to play their partand hear about the great things thatare happening in the city and howthey can get involved.

“There was a great buzz about themeeting; a sense of thinking big,thinking differently, with ambitionfor our region.”

� Neale Scott of Amadeus Partnership and Terri Calcagno of Giuseppe'sRistorante & Pizzeria

� Kay McCluskey and Anne Felmingham of Metcalfes, with Kate Croucherof Headway Bristol

� David Minns of Brown in Town tailors � Nicola Parker of Triodos Bank � Derek Jenkins of St John's Chambers and Julian Bensonof Guildhall Chambers

� Networking at the meeting of the West of England Initiative, above; right,Hugh Thomas and Kris Donaldson speaking at the meeting

� MP JohnP e n ro s ecuts theribbon atthe openingceremony ofThe HiveBusinessCentre atWe s t o n -s u p e r- M a re

� Mike DayKnightstone),Sharon Bennett( Av o n / S o m e r s e tConstabulary),Clive Bodley(Alliance Homes),and Robert Brooks(Midas Group)

� Mark Ogden (Triodos Bank) and DavidGriffin (Albert Goodman Financial Planners)

� North Somerset Councillors Graham Taylor,Terry Porter and Dave Hitchins

� Phil Smith (Business West), Sarah Osborne andGraham Mitchell (South West Investment Groyp)

� Charles Walker, chairman of North SomersetEnterprise Agency

� Clive Wray (Business West) and Chris Garcier(Heart of the South West LEP).

� Angela Hicks, chief executive of NorthSomerset Enterprise Agency

� Alan Smith(Voluntary Action),

Ian and JoyceOliver (Joyce Oliver

Wealth Manage-ment) and Ian

Conway (AlbertGoodman Financial

Planners)

EPB-

E01-

S3

12 We d n e s d a y, July 16, 2014w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

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INSPIRATION comes to us all indifferent places. For some, a darkquiet room, for others a high-energy brainstorming session.But if you’re looking to be in-

spired, you could do worse than at-tend one of the graduationceremonies that have been takingplace in Bristol this week.

I was fortunate to have a front rowseat at Bristol Cathedral to see stu-dents from the UWE Bristol BusinessSchool graduate this week. The prom-inence of my position, I should say,w a s n’t so much a reflection of mystatus, more that they couldn’t findmy name on the guest list in a hurryand that was the available spot!

But it gave me a great position fromwhich to observe the 164 graduateswho each walked up to applause (yes,it was a lot of clapping, and no gettingaway with shirking in my spot either)to have their degrees conferred uponthem by Vice Chancellor Steve West.

And observe I did. From that vant-age point, I noticed that the womenmostly – though not exclusively – hadbetter shoes than their male coun-terparts. More importantly, they alsohad better degrees. I didn’t count, butit seemed to me the women awardedfirst class honours outnumbered themen about four to one.

I noted the large numbers of SouthEast Asian students coming through,a sign of how UWE is successfullyselling its expertise overseas.

And I listened to the speeches. Spe-cifically that of Bill Grimsey, the hon-orary graduate at this particularceremony. Bill was invited because ofhis great experience in the retail sec-tor, where he turned around Wickesamong other stores. He has sincewritten a report on saving the High

Street commissioned by the LabourPar ty.

He had some sound words of advicefor the graduates about to make theirway in the world.

“Look for mentors who can guideyou and help you,” he told them.“Then when you get further into your

Graduates and their inspiring sense of promise

D ea l s� SOME of Bristol’s legal eagleshave been advising on big deals oflate. Among them, law firm Thringsand KPMG advised on the saleof Intrinsic, the UK’s biggestnetwork of restricted andindependent financialadvisers to wealthmanagement firm OldMutual Wealth.

Thrings, led bysenior corporatepartner Jonathan Payne(right) and associatesolicitor Elaine Meyrick,provided advice on all legaland strategic matters to Intrinsic,which has a turnover of £112million, while KPMG advised on taxmatters.

Jonathan said: “Thrings hasworked closely with Intrinsic’smanagement team for the past eightyears, and the depth ofunderstanding we have acquiredhas enabled us to consistentlyprovide legal advice which supportsits plans for the future.”

� Meanwhile Burges Salmon hasbeen dipping its toes in the tidalpower sector, helping clients

Minesto and Wave Hub secure seabed rights for a number of projects.

Swedish company Minesto hasacquired the rights to a tidal streamproject site at Holyhead Deep, off

the Welsh coast.Wave Hub has acquiredthe rights to manage and

sublease parts of threewave and tidal currentdemonstration zonesoff the coast of NorthCornwall, North Devonand South

P e m b ro k e s h i re .The Burges Salmon

team was led by partnersRoss Fairley and Euan

Bremner. Ross said: "We aredelighted to have acted for Minestoand Wave Hub in securing thesenew seabed leasing rights which willhelp the UK to further develop itsmarine energy offering.”

Pe o p l e� Another law firm but something alittle less work-related. Ashfords isanticipating the arrival of two of itsemployees on Friday, stopped off ontheir way from offices in London toExeter... by bicycle.

Tim Heale and Andrew Perkins are

� Bill Grimsey with his honorary degree

The op-ed column

hoping to cover the 250 miles in aday, leaving at midnight.

They’re stopping in Bristol for ahard-earned rest. But not for long,they are planning to reach theirdestination by 6pm.

It’s all in aid of Children’s HospiceSouth West in Wraxall. Andrew said:"The really is a genuine challengeand finishing is by no means acertainty. The prevailing wind is awesterly, so we potentially face aheadwind for the entire route.”

� Continuing the theme of youngtalent (see top of page), another lawfirm has been helping develop futureleaders.

Clarke Willmott is working with theBristol Leadership Programme, asummer scheme designed to

identify and inspire talented youngpeople in the Bristol area.

Associate Karl Brown, who is alsopresident of the Bristol JuniorChamber, was involved in the latestsession. Karl said: “Part of my aimas BJC president is to improvesocial mobility and providingsupport to the students in theleadership programme is an exact fitfor this agenda.”

P l a ces� And more hope for the future withthe launch of the Prince’s Trust’snew centre in Victoria Street, whichwas opened by CommunitiesMinister and city MP StephenWilliams.

It aims to be a hub forunemployed young people to equipthem with skills and confidence toget back into work or education.

Guests enjoyed a tour and thechance to meet some of thecharity’s young ambassadors.

Stephen said: “It’s great to see theyouth charity is investing so much inthe future of Bristol’s young people.I urge Bristol’s business communityto work with The Prince’s Trust, toprovide employment opportunitiesfor more young people in the city.”

journey, look back and find peoplewho can benefit from your wisdomand become their mentor. Mentorsdrag us along, proteges push usalong.”

He also urged them to remember tovalue the labour that goes into theirbusinesses, to value and reward their

staff when they go on to run their ownbu s i n e s s e s.

There was an assumption thatmany of these gradates, and theirpeers in other ceremonies that day,would go on to lead and run busi-nesses. And why not?

I write about many entrepreneursand it has struck me how often theytell how they studied at the sameuniversity, UWE. Some of them evenstarted their businesses during theirs t u d i e s.

It is easy to worry about the futureand the quality and qualities of youngpeople entering the workforce. Justlast week in this column, CBI SouthWest director Deborah Wadell wroteabout the need to equip young peoplewith the right skills for the realworld. She’s right. Many bosses re-port that people come into the work-force unprepared.

Clearly in some cases that is true.We regularly take students from UWEon work placements here at the Bris-tol Post. Some are unimpressive, wait-ing to be spoon-fed tasks. But otherssparkle, coming armed with ideas,showing enthusiasm and, most im-portantly, initiative.

Watching these 164 young peopleaccept their degrees, they each de-served their applause for what theyhave achieved to get here. But whatwas exciting was the sense of promiseof what they might do next. And that’sinspiring.

Your digest of the week in business

In numbers

Business currentaccounts

Petrol prices

1.01%£10,000 deposit

0.25%£1 deposit

State Bankof India

Corporation tax

21 %20 %Main rate

Small profitsrate – below

£300,000

131 .23pUnleaded

135 .80pDiesel

138 .7 1 pSuperunleaded

69 .36pLPG

Source: PetrolPrices.com

Business savingsaccounts

1.6%£10,000 deposit

1.85%£1,000 deposit

Cambridge &Counties Bank

Inflation (CPI)

1.9 %

Weekly earnings

1.5 %Base interest rate

0.5 %Ave mortgage rate

3.99 %

S o u rc e :

Secure TrustBank

Inflation (RPI)

2.6 %“ I noticed that thewomen mostly – thoughnot exclusively – hadbetter shoes than theirmale counterparts. Moreimportantly, they alsohad better degrees.

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk