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STAND ON CEREMONY

We launch the 2015 Womenin Business Awards – page 3

FLYING HIGH

First Airbus A400M is handedover to Royal Air Force – page 5

GREEN THEME

How sustainability is not longerjust box ticking – pages 6 & 7

FULL STEAM AHEADAT THE ENGINE SHEDOne year on, we look at the success of the Engine Shedhelping drive business growth in Bristol

CITY SUCCESS STORY

032014DEC

Full story, page 4

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2 We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 3We d n e s d a y, December 3, 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

To u r i s m Women in business

Hotels alreadytake bookingsfor World Cup� DESPITE no games beingplayed in the city, Bristol’s hotelsare already feeling the benefit ofthe 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Tickets for the tournament wenton sale in September withEngland hosting the majority ofgames during the month and ahalf-long event.

Hotels in Bristol have reportedbeing been inundated with callsfrom teams, supporters andhospitality companies looking foraccommodation.

Although Bristol isn’t hostingany games, Exeter, Gloucesterand Cardiff are sharing 15matches between them.

It means fans and teamstravelling to the grounds not onlyneed suitable places to stay butones which provide easy travel.

John Dowling, pictur ed, generalmanager at the 201-bedDoubleTree by Hilton, Bristol on

Redcliffe Way,said he was

a l re a d ytakingbookings.

“Atour namentlike therugby

world cupwhich is

played rightacross the country

is great news for cities like Bristolunlike say the Olympics whichfocused mainly in London,” hesaid.

“Even though no matches arebeing played here, hotels, barsand restaurants will definitely feelthe effects as fans and teamstravel around to the games andwe’re delighted by the responseso far.

“Exeter, Gloucester and Cardiffare all easily reached from Bristol,particularly on the train fromTemple Meads.

“The rugby world cup presentsthe city with another fantasticopportunity to demonstrate tovisitors that it is as dynamic andforward thinking for leisure as it isfor business.”

C a m pa i g n

Firms get on board forSmall Business SaturdaySMALL businesses from across theBristol area got on board a campaignto promote their wares.

The Small Business Saturday bustour came to the Centre, encouragingpeople to buy from smaller firms in therun up to Christmas, particularly thiscoming Saturday, December 6.

Faye Dicker, 38, who runs the Free-lance Mum network of self-employedand entrepreneurial parents in Bris-tol, said: “The message is to think bigbut shop small with your Christmaspresents. If people are just asking thequestion, ‘could I go to a local shop forthis’ then it’s having an impact.”

Victoria Jackson, 36, set up her busi-ness SeeingSticks a year ago and hasbeen featured in the Small BusinessSaturday campaign.

She sells children’s art activitypacks for weddings and other occa-sions from her base in Emerson’sG re e n .

“We create the packs to encouragechildren to explore their world and en-gage in the event going on aroundthem,” she said. “So they might be

asked what colour they would makethe wedding cake or to draw the bride’sd re s s. ”

Victoria believes the campaign canonly help businesses such as hers.

“Just by having a national cam-paign, it gives people like me a goodplatfor m.”

Bill Quinn, 42, runs FlexAble ITfrom Portishead. He said the cam-paign is not just about shops and gifts,but goods and services too.

“This campaign is helping to raiseaw a re n e s s, ” he said.

Ken Simpson, chairman of the Bris-tol branch of the Federation of SmallBusinesses, said his organisation wasbacking the campaign.

“It’s hard to quantify the effect ofthis kind of campaign,” he admitted.“Last year, we had local MP StephenWilliams going up and down White-ladies Road for two hours promotingit.

“The traders didn’t necessarily see adirect lift in sales on the day, but if youplant the seed in people’s minds, theymight just come back another day.”

Awa rd s Celebrating very best ofthe female business community

New office inSilicon Valley� A SOFTWARE testing companyfounded in Bristol is opening anoffice in Silicon Valley.

TVS, or Test and VerificationSolutions Ltd, has grownsuccessfully since it was foundedin 2008 and now employs 140staff around the world.

Opening in the heart of thedigital global economy seems abig step for a company based inBristol’s Engine Shed but the firmbelieves it’s a natural one.

Chief executive and founderMike Bartley said: “As with all ouroffices, the key to success is thequality of the TVS staff.

“The local US office means thatour clients will have a localtechnical solution architect tointerface with, in detail, on a dailybasis rather than a programm a n a g e r.

“Part of our success is due toour ability to provide teams oftechnically qualified staff with alocal technical expert. Our USoffice in The Valley will follow thesame model.”

Te c h n o l o g y

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

Re g u l a t i o n Sue to take concernsto Prime Minister’s Number 10

E m p l oy m e n t

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY

� Small Business Saturday is allabout acknowledging thecontribution the small businesssector makes to the economy,while encouraging everyone tosupport their local smallbusinesses in the run-up to theday, on the day itself, andbeyond.

According to latest figures thenumber of small businesses inBristol city along is approaching14,700, constituting 98 per centof businesses.

Councillor Mark Bradshaw,Bristol City Council’s AssistantMayor for Place, said: “Bristol isa thriving city for smallbusinesses. Many employ lessthan 50 people and offer

specialist services and crafts.“Small Business Saturday

provides us with a greatopportunity to promote the rangeof small businesses acrossBristol, their contribution and thetargeted support available tothem from the council andpartners.”

Events taking place on SmallBusiness Saturday includeBedminster Winter LanternParade; Bristol Local ChristmasMarket; East Street Market;Harbourside Market; Market atthe Moon; St Nicholas Marketalongside a Young EnterpriseTrade Fair; Southmead Market;and Whiteladies Road Farmers’Market.

THE founder of an HR out-sourcing company will bechallenging the governmenton regulation at a No 10Downing Street reception to

mark Small Business Saturday.Sue Tumelty, p i c t u re d , founder and

executive director of The HR Dept, isone of just 100 businesspeople aroundthe UK to be invited to a reception atthe Prime Minister’s London office onF riday.

She and her husband and financedirector Mike Stevenson will join 99

other businesses at the reception.Small Business Saturday began in

the USA in 2010 and has taken place inthe UK since last year, as a cam-paign to prioritise smallcompanies to consumersand raise awareness oftheir importance to thenational economyamong the businessc o m m u n i t y.

On the day itself, TheHR Dept will be runningan online advice sessionbetween noon and 2pm onTwitter and Facebook using#askthehrdept, posting articles andgiving out HR advice to small busi-n e s s e s.

The HR Dept is a national out-

sourced human resources companywith its head office in Winterbourne.

Sue, who said she was “h o n o u re d ”to be invited to Downing Street,

said she planned to use theopportunity to highlight

her concerns regardingcurrent employmentl aw.

“It’s great to be goingand The HR Dept isproud to be closely as-

sociated with Small Busi-ness Saturday,” she said.

“Our company is a success-ful small business, with over 60

offices around the UK which are alsoindependent small businesses,largely supporting small businessesto develop and grow.

“It’s important that there is theright environment and support forSMEs to flourish. Reduction of busi-ness rates, increased bank lending toSMEs, intervention to stop big busi-nesses causing cash flow issues withlate invoice payments – these are allareas which require urgent atten-tion.

“Some changes to employment laware supposed to be helpful but mayprove to be anything but. New sharedparental leave regulations, for ex-ample, are incredibly complex anddemanding and could prove to have adetrimental impact on the ability ofsmall businesses to operate. These areall significant issues for many smallbusiness owners, which governmentshould act on.”

� The Small Business Saturday bus tour in Bristol, where people are encouraged to buy from smaller firms this Christmas

Woman of the Year: A woman whohas made a significant personalcontribution to the success of theestablished company they run or inwhich they are employed.

Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Awoman who has made a significantcontribution to the company they run,in which they are employed or theorganisation they have been promotedor fast tracked within.

Mentor of the Year: The woman whohas demonstrated the skills of being amentor to male or female employees,who has gone the extra mile insupporting a colleague or business andhas made a difference to their life orbusiness.

Contribution to the Community,sponsored by The Mall CribbsCauseway: The woman who candemonstrate the difference she hasmade to their community and/or Bristoland Bath over the last year (from Jan 12014 to Jan 1 2015).

Women in the Workplace Award,sponsored by PPC: A company whichhas demonstrated a flexibility andadaptability to the employment ofwomen.

New Business of the Year,sponsored by Your Street Gift Cards:Open to all businesses that havestarted trading since January 2013 andprincipal trading base is in Bristol orBath with either woman/womenowners or a female head of thec o m p a n y.

Business of the Year: This award willgo to the profitable business that eitherhas a female owner/s or a highpercentage of females on the seniormanagement team.

Award for Innovation: A business thathas introduced a new product,process, invention, idea, or design thathas made a significant contribution tothe business and has a female owner/sor a high percentage of females on thesenior management team.

Marketing Campaign of the Year: Anorganisation that has communicatedeffectively with its target audience(internal or external) over the past year,either as part of an ongoingprogramme or a one-off campaign.

Female Apprentice of the Year: Afemale apprentice who can show theimpact she has had on the organisationshe works for, as well evidence ofpersonal development andp ro g re s s i o n .

Outstanding Contribution toBusiness in Bristol and Bath,sponsored by UWE: Thebusinesswoman who, in the opinion ofthe judges, has made a considerable,profitable and lasting contribution tobusiness in Bristol and Bath. Thiscategory is not open for submissionsbut handpicked by the judges.

The categories

THE Bristol Post and Bath ChronicleWomen in Business Awards 2015launches today, giving you the chanceto share your successes with the widerbusiness community.

We want to hear from inspiring, dedicatedand high achieving women to join us in cel-ebrating the very best of the female businessc o m m u n i t y.

But don’t hang around, as the deadline forentries is Friday January 16 – just 51 days andcounting.

This will be the second time the awards havetaken place, and once again they are being heldin association with the University of the Westof England.

Deputy vice chancellor Professor Jane Har-rington said: “UWE Bristol is delighted to bethe title sponsor the Women in BusinessAwards 2015.

“It is essential for the economy and theregion that we continue to support women’sachievements and highlight the differencesthat they can and do make to successful busi-n e s s e s.

“The most striking moments at last year’sawards were the collaboration and support forall the women by each other and the fact that somany women were genuinely surprised toreceive the recognition that they were so de-serving of. I am really looking forward thisyear to celebrating some great local businesswo m e n . ”

Sarah Pullen, left, managing director for Postand Chronicle publisher Bristol and Bath

News & Media, added: “T heseawards will showcase the in-

credible skills of our fe-male entrepreneurs,professionals and busi-nesswomen in Bristoland Bath and we’re de-lighted to be working inpartnership with the

University of the West ofEngland again as our title

s p o n s o r.“We ’d love to celebrate your

achievements, so please nominate yourself orsomeone you know and join us for the awards

ceremony next year – it should be a greatnight.”

The awards have the backing of the widerbusiness community.

Deborah Waddell, regional director of theCBI, said: “There are many good reasons forcompanies to believe that increasing genderdiversity in their workforces will be a businessboost, as well as it being the right thing to do.

“As individual businesses – and as a nation –

we succeed when we make the best of all theskills we have available, whatever their

backg round.“And feedback from businesses across

the country, as well as academic evid-ence, suggests that diverse groups ofstaff provide a more rigorous, challen-ging framework for critical decision

making. It also helps firms to understanda diverse customer base.”Rebecca Tregarthen, Bristol chairman of

the Institute of Directors, said: “The BristolPost and Bath Chronicle Women in BusinessAwards showcase and encourage successfulgender diversity in today’s business world.

“The IoD has long assumed a position ofleadership in advancing the cause of diversityin business, from start ups straight through toboard representation.

“A successful business is made up of in-dividuals who together offer a mix of skills,experiences and backgrounds.”

Entries must be submitted by January 16 andwill then be judged by an expert panel who willdraw up a shortlist of finalists.

The winners will be revealed at a gala awardsdinner at the Bristol City Centre Marriott onMarch 19.

To enter, sponsor a category or book ticketsfor the night, visit w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t . c o. u k /wiba. If you’re talking about the awards onsocial medial, use #wiba.

in association with

The sponsors

UWE’s deputy vice chancellorProfessor Jane Harrington, above

The most strikingmoments at lastyear’s awardswere thecollaboration andsupport for all thewomen by eachother and the factthat so many women weregenuinely surprised to receivethe recognition that they wereso deserving of.

“

� Guests at the Women in Business Awards 2014

Rupert JanischBusiness@b-nm.co.uk

TO LET

Period Offce BuildingWestbury on Trym

BristolApprox 1,700 sq ft with parking

All enquiries:

andrew@wghproperty.co.uk©LW

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3

2 We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 3We d n e s d a y, December 3, 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

To u r i s m Women in business

Hotels alreadytake bookingsfor World Cup� DESPITE no games beingplayed in the city, Bristol’s hotelsare already feeling the benefit ofthe 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Tickets for the tournament wenton sale in September withEngland hosting the majority ofgames during the month and ahalf-long event.

Hotels in Bristol have reportedbeing been inundated with callsfrom teams, supporters andhospitality companies looking foraccommodation.

Although Bristol isn’t hostingany games, Exeter, Gloucesterand Cardiff are sharing 15matches between them.

It means fans and teamstravelling to the grounds not onlyneed suitable places to stay butones which provide easy travel.

John Dowling, pictur ed, generalmanager at the 201-bedDoubleTree by Hilton, Bristol on

Redcliffe Way,said he was

a l re a d ytakingbookings.

“Atour namentlike therugby

world cupwhich is

played rightacross the country

is great news for cities like Bristolunlike say the Olympics whichfocused mainly in London,” hesaid.

“Even though no matches arebeing played here, hotels, barsand restaurants will definitely feelthe effects as fans and teamstravel around to the games andwe’re delighted by the responseso far.

“Exeter, Gloucester and Cardiffare all easily reached from Bristol,particularly on the train fromTemple Meads.

“The rugby world cup presentsthe city with another fantasticopportunity to demonstrate tovisitors that it is as dynamic andforward thinking for leisure as it isfor business.”

C a m pa i g n

Firms get on board forSmall Business SaturdaySMALL businesses from across theBristol area got on board a campaignto promote their wares.

The Small Business Saturday bustour came to the Centre, encouragingpeople to buy from smaller firms in therun up to Christmas, particularly thiscoming Saturday, December 6.

Faye Dicker, 38, who runs the Free-lance Mum network of self-employedand entrepreneurial parents in Bris-tol, said: “The message is to think bigbut shop small with your Christmaspresents. If people are just asking thequestion, ‘could I go to a local shop forthis’ then it’s having an impact.”

Victoria Jackson, 36, set up her busi-ness SeeingSticks a year ago and hasbeen featured in the Small BusinessSaturday campaign.

She sells children’s art activitypacks for weddings and other occa-sions from her base in Emerson’sG re e n .

“We create the packs to encouragechildren to explore their world and en-gage in the event going on aroundthem,” she said. “So they might be

asked what colour they would makethe wedding cake or to draw the bride’sd re s s. ”

Victoria believes the campaign canonly help businesses such as hers.

“Just by having a national cam-paign, it gives people like me a goodplatfor m.”

Bill Quinn, 42, runs FlexAble ITfrom Portishead. He said the cam-paign is not just about shops and gifts,but goods and services too.

“This campaign is helping to raiseaw a re n e s s, ” he said.

Ken Simpson, chairman of the Bris-tol branch of the Federation of SmallBusinesses, said his organisation wasbacking the campaign.

“It’s hard to quantify the effect ofthis kind of campaign,” he admitted.“Last year, we had local MP StephenWilliams going up and down White-ladies Road for two hours promotingit.

“The traders didn’t necessarily see adirect lift in sales on the day, but if youplant the seed in people’s minds, theymight just come back another day.”

Awa rd s Celebrating very best ofthe female business community

New office inSilicon Valley� A SOFTWARE testing companyfounded in Bristol is opening anoffice in Silicon Valley.

TVS, or Test and VerificationSolutions Ltd, has grownsuccessfully since it was foundedin 2008 and now employs 140staff around the world.

Opening in the heart of thedigital global economy seems abig step for a company based inBristol’s Engine Shed but the firmbelieves it’s a natural one.

Chief executive and founderMike Bartley said: “As with all ouroffices, the key to success is thequality of the TVS staff.

“The local US office means thatour clients will have a localtechnical solution architect tointerface with, in detail, on a dailybasis rather than a programm a n a g e r.

“Part of our success is due toour ability to provide teams oftechnically qualified staff with alocal technical expert. Our USoffice in The Valley will follow thesame model.”

Te c h n o l o g y

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

Re g u l a t i o n Sue to take concernsto Prime Minister’s Number 10

E m p l oy m e n t

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY

� Small Business Saturday is allabout acknowledging thecontribution the small businesssector makes to the economy,while encouraging everyone tosupport their local smallbusinesses in the run-up to theday, on the day itself, andbeyond.

According to latest figures thenumber of small businesses inBristol city along is approaching14,700, constituting 98 per centof businesses.

Councillor Mark Bradshaw,Bristol City Council’s AssistantMayor for Place, said: “Bristol isa thriving city for smallbusinesses. Many employ lessthan 50 people and offer

specialist services and crafts.“Small Business Saturday

provides us with a greatopportunity to promote the rangeof small businesses acrossBristol, their contribution and thetargeted support available tothem from the council andpartners.”

Events taking place on SmallBusiness Saturday includeBedminster Winter LanternParade; Bristol Local ChristmasMarket; East Street Market;Harbourside Market; Market atthe Moon; St Nicholas Marketalongside a Young EnterpriseTrade Fair; Southmead Market;and Whiteladies Road Farmers’Market.

THE founder of an HR out-sourcing company will bechallenging the governmenton regulation at a No 10Downing Street reception to

mark Small Business Saturday.Sue Tumelty, p i c t u re d , founder and

executive director of The HR Dept, isone of just 100 businesspeople aroundthe UK to be invited to a reception atthe Prime Minister’s London office onF riday.

She and her husband and financedirector Mike Stevenson will join 99

other businesses at the reception.Small Business Saturday began in

the USA in 2010 and has taken place inthe UK since last year, as a cam-paign to prioritise smallcompanies to consumersand raise awareness oftheir importance to thenational economyamong the businessc o m m u n i t y.

On the day itself, TheHR Dept will be runningan online advice sessionbetween noon and 2pm onTwitter and Facebook using#askthehrdept, posting articles andgiving out HR advice to small busi-n e s s e s.

The HR Dept is a national out-

sourced human resources companywith its head office in Winterbourne.

Sue, who said she was “h o n o u re d ”to be invited to Downing Street,

said she planned to use theopportunity to highlight

her concerns regardingcurrent employmentl aw.

“It’s great to be goingand The HR Dept isproud to be closely as-

sociated with Small Busi-ness Saturday,” she said.

“Our company is a success-ful small business, with over 60

offices around the UK which are alsoindependent small businesses,largely supporting small businessesto develop and grow.

“It’s important that there is theright environment and support forSMEs to flourish. Reduction of busi-ness rates, increased bank lending toSMEs, intervention to stop big busi-nesses causing cash flow issues withlate invoice payments – these are allareas which require urgent atten-tion.

“Some changes to employment laware supposed to be helpful but mayprove to be anything but. New sharedparental leave regulations, for ex-ample, are incredibly complex anddemanding and could prove to have adetrimental impact on the ability ofsmall businesses to operate. These areall significant issues for many smallbusiness owners, which governmentshould act on.”

� The Small Business Saturday bus tour in Bristol, where people are encouraged to buy from smaller firms this Christmas

Woman of the Year: A woman whohas made a significant personalcontribution to the success of theestablished company they run or inwhich they are employed.

Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Awoman who has made a significantcontribution to the company they run,in which they are employed or theorganisation they have been promotedor fast tracked within.

Mentor of the Year: The woman whohas demonstrated the skills of being amentor to male or female employees,who has gone the extra mile insupporting a colleague or business andhas made a difference to their life orbusiness.

Contribution to the Community,sponsored by The Mall CribbsCauseway: The woman who candemonstrate the difference she hasmade to their community and/or Bristoland Bath over the last year (from Jan 12014 to Jan 1 2015).

Women in the Workplace Award,sponsored by PPC: A company whichhas demonstrated a flexibility andadaptability to the employment ofwomen.

New Business of the Year,sponsored by Your Street Gift Cards:Open to all businesses that havestarted trading since January 2013 andprincipal trading base is in Bristol orBath with either woman/womenowners or a female head of thec o m p a n y.

Business of the Year: This award willgo to the profitable business that eitherhas a female owner/s or a highpercentage of females on the seniormanagement team.

Award for Innovation: A business thathas introduced a new product,process, invention, idea, or design thathas made a significant contribution tothe business and has a female owner/sor a high percentage of females on thesenior management team.

Marketing Campaign of the Year: Anorganisation that has communicatedeffectively with its target audience(internal or external) over the past year,either as part of an ongoingprogramme or a one-off campaign.

Female Apprentice of the Year: Afemale apprentice who can show theimpact she has had on the organisationshe works for, as well evidence ofpersonal development andp ro g re s s i o n .

Outstanding Contribution toBusiness in Bristol and Bath,sponsored by UWE: Thebusinesswoman who, in the opinion ofthe judges, has made a considerable,profitable and lasting contribution tobusiness in Bristol and Bath. Thiscategory is not open for submissionsbut handpicked by the judges.

The categories

THE Bristol Post and Bath ChronicleWomen in Business Awards 2015launches today, giving you the chanceto share your successes with the widerbusiness community.

We want to hear from inspiring, dedicatedand high achieving women to join us in cel-ebrating the very best of the female businessc o m m u n i t y.

But don’t hang around, as the deadline forentries is Friday January 16 – just 51 days andcounting.

This will be the second time the awards havetaken place, and once again they are being heldin association with the University of the Westof England.

Deputy vice chancellor Professor Jane Har-rington said: “UWE Bristol is delighted to bethe title sponsor the Women in BusinessAwards 2015.

“It is essential for the economy and theregion that we continue to support women’sachievements and highlight the differencesthat they can and do make to successful busi-n e s s e s.

“The most striking moments at last year’sawards were the collaboration and support forall the women by each other and the fact that somany women were genuinely surprised toreceive the recognition that they were so de-serving of. I am really looking forward thisyear to celebrating some great local businesswo m e n . ”

Sarah Pullen, left, managing director for Postand Chronicle publisher Bristol and Bath

News & Media, added: “T heseawards will showcase the in-

credible skills of our fe-male entrepreneurs,professionals and busi-nesswomen in Bristoland Bath and we’re de-lighted to be working inpartnership with the

University of the West ofEngland again as our title

s p o n s o r.“We ’d love to celebrate your

achievements, so please nominate yourself orsomeone you know and join us for the awards

ceremony next year – it should be a greatnight.”

The awards have the backing of the widerbusiness community.

Deborah Waddell, regional director of theCBI, said: “There are many good reasons forcompanies to believe that increasing genderdiversity in their workforces will be a businessboost, as well as it being the right thing to do.

“As individual businesses – and as a nation –

we succeed when we make the best of all theskills we have available, whatever their

backg round.“And feedback from businesses across

the country, as well as academic evid-ence, suggests that diverse groups ofstaff provide a more rigorous, challen-ging framework for critical decision

making. It also helps firms to understanda diverse customer base.”Rebecca Tregarthen, Bristol chairman of

the Institute of Directors, said: “The BristolPost and Bath Chronicle Women in BusinessAwards showcase and encourage successfulgender diversity in today’s business world.

“The IoD has long assumed a position ofleadership in advancing the cause of diversityin business, from start ups straight through toboard representation.

“A successful business is made up of in-dividuals who together offer a mix of skills,experiences and backgrounds.”

Entries must be submitted by January 16 andwill then be judged by an expert panel who willdraw up a shortlist of finalists.

The winners will be revealed at a gala awardsdinner at the Bristol City Centre Marriott onMarch 19.

To enter, sponsor a category or book ticketsfor the night, visit w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t . c o. u k /wiba. If you’re talking about the awards onsocial medial, use #wiba.

in association with

The sponsors

UWE’s deputy vice chancellorProfessor Jane Harrington, above

The most strikingmoments at lastyear’s awardswere thecollaboration andsupport for all thewomen by eachother and the factthat so many women weregenuinely surprised to receivethe recognition that they wereso deserving of.

“

� Guests at the Women in Business Awards 2014

Rupert JanischBusiness@b-nm.co.uk

TO LET

Period Offce BuildingWestbury on Trym

BristolApprox 1,700 sq ft with parking

All enquiries:

andrew@wghproperty.co.uk©LW

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3

4 We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 5We d n e s d a y, December 3, 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

BUSINESSES housed withinthe Engine Shed centre atTemple Meads have raisedmore than £34 million sinceit opened 12 months ago.

The centre is home to the SET-squared business accelerator andWebStart Bristol incubator as well asInvest Bristol and Bath and the Westof England Local Enterprise Partner-s h i p.

Director Nick Sturge said: “T hejourney to opening Engine Shed wasexciting, but not as exciting as thejourney during our first year of op-e r at i o n .

“The level of activity within thebuilding and the connectivity that hascome about through the BusinessLounge and hosted networks has beenphenomenal. We have seen the city-re-g i o n’s eco-system grow with us andthat has been a privilege.”

A total of 20 SETsquared companiesare based at Engine Shed with a fur-ther 44 firms using the businessc e n t re ’s resources and facilities in-cluding hot desks, breakout spacesand meeting rooms. Bristol SET-squared members have raised over£33 million of investment in 2014, andits members now employ 752 people,compared with 639 when SETsquaredmoved into Engine Shed.

WebStart Bristol, founded by MikeJackson, has had a very busy firstyear of operations with 20 start-upcompanies receiving £300,000 of ini-tial investment from WebStart along-side a programme of intensivementoring and practical assistance.

Many of the companies have goneon to raise further funding totalling£794,000 and begin to build out theirteams adding to the 39 founders with afurther 18 staff.

The centre has been a port of call forvisiting ministers, the Duke of Yorkand investors, hosting events includ-ing two Silicon Gorge days where toshowcase businesses to people withmoney to help them grow.

Matthew Cross, head of inward in-vestment at Invest Bristol & Bath,said the centre had also played a keyrole attracting new companies intoBristol.

“Engine Shed is a flexible, inspiringspace for businesses in the high-tech,creative and digital, and low carbonsectors, offering a perfect environ-ment within which to grow and workc o l l ab o r at ive ly, ” he said.

“The success of this incubator hasbeen a key factor in helping InvestBristol & Bath to create more than1,200 jobs in the region since its in-ception. The hub has housed majorinward investment successes such asSomo, the world’s largest independ-ent mobile solutions company, andleading online takeaway service, JustEat, on their arrival in Bristol.”

The centre, housing withinBr unel’s Temple Meads station, un-derwent a £1.7 million transforma-tion thanks to a partnership betweenBristol City Council, the University ofBristol and the West of England LEPand was opened on December 2 byCities Minister Greg Clark.

On track Firms at EngineShed raise £34m in year

Ceremony First Airbus A400M isdelivered to the Royal Air Force

AIRBUS has delivered the firstmilitary transport plane theA400M to the Royal AirForce. The wings are de-signed and made in Bristol

at the plane-maker’s Filton plant,before being shipped to Seville forfinal assembly.

The plane, which has previouslybeen delivered to customers includ-ing the French and Turkish air

forces, has been hailed as the nextgeneration in military transport, de-signed to fly people, equipment andsupplies in and out of conflictz o n e s.

Prime Minister David Cameron at-tended the acceptance ceremony atRAF Brize Norton for the first of the22 planes ordered by the RAF.

The RAF planes will be known asA400M Atlas.

Airbus executive vice presidentmilitary aircraft Domingo UreñaRaso said: “It is an enormous pleas-ure to see the A400M entering servicewith the RAF which is one of theleading exponents of military air

mobility worldwide.“I would like to express my sincere

thanks to all our employees, espe-cially those in the UK, as well asOCCAR and our UK customer formaking this day possible.

“Airbus Defence and Space is priv-ileged to be the biggest provider oflarge aircraft to the RAF and we areabsolutely committed to executingthat responsibility to the very best ofour abilities for many years toc o m e. ”

The A400M will replace the C-130 inRAF service but, because it can carryapproximately twice as much load, orthe same load twice as far, fewer

We’re spending moreand more time in car� BRISTOL may be the EuropeanGreen Capital next year, but theamount of time the averagecommuter is spending in the car isi n c re a s i n g .

A new survey found the averageone-way commute in Bristol isnow nearly half an hour – 29minutes 30 seconds, much worsethan the 22 minutes the samestudy recorded two years ago.

Over a fifth of the 150businesspeople canvassed in theresearch (22.7 per cent) said thattheir journey to work tookbetween 30 and 60 minutes, and17 per cent stated that theyregularly travel for over an houreach way.

Employeesin large firmsappear toendure thelongestcommutes.

R i c h a rdMorris, UKchiefexecutive atoffice providerRegus, whichcarried the survey, said the bestway to cut wasted commutingtime was more flexible working.

He said: “Commuting is a 20thcentury habit that is proving hardto break for British employers,especially for large companieswhere presenteeism, entrenchedmanagement structures andinflexible premises are majorstumbling blocks to reducing theamount of time people spend inthe office.

“Creating a flexible workplacedoes require organisational andpractical change, yet the benefitsare huge.

“Freeing staff from the dailycommute makes them healthier,happier, and more productive; andwe estimate that companiesembracing a flexible workspacemodel can save up to 60 per centon their property costs.”

Previous research from Regushas shown that over two fifths offlexible workers put in longerhours when they don’t have tocommute every day, highlightingthe link between flexible workingand productivity.

The rise could be due to the factthat more people are in work thantwo years ago when the recessionwas still biting. But whatever thecause, the time it takes to get towork appears to be going in thewrong direction.

Trave l

Turtle Tots to expand� Flax Bourton-based Turtle Tots,which runs swimming lessons forbabies, is expanding internationally,with its first overseas licensees.

Alan and Paula Reinhardt willlaunch Turtle Tots in Dublin inFebruary. Director Caroline Sparkssaid the firm was also in talks withwould-be licensees in the Far East.

Advice on how to getyour business in news� BUSINESSPEOPLE who want toget advice of how to grow theircompany through publicity canpick up some tips at the nextBristol and Bath MarketingNetwork event.

The network hosts regular talkson different aspects of marketingand this month the Post’s ownGavin Thompson will be sharingadvice on what makes a goodstory and how to get yourbusiness featured in the news.

aircraft will be required.Uniquely it is able both to cruise at

jet-like speeds and altitudes over in-tercontinental ranges due to its ex-tremely powerful engines andadvanced aerodynamic design, aswell as to operate repeatedly fromshort and unprepared airstrips closeto the scene of military action orhumanitarian crisis.

Altogether the A400M supportssome 8,000 jobs in the UK includingaround 900 working directly on theaircraft at Filton.

To date eight nations have ordered174 aircraft, of which the first sevenhave now been delivered.

£18 million tobe invested inPatchway plant� ROLLS-ROYCE has announcedan £18-million investment in itsPatchway plant near Bristol.

The money will pay for facilitiesand training to maintain, repair andoverhaul the TP400 engine, whichpowers the Airbus A400M militarytransport plane which just lastweek entered service with the RAF.

The engine is produced by theEuroprop International engineconsortium in which Rolls-Royceis a senior partner.

An existing testing facility will beconverted to be used with theTP400 engine and will mean theengine can be tested on theground. The facility will initially beused to support engines in service

E n te r p r i se

L i ce n se es

Ae ros pa ceMedia Ae ros pa ce

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

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

� Airbusemployeesfrom Filton,Dan Spiller,Steve Jones,Arun Hayreand Ben Alfordmeet DavidCameron atthe event atRAF BrizeNorton wherethe first A400Mis deliveredto the RAF

Gavin said: “I’m sure the roomwill be full of people who know alot more about marketing than Ido, but what I do know is whatmakes a good story and I haveplenty of advice on how best toget your story featured in themainstream media.

“One good piece of advice is tobuild personal contacts withjournalists... and you can make astart by coming along and sayinghello before or after the talk.”

The event takes place at theClifton Club on Tuesday,December 9, with networking anddrinks from 5.30pm, with the talkstarting at 6.30pm.

The Bristol and Bath MarketingNetwork is a forum for marketingprofessionals with more than 5,000members.

The goal of helping firms andprofessionals to support oneanother to succeed.

Find out more by visitingw w w. m a r k e t i n g - n e t w o r k . o r g .

Ae ros pa ce

Training simulator firm sells majority stakeA BRISTOL company that makescontrols for training simulators formilitary aircraft has sold a majoritystake in the business to a privateequity fund.

Engineering design services firmStirling Dynamics employs 102 staffand is currently working with Lock-heed Martin on simulators to trainpilots to fly the F35 Joint StrikeF i g h t e r s.

Enact, a fund which focuses onsmall and medium sized businessesmanaged by private equity houseEndless, plans to invest “significantc ap i t a l ” in developing the existingproduct range, product diversifica-tion and more consultancy services.

Chris Cormack, investment direct-

or at Enact, joins the Clifton-basedStirling Dynamics board and willsupport the existing managementteam, led by managing directorStephen Judd. Founder Robert Stirl-ing will remain with the company asits president.

Chris said: “Stirling Dynamics hasan excellent reputation and trackrecord, backed by 25 years of ac-cumulated experience, IP andknow-how in the advanced engin-eering sector and we are delighted tosupport the existing managementteam in delivering their plans forfurther growth.

“Our investment not only puts inplace a succession planning strategyfor the business going forward, but

also provides scalability of supply tothe existing product range, partic-ularly around military training sim-ulations for the F-35 jet fighterprog ramme.

“With this and otherblue chip client partner-ships in global marketsincluding Europe, theUSA and Asia, StirlingDynamics is in a strongposition to grow andbuild on its success tod at e. ”

Stephen, pictured right,said the deal would allow thecompany to grow.

“Enact was carefully selected bythe existing management team as the

investment partner of choice, to takeStirling Dynamics to the next stage ofits development,” he said.

“Facilitating our plans forgrowth through investment

capital and managementsupport, Enact willprovide the tools neces-sary to achieve our as-pirations whilstvaluing the key attrib-utes that are the essence

of the company.”Earlier this year Enact

invested in the CornishPasty Company and is in dis-

cussions with several other busi-nesses across the South Westre gion.

SUCCESSFUL exporters showed offtheir wares yesterday in a bid toencourage other businesses to followtheir lead.

Business West gathered together agroup of local small companies whichare already conquering foreign mar-kets in a shipping container outsidethe Engine Shed the highlight thebusiness benefits of exporting.

The organisation, which repres-ents firms locally through the BristolChamber, has launched a #Get-Exporting campaign with the goal ofgetting 2,020 more business to exportfrom the region by 2020.

James Taylor, co-founder of frozenyoghurt franchise store AngelBerry,urged all small businesses to con-sider exporting.

“You can get help with it,” he said.“For example we got matching fund-ing to take part in an internationaltrade show. We spent £6,000 but gothalf back.”

The firm started at the ImperialRetail Park in Bristol but now hasmore outlets abroad than in the UK.The latest was a kiosk in a SouthAfrican cinema which opened lastweek, with a view to rolling out intoother branches across the country.

Tim Harrap, from cheese-makerLye Cross Farm, in Redhill, NorthSomerset, said there was plenty ofsupport out there through the ser-vices of UK Trade and Investment butpeople had to get out and look for theoppor tunities.

“I had my eyes opened at my first

trade event overseas,” he said.“There were 3,000 people from acrossEurope looking to do business.”

The company sells cheese to a num-ber of markets, including SouthKorea and recently China.

“We ’re always looking for new op-por tunities,” added Tim.

Bath-based marketing agency Mr B& Friends created the shipping con-tainer concept and Bristol streetartists Andy Council and TimUlewicz painted it.

For more details on the campaignand how to start exporting, visitw w w. ge t e x p o r t i n g. i n fo /

Event highlights benefits of exportingTra d e

with the RAF, but will also beavailable to support servicerequirements for other A400Mcustomers.

The news is a welcome signal ofintent at the Patchway plant,coming just weeks afterRolls-Royce announced 2,600 jobcuts in its aerospace divisionglobally with some likely to hitlocally. The company employsmore than 3,000 people at the site.

Paul Craig, Rolls-Roycepresident customer service –defence, said: “This is great newsfor both our customers and theBristol site. This new capability willenable us to ensure that the RAFenjoys the same high level ofengine support for its latest aircraftas it does for the otherRolls-Royce powered aircraft in itsfleet. It also ensures that we canmaintain military test capability atBristol into the future.

“We have worked in closepartnership with our employeesand their representatives to securethis investment in the Bristol siteand we thank them for theirsupport.”

Business Secretary Vince Cablesaid: “The UK’s aerospaceindustry is the best in Europe, andis second only to the United Statesacross the world. Investments likethis from Rolls-Royce will help tokeep us there. The projects we arefunding through our aerospaceindustrial strategy will ensure thatBritain develops the most efficientand green aircraft of the future.”

The wings for the A400M aremade nearby at the Airbus plant inFilton.

Sign uphere forbusinessnews directto yourinboxevery day

� Local business people outside thedecorated shipping container at TheEngine Shed Picture: Dave Betts

£1.7m The cost of thetransformation

£34mThe amount raisedin just 12 months

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4 We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 5We d n e s d a y, December 3, 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

BUSINESSES housed withinthe Engine Shed centre atTemple Meads have raisedmore than £34 million sinceit opened 12 months ago.

The centre is home to the SET-squared business accelerator andWebStart Bristol incubator as well asInvest Bristol and Bath and the Westof England Local Enterprise Partner-s h i p.

Director Nick Sturge said: “T hejourney to opening Engine Shed wasexciting, but not as exciting as thejourney during our first year of op-e r at i o n .

“The level of activity within thebuilding and the connectivity that hascome about through the BusinessLounge and hosted networks has beenphenomenal. We have seen the city-re-g i o n’s eco-system grow with us andthat has been a privilege.”

A total of 20 SETsquared companiesare based at Engine Shed with a fur-ther 44 firms using the businessc e n t re ’s resources and facilities in-cluding hot desks, breakout spacesand meeting rooms. Bristol SET-squared members have raised over£33 million of investment in 2014, andits members now employ 752 people,compared with 639 when SETsquaredmoved into Engine Shed.

WebStart Bristol, founded by MikeJackson, has had a very busy firstyear of operations with 20 start-upcompanies receiving £300,000 of ini-tial investment from WebStart along-side a programme of intensivementoring and practical assistance.

Many of the companies have goneon to raise further funding totalling£794,000 and begin to build out theirteams adding to the 39 founders with afurther 18 staff.

The centre has been a port of call forvisiting ministers, the Duke of Yorkand investors, hosting events includ-ing two Silicon Gorge days where toshowcase businesses to people withmoney to help them grow.

Matthew Cross, head of inward in-vestment at Invest Bristol & Bath,said the centre had also played a keyrole attracting new companies intoBristol.

“Engine Shed is a flexible, inspiringspace for businesses in the high-tech,creative and digital, and low carbonsectors, offering a perfect environ-ment within which to grow and workc o l l ab o r at ive ly, ” he said.

“The success of this incubator hasbeen a key factor in helping InvestBristol & Bath to create more than1,200 jobs in the region since its in-ception. The hub has housed majorinward investment successes such asSomo, the world’s largest independ-ent mobile solutions company, andleading online takeaway service, JustEat, on their arrival in Bristol.”

The centre, housing withinBr unel’s Temple Meads station, un-derwent a £1.7 million transforma-tion thanks to a partnership betweenBristol City Council, the University ofBristol and the West of England LEPand was opened on December 2 byCities Minister Greg Clark.

On track Firms at EngineShed raise £34m in year

Ceremony First Airbus A400M isdelivered to the Royal Air Force

AIRBUS has delivered the firstmilitary transport plane theA400M to the Royal AirForce. The wings are de-signed and made in Bristol

at the plane-maker’s Filton plant,before being shipped to Seville forfinal assembly.

The plane, which has previouslybeen delivered to customers includ-ing the French and Turkish air

forces, has been hailed as the nextgeneration in military transport, de-signed to fly people, equipment andsupplies in and out of conflictz o n e s.

Prime Minister David Cameron at-tended the acceptance ceremony atRAF Brize Norton for the first of the22 planes ordered by the RAF.

The RAF planes will be known asA400M Atlas.

Airbus executive vice presidentmilitary aircraft Domingo UreñaRaso said: “It is an enormous pleas-ure to see the A400M entering servicewith the RAF which is one of theleading exponents of military air

mobility worldwide.“I would like to express my sincere

thanks to all our employees, espe-cially those in the UK, as well asOCCAR and our UK customer formaking this day possible.

“Airbus Defence and Space is priv-ileged to be the biggest provider oflarge aircraft to the RAF and we areabsolutely committed to executingthat responsibility to the very best ofour abilities for many years toc o m e. ”

The A400M will replace the C-130 inRAF service but, because it can carryapproximately twice as much load, orthe same load twice as far, fewer

We’re spending moreand more time in car� BRISTOL may be the EuropeanGreen Capital next year, but theamount of time the averagecommuter is spending in the car isi n c re a s i n g .

A new survey found the averageone-way commute in Bristol isnow nearly half an hour – 29minutes 30 seconds, much worsethan the 22 minutes the samestudy recorded two years ago.

Over a fifth of the 150businesspeople canvassed in theresearch (22.7 per cent) said thattheir journey to work tookbetween 30 and 60 minutes, and17 per cent stated that theyregularly travel for over an houreach way.

Employeesin large firmsappear toendure thelongestcommutes.

R i c h a rdMorris, UKchiefexecutive atoffice providerRegus, whichcarried the survey, said the bestway to cut wasted commutingtime was more flexible working.

He said: “Commuting is a 20thcentury habit that is proving hardto break for British employers,especially for large companieswhere presenteeism, entrenchedmanagement structures andinflexible premises are majorstumbling blocks to reducing theamount of time people spend inthe office.

“Creating a flexible workplacedoes require organisational andpractical change, yet the benefitsare huge.

“Freeing staff from the dailycommute makes them healthier,happier, and more productive; andwe estimate that companiesembracing a flexible workspacemodel can save up to 60 per centon their property costs.”

Previous research from Regushas shown that over two fifths offlexible workers put in longerhours when they don’t have tocommute every day, highlightingthe link between flexible workingand productivity.

The rise could be due to the factthat more people are in work thantwo years ago when the recessionwas still biting. But whatever thecause, the time it takes to get towork appears to be going in thewrong direction.

Trave l

Turtle Tots to expand� Flax Bourton-based Turtle Tots,which runs swimming lessons forbabies, is expanding internationally,with its first overseas licensees.

Alan and Paula Reinhardt willlaunch Turtle Tots in Dublin inFebruary. Director Caroline Sparkssaid the firm was also in talks withwould-be licensees in the Far East.

Advice on how to getyour business in news� BUSINESSPEOPLE who want toget advice of how to grow theircompany through publicity canpick up some tips at the nextBristol and Bath MarketingNetwork event.

The network hosts regular talkson different aspects of marketingand this month the Post’s ownGavin Thompson will be sharingadvice on what makes a goodstory and how to get yourbusiness featured in the news.

aircraft will be required.Uniquely it is able both to cruise at

jet-like speeds and altitudes over in-tercontinental ranges due to its ex-tremely powerful engines andadvanced aerodynamic design, aswell as to operate repeatedly fromshort and unprepared airstrips closeto the scene of military action orhumanitarian crisis.

Altogether the A400M supportssome 8,000 jobs in the UK includingaround 900 working directly on theaircraft at Filton.

To date eight nations have ordered174 aircraft, of which the first sevenhave now been delivered.

£18 million tobe invested inPatchway plant� ROLLS-ROYCE has announcedan £18-million investment in itsPatchway plant near Bristol.

The money will pay for facilitiesand training to maintain, repair andoverhaul the TP400 engine, whichpowers the Airbus A400M militarytransport plane which just lastweek entered service with the RAF.

The engine is produced by theEuroprop International engineconsortium in which Rolls-Royceis a senior partner.

An existing testing facility will beconverted to be used with theTP400 engine and will mean theengine can be tested on theground. The facility will initially beused to support engines in service

E n te r p r i se

L i ce n se es

Ae ros pa ceMedia Ae ros pa ce

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

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

� Airbusemployeesfrom Filton,Dan Spiller,Steve Jones,Arun Hayreand Ben Alfordmeet DavidCameron atthe event atRAF BrizeNorton wherethe first A400Mis deliveredto the RAF

Gavin said: “I’m sure the roomwill be full of people who know alot more about marketing than Ido, but what I do know is whatmakes a good story and I haveplenty of advice on how best toget your story featured in themainstream media.

“One good piece of advice is tobuild personal contacts withjournalists... and you can make astart by coming along and sayinghello before or after the talk.”

The event takes place at theClifton Club on Tuesday,December 9, with networking anddrinks from 5.30pm, with the talkstarting at 6.30pm.

The Bristol and Bath MarketingNetwork is a forum for marketingprofessionals with more than 5,000members.

The goal of helping firms andprofessionals to support oneanother to succeed.

Find out more by visitingw w w. m a r k e t i n g - n e t w o r k . o r g .

Ae ros pa ce

Training simulator firm sells majority stakeA BRISTOL company that makescontrols for training simulators formilitary aircraft has sold a majoritystake in the business to a privateequity fund.

Engineering design services firmStirling Dynamics employs 102 staffand is currently working with Lock-heed Martin on simulators to trainpilots to fly the F35 Joint StrikeF i g h t e r s.

Enact, a fund which focuses onsmall and medium sized businessesmanaged by private equity houseEndless, plans to invest “significantc ap i t a l ” in developing the existingproduct range, product diversifica-tion and more consultancy services.

Chris Cormack, investment direct-

or at Enact, joins the Clifton-basedStirling Dynamics board and willsupport the existing managementteam, led by managing directorStephen Judd. Founder Robert Stirl-ing will remain with the company asits president.

Chris said: “Stirling Dynamics hasan excellent reputation and trackrecord, backed by 25 years of ac-cumulated experience, IP andknow-how in the advanced engin-eering sector and we are delighted tosupport the existing managementteam in delivering their plans forfurther growth.

“Our investment not only puts inplace a succession planning strategyfor the business going forward, but

also provides scalability of supply tothe existing product range, partic-ularly around military training sim-ulations for the F-35 jet fighterprog ramme.

“With this and otherblue chip client partner-ships in global marketsincluding Europe, theUSA and Asia, StirlingDynamics is in a strongposition to grow andbuild on its success tod at e. ”

Stephen, pictured right,said the deal would allow thecompany to grow.

“Enact was carefully selected bythe existing management team as the

investment partner of choice, to takeStirling Dynamics to the next stage ofits development,” he said.

“Facilitating our plans forgrowth through investment

capital and managementsupport, Enact willprovide the tools neces-sary to achieve our as-pirations whilstvaluing the key attrib-utes that are the essence

of the company.”Earlier this year Enact

invested in the CornishPasty Company and is in dis-

cussions with several other busi-nesses across the South Westre gion.

SUCCESSFUL exporters showed offtheir wares yesterday in a bid toencourage other businesses to followtheir lead.

Business West gathered together agroup of local small companies whichare already conquering foreign mar-kets in a shipping container outsidethe Engine Shed the highlight thebusiness benefits of exporting.

The organisation, which repres-ents firms locally through the BristolChamber, has launched a #Get-Exporting campaign with the goal ofgetting 2,020 more business to exportfrom the region by 2020.

James Taylor, co-founder of frozenyoghurt franchise store AngelBerry,urged all small businesses to con-sider exporting.

“You can get help with it,” he said.“For example we got matching fund-ing to take part in an internationaltrade show. We spent £6,000 but gothalf back.”

The firm started at the ImperialRetail Park in Bristol but now hasmore outlets abroad than in the UK.The latest was a kiosk in a SouthAfrican cinema which opened lastweek, with a view to rolling out intoother branches across the country.

Tim Harrap, from cheese-makerLye Cross Farm, in Redhill, NorthSomerset, said there was plenty ofsupport out there through the ser-vices of UK Trade and Investment butpeople had to get out and look for theoppor tunities.

“I had my eyes opened at my first

trade event overseas,” he said.“There were 3,000 people from acrossEurope looking to do business.”

The company sells cheese to a num-ber of markets, including SouthKorea and recently China.

“We ’re always looking for new op-por tunities,” added Tim.

Bath-based marketing agency Mr B& Friends created the shipping con-tainer concept and Bristol streetartists Andy Council and TimUlewicz painted it.

For more details on the campaignand how to start exporting, visitw w w. ge t e x p o r t i n g. i n fo /

Event highlights benefits of exportingTra d e

with the RAF, but will also beavailable to support servicerequirements for other A400Mcustomers.

The news is a welcome signal ofintent at the Patchway plant,coming just weeks afterRolls-Royce announced 2,600 jobcuts in its aerospace divisionglobally with some likely to hitlocally. The company employsmore than 3,000 people at the site.

Paul Craig, Rolls-Roycepresident customer service –defence, said: “This is great newsfor both our customers and theBristol site. This new capability willenable us to ensure that the RAFenjoys the same high level ofengine support for its latest aircraftas it does for the otherRolls-Royce powered aircraft in itsfleet. It also ensures that we canmaintain military test capability atBristol into the future.

“We have worked in closepartnership with our employeesand their representatives to securethis investment in the Bristol siteand we thank them for theirsupport.”

Business Secretary Vince Cablesaid: “The UK’s aerospaceindustry is the best in Europe, andis second only to the United Statesacross the world. Investments likethis from Rolls-Royce will help tokeep us there. The projects we arefunding through our aerospaceindustrial strategy will ensure thatBritain develops the most efficientand green aircraft of the future.”

The wings for the A400M aremade nearby at the Airbus plant inFilton.

Sign uphere forbusinessnews directto yourinboxevery day

� Local business people outside thedecorated shipping container at TheEngine Shed Picture: Dave Betts

£1.7m The cost of thetransformation

£34mThe amount raisedin just 12 months

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3

6 We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 7We d n e s d a y, December 3, 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 Business Pulse Survey

BRISTOL has long held a repu-tation as being a thrivingcentre for clean tech and sus-tainable businesses, withsome of the world’s leading

experts in green technology, environ-mental engineering and researchbased in the city and the surroundinga re a .

The importance of such companieshas regularly been highlighted by theGovernment, with these fast growthbusinesses providing resource effi-cient goods and services seen as beingvital to the economy in the comingye a r s.

With this in mind, and with Bristolpreparing itself for its role asEuropean Green Capital, the fourthBusiness Pulse special report pub-lished today by accountancy and busi-ness advisory firm BDO LLP, inpartnership with the Bristol Post,

takes an in-depth look at the sustain-ability agenda and its impact on busi-nesses in the region.

Some of the leading businessmenand women from Bristol and the great-er city region were invited to respondto the exclusive survey, with the Busi-ness Pulse Steering Group includingthe Bristol mayor, George Ferguson,Colin Skellett (West of England LocalEnterprise Partnership chairman),James Durie (executive director ofBristol Chamber at Business West),and a cross section of leaders of localfir ms.

The first question in the surveysought to establish how big a part sus-tainability plays in driving a business’growth strategy.

It appears that the days when lead-ers viewed the issue as a specialistarea or unimportant to their businessare now very much a thing of the past.Now, 87 per cent believe that sustain-ability plays an important role in theirgrowth strategy for the future.

But what is driving businesses toadopt a more sustainable approach?Two areas were clearly identified byrespondents: the need for operationalefficiency (60 per cent) and the per-ceived competitive advantage gainedby enhancing brand reputation with

HOW THE SUSTAINABILITY AGENDASustainability is nolonger a niche butcentral to businessvalues, according to thefindings of the latestBusiness Pulse survey.The Bristol Postbusiness team reports

starting to spend more time looking athow their employees travel to workand the impact that has on the en-vironment. One in five respondentsreported offering ‘travel to work’schemes, including cycling as well asintroducing additional incentives oncompany car schemes to purchaseelectric cars.

Many businesses highlight the useof teleconferencing to reduce the ex-pense of travelling to meetings, whileothers have moved their businessescloser to their client base, which inturn has brought a number of newcompanies into the area.

However, nearly half (49 per cent) ofbusinesses report that cost remains amajor inhibitor to developing and im-plementing sustainable measures.

Simon Pringle, head of sustainab-ility and clean tech at BDO, said:

“While implementation can some-times be costly in the short term, it isimportant that businesses conduct afull analysis as to the potential im-pact.

“Many large organisations embarkon bold strategies, such as Marks andSpencer’s ‘Plan A’, which was expec-ted to cost the organisation money.However, the reality is that many ofthese commitments have actually de-livered huge cost savings, along withimprovements to risk managementand brand protection.

“In addition, with nearly a quarterof businesses identifying internal res-istance to change as another barrier toputting a sustainability strategy intopractice, it appears that better assess-ment and internal communication isneeded as to the tangible gains of awell-crafted sustainability strategy.”

proach to sustainability becoming anessential risk management tool formany businesses.”

When asked what strategic changesthey had implemented, it becameclear that many businesses are look-ing at the impact of travel / transport,something that was highlighted in oneof the previous Business Pulse sur-veys as being a major challenge tobusinesses in Bristol and the greatercity region.

Over the coming years, severalmajor public transport schemes are tobe launched in the Bristol area and theelectrification of the main rail linebetween Bristol and the South Westwill also start to take shape. There arehigh hopes that the new initiativeswill cut down travel times and makethe region greener.

And it appears that businesses are

sustainable credentials (56 per cent).Paul Falvey, tax partner at BDO in

Bristol, said: “Our results highlightthat many aspects of the sustainab-ility agenda have become the norm forbusinesses. This is partly due to eco-nomics, with expensive resourcesmeaning that there has been an in-creased blurring between the con-cepts of operational efficiency ands u s t a i n ab i l i t y.

“However, it also appears that therehas been a strategic shift. Businessesnow view the sustainability agenda inits fullest sense as a way of developing,building and protecting a strongbrand. They no longer see it as a boxticking exercise to fulfil the corporatesocial responsibility agenda.

“The need for transparency, an eth-ical supply chain and high labourstandards has resulted in a robust ap-

Businesses now viewthe sustainability agendain its fullest sense as away of developing,building and protecting astrong brand. They nolonger see it as a boxticking exercise to fulfilthe corporate socialresponsibility agenda.

WAGES might be rising very slowly for most ofus but for those in demand they are shooting up,according to a new survey.

Construction, IT and procurement are mostin demand with some specialist roles enjoyingpay rises of more than 10 per cent, com-pared to the regional average of 1.7per cent.

Workers in finance and engin-eering also have the pick of jobs,with companies bidding fortheir services.

Experts from Hays, the re-cruitment firm behind thesurvey, say some firms couldface serious skills shortagesnext year.

Simon Winfield, p i c t u re d , re-gional managing director ofHays, said: “New developmentsaround Bristol city centre are fuellingthe skills shortages within constructionand employers cannot find professionals withthe experience they need, they are looking tograduates and offering training and profes-sional development to provide employees withthe skills needed in the roles.

“An increase in house building activity hasnot only led to a skills shortage across areas ofconstruction such as estimating and surveying,but also in legal areas such as conveyancing.

“For example, a legal professional who wasout of the profession for a number of years was

recently hired by a Bristol firm in response tothe demand for conveyancing services.”

He said the problem is likely to get worse.“Given that businesses are now more con-

fident about the year ahead and they have plansto take on more staff we expect to see thiscompetition for skills and salary growth to takea greater hold by the middle of next year,” hesaid.

“Some employees have already spotted theycan earn more and decided to make a career

move. Others will follow suit over thenext 12 months and the situation

could soon reach crisis point foremployers fighting for the talent

they need.“Employees rarely move for

salary alone but it is always animportant consideration andemployers need to look atwhat they can offer in order toattract and retain the best em-

p l oye e s. ”The survey of 600 employees

and employers in the South Westfo u n d :

� Average salary growth of 1.7 percent

� Over 10 per cent pay rises for some qualified,professionals and skilled workers across theUK� 56 per cent of employers plan pay increases inthe next 12 months� Fight for talent to intensify as 65 per cent ofemployers plan to increase head count and 81%expect skills shortages will be a challenge� 64 per cent of employees in the region an-ticipate they will move jobs in the next 12m o n t h s.

Specialist roles now seeingpay rises of more than 10%Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

James Durie – executive directorof Bristol Chamber at Business West

� “The survey reflects how localbusinesses are committed to taking onboard a more sustainable approachto business. This is reflected inour experience – we are findingour members are activelyseeking ways to adopt moresustainable businesspractices.

“Technological solutions,including the use of LEDlighting, have becomeproven and trusted, whilechanges in employee behaviour,for example volunteering, areproviding companies with additionalbenefits in terms of developing anindividual’s talent and skills and boostingstaff morale and loyalty.

“With so many ways for businesses toadopt green measures, the challenge is

deciding on which solution will havethe biggest impact.

“The Green Capital year isthe opportunity to widen anddeepen businessengagement in Bristol andits surroundings.

“We have joined forceswith Low Carbon South

West and Bristol 2015 todevelop the Go Green

Programme. We intend to reachover 1,000 businesses, providing

them with the opportunity todemonstrate how they are going green,share expertise and inspire each other todo more.”

George Ferguson – mayor of Bristol

Alan Bailey – chairman of Low Carbon South West

Chris Curling – chairman of Sustrans

� “We must remind ourselves throughout2015 that true sustainability is aboutso much more than theenvironment. It is about thecreation of a healthy, robustand caring economy thatprovides opportunities forall – not just the fortunate –and a cleaner, greener,healthier and accessible city– one in which everyone canenjoy the benefits.

“That sustainability is movingup the business agenda isencouraging. Transport is clearly anissue, but the combined effect ofResidents’ Parking, 20mph zones and

MetroBus; when added to local rail andcycling improvements plus

conveniences like wifi and smartticketing on local buses, will

make a very positived i ff e re n c e .

“One practical step I’dencourage all businesses totake is to introduce andchampion car-sharing

schemes.“More than 50,000

commuter cars enter Bristolevery day, and most are

driver-only. This is not sustainable andsimply cannot continue if we want tosolve the congestion issue.”

� “Traditionally, sustainability has toooften been viewed as a box tickingexercise from a businessperspective rather than as anembedded activity.

“However, I believe, and asthe survey results indicate,that businesses arebeginning to recognise thatengaging with thesustainability agenda is nowmuch more about value addthan added cost.

“When I meet with companies,the conversation aroundsustainability is not solely about being‘g re e n ’. It is first about rates of return andpositive impacts on the business; andthen secondly how these areas will

impact on environmental management.“Indeed, there is increased

recognition that a review ofpeople, processes and

technologies and theimplementation of measuresto increase efficiency can infact be made at low costand with fairly rapid returns.

“However, communicationremains a challenge. While

practices may be in place tocreate a better and more

efficient working environment, insome instances businesses are not

necessarily communicating these to staffand stakeholders.

“This is an area where more educationwould be beneficial.”

� “Great progress is being madepositioning the Greater Bristolarea as a centre of excellencefor sustainable businesses.This has been crowned bythe city’s achievement ofGreen Capital status.

“Today, many companiesrecognise the commercialbenefits that can be achievedby putting the sustainability

agenda at the core of theiroperations.

“Sustainability is no longera superficial marketingbadge or simply aboutbeing ‘g re e n ’ – rather it isthe ability for a business to‘future proof’ itself and

ensure the delivery ofshareholder value into the

medium and longer term.”

AFFECTS US ALL

Paul Falvey, tax partner at BDO

“

Wa g es

BusinessGuide

Showcase your business in the

Coming soon in January 2015

FIND OUT MORE 0117 934 3025

www.westerndailypress.co.ukprint • online • mobile

REACHING THEREGION’S BUSINESS

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6 We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 7We d n e s d a y, December 3, 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 Business Pulse Survey

BRISTOL has long held a repu-tation as being a thrivingcentre for clean tech and sus-tainable businesses, withsome of the world’s leading

experts in green technology, environ-mental engineering and researchbased in the city and the surroundinga re a .

The importance of such companieshas regularly been highlighted by theGovernment, with these fast growthbusinesses providing resource effi-cient goods and services seen as beingvital to the economy in the comingye a r s.

With this in mind, and with Bristolpreparing itself for its role asEuropean Green Capital, the fourthBusiness Pulse special report pub-lished today by accountancy and busi-ness advisory firm BDO LLP, inpartnership with the Bristol Post,

takes an in-depth look at the sustain-ability agenda and its impact on busi-nesses in the region.

Some of the leading businessmenand women from Bristol and the great-er city region were invited to respondto the exclusive survey, with the Busi-ness Pulse Steering Group includingthe Bristol mayor, George Ferguson,Colin Skellett (West of England LocalEnterprise Partnership chairman),James Durie (executive director ofBristol Chamber at Business West),and a cross section of leaders of localfir ms.

The first question in the surveysought to establish how big a part sus-tainability plays in driving a business’growth strategy.

It appears that the days when lead-ers viewed the issue as a specialistarea or unimportant to their businessare now very much a thing of the past.Now, 87 per cent believe that sustain-ability plays an important role in theirgrowth strategy for the future.

But what is driving businesses toadopt a more sustainable approach?Two areas were clearly identified byrespondents: the need for operationalefficiency (60 per cent) and the per-ceived competitive advantage gainedby enhancing brand reputation with

HOW THE SUSTAINABILITY AGENDASustainability is nolonger a niche butcentral to businessvalues, according to thefindings of the latestBusiness Pulse survey.The Bristol Postbusiness team reports

starting to spend more time looking athow their employees travel to workand the impact that has on the en-vironment. One in five respondentsreported offering ‘travel to work’schemes, including cycling as well asintroducing additional incentives oncompany car schemes to purchaseelectric cars.

Many businesses highlight the useof teleconferencing to reduce the ex-pense of travelling to meetings, whileothers have moved their businessescloser to their client base, which inturn has brought a number of newcompanies into the area.

However, nearly half (49 per cent) ofbusinesses report that cost remains amajor inhibitor to developing and im-plementing sustainable measures.

Simon Pringle, head of sustainab-ility and clean tech at BDO, said:

“While implementation can some-times be costly in the short term, it isimportant that businesses conduct afull analysis as to the potential im-pact.

“Many large organisations embarkon bold strategies, such as Marks andSpencer’s ‘Plan A’, which was expec-ted to cost the organisation money.However, the reality is that many ofthese commitments have actually de-livered huge cost savings, along withimprovements to risk managementand brand protection.

“In addition, with nearly a quarterof businesses identifying internal res-istance to change as another barrier toputting a sustainability strategy intopractice, it appears that better assess-ment and internal communication isneeded as to the tangible gains of awell-crafted sustainability strategy.”

proach to sustainability becoming anessential risk management tool formany businesses.”

When asked what strategic changesthey had implemented, it becameclear that many businesses are look-ing at the impact of travel / transport,something that was highlighted in oneof the previous Business Pulse sur-veys as being a major challenge tobusinesses in Bristol and the greatercity region.

Over the coming years, severalmajor public transport schemes are tobe launched in the Bristol area and theelectrification of the main rail linebetween Bristol and the South Westwill also start to take shape. There arehigh hopes that the new initiativeswill cut down travel times and makethe region greener.

And it appears that businesses are

sustainable credentials (56 per cent).Paul Falvey, tax partner at BDO in

Bristol, said: “Our results highlightthat many aspects of the sustainab-ility agenda have become the norm forbusinesses. This is partly due to eco-nomics, with expensive resourcesmeaning that there has been an in-creased blurring between the con-cepts of operational efficiency ands u s t a i n ab i l i t y.

“However, it also appears that therehas been a strategic shift. Businessesnow view the sustainability agenda inits fullest sense as a way of developing,building and protecting a strongbrand. They no longer see it as a boxticking exercise to fulfil the corporatesocial responsibility agenda.

“The need for transparency, an eth-ical supply chain and high labourstandards has resulted in a robust ap-

Businesses now viewthe sustainability agendain its fullest sense as away of developing,building and protecting astrong brand. They nolonger see it as a boxticking exercise to fulfilthe corporate socialresponsibility agenda.

WAGES might be rising very slowly for most ofus but for those in demand they are shooting up,according to a new survey.

Construction, IT and procurement are mostin demand with some specialist roles enjoyingpay rises of more than 10 per cent, com-pared to the regional average of 1.7per cent.

Workers in finance and engin-eering also have the pick of jobs,with companies bidding fortheir services.

Experts from Hays, the re-cruitment firm behind thesurvey, say some firms couldface serious skills shortagesnext year.

Simon Winfield, p i c t u re d , re-gional managing director ofHays, said: “New developmentsaround Bristol city centre are fuellingthe skills shortages within constructionand employers cannot find professionals withthe experience they need, they are looking tograduates and offering training and profes-sional development to provide employees withthe skills needed in the roles.

“An increase in house building activity hasnot only led to a skills shortage across areas ofconstruction such as estimating and surveying,but also in legal areas such as conveyancing.

“For example, a legal professional who wasout of the profession for a number of years was

recently hired by a Bristol firm in response tothe demand for conveyancing services.”

He said the problem is likely to get worse.“Given that businesses are now more con-

fident about the year ahead and they have plansto take on more staff we expect to see thiscompetition for skills and salary growth to takea greater hold by the middle of next year,” hesaid.

“Some employees have already spotted theycan earn more and decided to make a career

move. Others will follow suit over thenext 12 months and the situation

could soon reach crisis point foremployers fighting for the talent

they need.“Employees rarely move for

salary alone but it is always animportant consideration andemployers need to look atwhat they can offer in order toattract and retain the best em-

p l oye e s. ”The survey of 600 employees

and employers in the South Westfo u n d :

� Average salary growth of 1.7 percent

� Over 10 per cent pay rises for some qualified,professionals and skilled workers across theUK� 56 per cent of employers plan pay increases inthe next 12 months� Fight for talent to intensify as 65 per cent ofemployers plan to increase head count and 81%expect skills shortages will be a challenge� 64 per cent of employees in the region an-ticipate they will move jobs in the next 12m o n t h s.

Specialist roles now seeingpay rises of more than 10%Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

James Durie – executive directorof Bristol Chamber at Business West

� “The survey reflects how localbusinesses are committed to taking onboard a more sustainable approachto business. This is reflected inour experience – we are findingour members are activelyseeking ways to adopt moresustainable businesspractices.

“Technological solutions,including the use of LEDlighting, have becomeproven and trusted, whilechanges in employee behaviour,for example volunteering, areproviding companies with additionalbenefits in terms of developing anindividual’s talent and skills and boostingstaff morale and loyalty.

“With so many ways for businesses toadopt green measures, the challenge is

deciding on which solution will havethe biggest impact.

“The Green Capital year isthe opportunity to widen anddeepen businessengagement in Bristol andits surroundings.

“We have joined forceswith Low Carbon South

West and Bristol 2015 todevelop the Go Green

Programme. We intend to reachover 1,000 businesses, providing

them with the opportunity todemonstrate how they are going green,share expertise and inspire each other todo more.”

George Ferguson – mayor of Bristol

Alan Bailey – chairman of Low Carbon South West

Chris Curling – chairman of Sustrans

� “We must remind ourselves throughout2015 that true sustainability is aboutso much more than theenvironment. It is about thecreation of a healthy, robustand caring economy thatprovides opportunities forall – not just the fortunate –and a cleaner, greener,healthier and accessible city– one in which everyone canenjoy the benefits.

“That sustainability is movingup the business agenda isencouraging. Transport is clearly anissue, but the combined effect ofResidents’ Parking, 20mph zones and

MetroBus; when added to local rail andcycling improvements plus

conveniences like wifi and smartticketing on local buses, will

make a very positived i ff e re n c e .

“One practical step I’dencourage all businesses totake is to introduce andchampion car-sharing

schemes.“More than 50,000

commuter cars enter Bristolevery day, and most are

driver-only. This is not sustainable andsimply cannot continue if we want tosolve the congestion issue.”

� “Traditionally, sustainability has toooften been viewed as a box tickingexercise from a businessperspective rather than as anembedded activity.

“However, I believe, and asthe survey results indicate,that businesses arebeginning to recognise thatengaging with thesustainability agenda is nowmuch more about value addthan added cost.

“When I meet with companies,the conversation aroundsustainability is not solely about being‘g re e n ’. It is first about rates of return andpositive impacts on the business; andthen secondly how these areas will

impact on environmental management.“Indeed, there is increased

recognition that a review ofpeople, processes and

technologies and theimplementation of measuresto increase efficiency can infact be made at low costand with fairly rapid returns.

“However, communicationremains a challenge. While

practices may be in place tocreate a better and more

efficient working environment, insome instances businesses are not

necessarily communicating these to staffand stakeholders.

“This is an area where more educationwould be beneficial.”

� “Great progress is being madepositioning the Greater Bristolarea as a centre of excellencefor sustainable businesses.This has been crowned bythe city’s achievement ofGreen Capital status.

“Today, many companiesrecognise the commercialbenefits that can be achievedby putting the sustainability

agenda at the core of theiroperations.

“Sustainability is no longera superficial marketingbadge or simply aboutbeing ‘g re e n ’ – rather it isthe ability for a business to‘future proof’ itself and

ensure the delivery ofshareholder value into the

medium and longer term.”

AFFECTS US ALL

Paul Falvey, tax partner at BDO

“

Wa g es

BusinessGuide

Showcase your business in the

Coming soon in January 2015

FIND OUT MORE 0117 934 3025

www.westerndailypress.co.ukprint • online • mobile

REACHING THEREGION’S BUSINESS

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8 We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 9We d n e s d a y, December 3, 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

BR I S T O L’S northern fringehas been the city’s engineroom in recent years. Thepresence of engineering gi-ants such as Airbus,

Rolls-Royce, GKN and BAE, as well asthose further down the supply chainhave brought well-paid engineeringj o b s.

Access to London via the M4 orBristol Parkway has made the areaattractive for offices too, with AztecWest, Almondsbury and BradleyStoke housing numerous companiesof all sizes.

But since the recession, there hasbeen little new activity. That’s aboutto change. Thousands of new homesare being built or planned in Emer-s o n’s Green, Cribbs Causeway andthe former Filton Air-field site.

And withthem shouldcome newe m p l oy -

northern fringe were “very exciting”and the Filton plans and Mall ex-pansion represented a multi-millionpound investment in the area.

“The next five years will see some

dramatic changes on the North Bris-tol skyline,” he said.

David Mace, regional senior dir-ector at another property agencyGVA, inset, agreed that with no new

developments since 2008, an areahome to some of region’s major em-ployers was more than ready.

But he warned that administrativeof political squabbles over bound-aries must be set aside,with much of thisarea falling intoSouthGloucester-shire Councilnot Bristol.

“As far asoccupiersand the prop-erty world areconcer ned,North Bristol isvery much seen as anintrinsic and dynamic part of theGreater Bristol area,” he said. “Wes h o u l d n’t let administrative bound-aries stand in the way of progressivedevelopment and inward investment.Indeed we need to think strategicallyas a city region and capitalise on allits successes if we are to be takenseriously in the UK and beyond.”

An example of how businesses canthrive either side of the boundary isThe Mall.

Richard Moore of CBRE Bristol,below right, said: “There was someconcern that Cribbs Causeway wouldstruggle following the arrival ofCabot Circus but that has proved notto be the case.

“The area has long benefited fromgood transport links and easy accessin comparison to the centre of Bris-tol, meaning it has been able to drawon a wide geographical market.

“With further expansion planned,The Mall looks set tocement its posi-tion as both athriving centrefor economicactivity, leis-ure, com-merce andindustry andone of the mostimportant shop-ping destinationsin the South West.”

Paul Matthews of Bruton Knowlesadded a note of caution. “There is nodoubt that with so many plans in thepipeline the Northern fringe of Bris-tol will look completely different 20years from now,” he said. “But it isvital that the mix of new commercialbuildings is right if they are toprovide workplaces for local people.

“We will need more basic space forgrowing small and medium-sizedbusinesses at a rent they can afford.Perhaps that is the role Filton shouldfulfil providing flexible officecentres, such as those found at theHive in Weston-super-Mare, andsmall (2,500 – 5,000 sq ft) industrial

FOR many growing and start-upbusinesses, signing the firstlease on a property is somethingto be celebrated. But it is alsosomething small businesses

should do carefully, and only after takingappropriate independent advice.

Make sure that you don’t sign a leasefor longer than you want to, as it is abinding legal agreement. True, if yourrequirements change you may be able tosub-let the property or assign the lease,but that can be a costly and time con-suming process, with no guarantee of asuccessful outcome.

Signing a Full Repairing and Insuringlease means that you are liable for thecost of any repairs to the property fromthat date, regardless of what condition itwas in when you moved in. So checkwhat your responsibilities are and howmuch it might cost to maintain the prop-erty (inside and out), over the term of thel e a s e.

Disputes can arise over servicecharges. These should be set out in thelease but often people concentrate on theheadline rent to be paid, and only laterrealise that the service charge is moresignificant than they thought. Fortu-nately for tenants, regulations have beentightened up in recent years, and land-lords are no longer permitted to treat aservice charge as rent going by a dif-ferent name, but they have to account forthe expenditure properly, and provideaudited accounts at year end.

The service charge can be almost asmuch as the rent in some instances, andone way to protect against any unfore-seen major expenditure items is to askfor a cap on the level of service chargep ayabl e.

Break clauses can be a good insurancepolicy enabling a tenant to exit from alease if business levels do not live up toexpectations or the business rapidly ex-pands and needs to move somewherebig g er.

They are also fraught with difficulty,and the detailed wording is critical toensuring that the break can be correctlyoperated. Another thing to check iswhen and how the rent will be reviewed.It is common to find that a lease containswhat are called “upward only” rent re-views, which mean that the rent cannever fall below the original level, re-gardless of prevailing market condi-tions. Agreeing upward or downwardreviews at the outset can pay dividendsfurther down the line.

Tenants often believe they have noneed of specialist advice as their so-licitor will provide all the advice that isrequired. However this can be a falseeconomy as a solicitor may not be able tocomment on property issues. Even if youget on with your landlord before thelease is signed, always remember thatcircumstances can change, and whenthey do the only thing which defines theposition between the parties is the pre-cise wording of the lease.

The lease you should do!

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

Big changes are coming forthe northern fringe ofBristol. Gavin Thompsonreports on the opportunities

ment development too.Simon Price, head of agency at

Alder King, said while attention thisyear had very much been focused onBristol city centre, particularly thesuccess of the two new speculativeoffice schemes at 2 Glass Wharf and66 Queen Square, North Bristol hadbeen “quietly creating its own suc-cess story”.

“North Bristol office take-up hasbeen very strong this year and is ontrack to exceed 400,000 sq ft, almostdouble 2013’s total,” he said.

“With no new development cur-rently under way, North Bristol hasless than 10,000 sq ft of immediatelyavailable grade A space, its lowestlevel for at least 10 years.

“The opportunities are clearlythere for speculative office develop-

� AN award-winning Bristol cardealership has being grantedplanning permission for a thirdoutlet in the city, creating 25 newjobs.

Wessex Garages, which alreadyhas two dealerships in Bristol, willopen a third, purpose-built, Nissanshowroom in October next year atCribbs Causeway.

Managing director Keith Brocksaid: “We are over the moon thatour planning permission has finallybeen approved and we can nowreally get the ball rolling on thenew project.

“It’s a massive investment for usas the whole project will cost inthe region of £5 million.

“Wessex Garages is firmlyrooted in Bristol’s business

community and this next stage inour development will enable us tohave a much greater impact on thelocal economy with the creation ofnew jobs and money being putback into the community.

“The new Nissan dealership willbe on Hayes Way at CribbsCauseway, an area that isdeveloping and it looks set to bean excellent retail location for us.”

The dealership will span justover 18,000 square feet andcreate at least 25 new jobs inaddition to the company’s existingNissan business, in PennywellRoad.

Keith said the fact the new site

was not covered by the Bristolre s i d e n t s ’ parking zones was a“great bonus”.

He added: “The entrance to thenew site will be the gateway to awhole new development of around2,000 new homes with localamenities on what we know as theold Filton runway.”

Dave Murfitt, director of networkdevelopment and quality forNissan GB, said: “Building ashowcase dealership in CribbsCauseway will ensure that we willprovide a great facility in the ideallocation to fully meet the needs ofcurrent and future Nissancustomers.”

The dealership will be a centrefor electric vehicles and will alsobe a charging point.

Dealership finds new place to parkCase study

Property Matters

‘FRINGE’ BENEFITS ARE BECOMING CLEARER FOR ALL TO SEE

and warehouse units, which are mostlikely to provide workplaces for localp e o p l e.

“The Bristol and Bath Science Parkin Emerson’s Green is excellent forembryonic businesses, but once busi-nesses are established they needroom to grow.

“Of course developers look for thebest value they can get out of thecommercial elements of theirschemes, so we need the local au-thorities to ensure that the mix isright and that everybody isn’t chas-ing the same occupiers.”

He added there were sectors werethe shortage was more acute.

“A real issue will be the provision ofworkshops, warehousing and distri-bu t i o n , ” said Paul. “If we really wanta society that doesn’t rely on the car

we have to allow these types ofpremises to be built nearer to homesand not push them out of town or intolittle industrial ghettos.

“The Victorians built communitiesaround factories, but we have nowhad 100 years where factories werebuilt in one part of the city and homesin another. If we are serious aboutbeing greener then ideas have tochange and people will need to live,once again, within walking and cyc-ling distance of their workplace andthat can’t just be smart offices.”

However it plays out, the combin-ation of motorway links, presence ofother big employers to cluster aroundand availability of development landmean the northern fringe of Bristolwill be a hub of activity for the nextfive to 10 years.

Simon Price, of Alder King

“Theopportunitiesare clearlythere for speculativeoffice development onthe north fringe The nextfive years will see somedramatic changes on theNorth Bristol skyline

ment on the north fringe and de-velopers should be encouraged by themarket reaction to 2 Glass Wharf and66 Queen Square.”

Simon said the prospects for the

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

To Let - City Centre Office Suite Part 3rd Floor Block A, Whitefriars, Lewins Mead, Bristol BS1 2NT

Contact: paul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk

• Openplanairconditionedsuite• 1,540sqft(143sqft)• Two on site car parking spaces• Flexibleterms

BK code:2433

� Keith Brock and Dave Murfitt at the new site for Wessex Garages

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8 We d n e s d a y, November 5, 2014 9We d n e s d a y, November 5, 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 face of Bristol’s businesscommunity is changing. Ifyou look around the EngineShed – a hub of digital andtech companies from

start-ups to fast growing businesses –yo u ’ll see more hipster beards thant i e s.

That change is reflected in prop-erty needs too. Style is important.These companies are attractingyoung, skilled and motivated workerswho don’t want to sit in a boring oldof fice.

The industries are fast moving too.Companies expand quickly andsometimes vanish just as fast, solong-term leases just don’t work.

And that can be a problem for thecommercial property market, whereinstitutional investors such as pen-sion companies look for safe,long-term returns.

But this thriving technology anddigital sector is growing in import-ance in Bristol. It is becoming theposter child of economy.

Government ministers arequeuing up to the pictured next to afancy piece of kit that symbolises afast-paced and future-proofed eco-nomy. This past week saw BusinessSecretary Vince Cable meeting thecreations of OC Robotics in AbbeyWood. The week before the Presidentof Singapore was at the University ofBristol to see how advances in wear-able technology could be applied tothe healthcare market. The EngineShed itself is a regular stop-off forVIPs, from politicians to royals.

Paul Williams, from commercialproperty agency Bruton Knowles’Bristol office, said the influx of tech-nology firms was good for the city.

“The regeneration of large areas ofpreviously abandoned commercialspace has been key to Bristol’s recentsuccess and is lifting the city up thenational league table in terms of at-tracting new business,” he said.

“Previously redundant and neg-lected locations in the city centre andaround the Temple Quarter are set-ting the trend, attracting increasingnumbers of technology, media andtelecommunications firms and ex-tending the city’s so-called MediaMile out along the A4.”

He points to the £1.35 million re-furbishment project by Cube RealEstate which has transformed the oldHTV studios in Bath Road. Just

tions, media and technology sectordeals tend to be fairly modest in scale,the sheer number of business movesbrings the footfall – not to mentionspend – city centres rely on forg rowth.”

The modest nature of those dealscan pose a problem, particularly forold-style property investors such aspension funds which look for steadylong-term returns.

Matt Cross, head of inward invest-ment agency Invest Bristol and Bath,said: “When developers are governedby institutional lenders then thoseinstitutions create conditions on

funding which don’t suit lower cost,easy-in easy-out terms.”

It takes a different kind of de-veloper, with a different businessmodel. Thankfully there are some,with firms such as Verve behind thePaintworks and TCN behind TempleS t u d i o s.

Matt said Invest Bristol and Bathwas building a picture of demand,finding out what the needs of some fothe companies it is attracting to thecity are and being proactive and hav-ing “mature conversations” with de-ve l o p e r s.

“We have been working on creating

a proposition to take to developers tosay we’ve got four of five companieswith demand – where can you buildbased on evidence of demand we cangive you?”

Ben Shorrock, product develop-ment manager at Invest Bristol andBath, said: “It’s often not about styleof space but having a bit more flex-ibility. If you are working in anim-ation for example, need to go up anddown a lot in size. With traditionaloffice, you sign a five-year lease forspecific space so that doesn’t work.”

He added firms moving to Bristolare often won over by spaces like the

WITH money from overseas continuing toflow into the UK, Bristol is poised for asignificant increase in inward invest-ment. For many years overseas investorshave been concentrating their cash on

trophy investments in London and the South East.But high demand and rocketing prices are obliging

more and more overseas investors to look at theregional cities as well as the capital. Manchester andBirmingham are already seeing increased activity butBristol is also on their radar.

Overseas investors own almost a quarter of in-come-producing commercial property in the UK, withshopping centres, warehouses, hotels and office build-ings a favourite target. China, Russia and more re-cently Brazil have been busy in this area but there hasalso been a marked rise in investment from Germanfunds and also from the Middle East.

Invest Bristol & Bath is helping to focus interest inthe Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire,Bath and North-East Somerset areas and has workedclosely with groups like the West of England ChinaBureau to raise the city’s profile.

High-powered delegations from the major Chinesecities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou have visited Bristolin the past month looking for investment oppor-t u n i t i e s.

Overseas in-vestors snappingup competitivelypriced propertyhas its draw-backs – shar pen-ing demand andincreasing com-petition for UKbuyers – but this is more of an issue in London than itis in the regions.

So what is it that makes the Bristol and Bath areasuch a target for overseas investment?

As well as being a key regional transport andcommunications hub, the concentration of aerospaceand other high-tech industries attracts and supports ahighly skilled workforce ably supported by no fewerthan four major universities.

UWE Bristol alone is investing £220 million ininfrastructure including a dedicated business schoolbuilding. The additional student accommodation re-quired to support a steeply increasing student pop-ulation is also proving highly attractive for overseasi nve s t o r s.

A report by Centre for Cities and McKinsey &Company named Bristol and Bath’s high tech sector asthe only fast-growing, globally-significant cluster of itskind in the UK, with the South West’s aerospace sectorhighlighted in this category too.

The profusion of skills exhibited in the key growthareas such as aerospace, the nuclear industry; andSTEM (science, technology, engineering and math-ematics) is further helping to focus overseas intereston what Bristol and Bath has got to offer.

Overseas investors setto look towards Bristol

The growth of Bristol’stechnology and creativesectors is leading to changingdemands from the propertymarket. But can it adapt?Gavin Thompson reports

Contemporary workspace nowcomplete - and already 80% let

Case study

Property matters

BOOMING CREATIVE SCENE’S BUZZY H U B S L E A D I N G T H E WAY

Engine Shed, only to find it’s full-up.But the market is responding.

There are plans being drawn up for asecond Engine Shed within theTemple Quarter Enterprise Zone.

Another of the city’s hubs for techfirms is the Bristol and Bath SciencePark. The Emerson’s Green includeshot desk facilities for start-ups plus agrow on centre for companies thatneed more space. Crucially it is de-signed to meet the needs of researchand development-led businesses,where lab space can be more im-portant than desks.

Chief executive Bonnie Dean said:

“There is strong demand for com-mercial property space from tech-nology businesses in Bristol but notenough appropriate supply, so it vitalthat this need is addressed.

“Businesses in this sector are ableto develop and scale up more easilythan previously as barriers to entryhave been reduced. It is, for example,much easier to make prototypes nowso technology is advancing quickly.

“In addition, our region has astrong engineering skills base, de-veloped off the back of a rich heritagein aerospace and advanced engin-eering, which means that it is an

attractive location for both big busi-ness and innovative start-ups to grow.It is important that we make space tocater for this demand and at Bristol &Bath Science Park we are working upplans for a new building to help ac-commodate this.”

Such expansions need to happensoon or businesses as such as Just Eatwhich have been lured to the citybecause of the talent pool and qualityof life (and cheaper-than-Londonproperty prices) won’t wait.

The property market needs to learnfrom the technology sector and pickup the pace.

Ruari Laidlaw

“ Whilst it’s a highlycreative and relaxedenvironment to work in,t h e re ’s an air ofprofessionalism thatresonates throughout

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

To Let - High Quality Offices Near Parkway Station, Bristol

• From980-1,980sqft(91-183.9 sqm)

• 8parkingspaces

• EasyaccesstoM4/M5/M32motorways

• Flexibletermsavailable

Contact: paul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk BK code:2639

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6 We d n e s d a y, October 1, 2014 7We d n e s d a y, October 1, 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

enquiries@brutonknowles.co.ukbrutonknowles.co.uk

0117 287 2101 Achieve morefrom your property

B015-1411 Bruton Knowles Bristol Post Commercial Advert 270x40mm AW 2.pdf 1 06/05/2014 17:24

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

To Let - High Quality Offices Near Parkway Station, Bristol

• From 980-1,980 sq ft (91-183.9 sq m)

• 8 parking spaces

• Easy access to M4/M5/M32 motorways

• Flexible terms available

Contact: paul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk BK code:2639

enquiries@brutonknowles.co.ukbrutonknowles.co.uk

0117 287 2101 Achieve morefrom your property

B015-1411 Bruton Knowles Bristol Post Commercial Advert 270x40mm AW 2.pdf 1 06/05/2014 17:24

The recovery in theBristol property marketis gathering pace butthat speed could lead toa bottleneck in theplanning process. GavinThompson re p o r t s

TWO years ago there was littlebuilding work going on inBristol. That has changedand quickly! In the residen-tial sector we have Finzel’s

Reach at the former Courage Brew-ery revived under new developerCubex, Wapping Wharf near theM shed rising from the ground andthe General Hospital conversion intoflats is well under way.

On the office side Salmon Har-ve s t e r ’s Two Glass Wharf standsproud in its Bristol blue colourswhile Skanska’s 66 Queen Square de-velopment is taking shape, with thesteel frame that will sit behind thecurving facade now visible.

Then there’s all the bed spacesbeing created to accommodate thethousands more coming to study in

IMAGINE having to find space for the equi-valent of a new town ten times bigger thanKeynsham, somewhere in the vicinity ofBristol and Bath. Well that’s the prospect thetwo cities are facing as they seek to provide

accommodation to cope with a continuing surgein student numbers.

With Bristol, UWE, Bath and Bath Spa cam-puses predicted to grow significantly over thenext few years demand for new student accom-modation has absorbed many available sites – notjust in the residential market but also around thea re a ’s commercial, office and industrial loca-t i o n s.

With four top universities within a 20-mileradius, the impact on Bristol and Bath will bemore pronounced than in many comparable re-gional cities.

Bruton Knowles has been closely monitoringthe conversion trend since it gained tractionduring the downturn. Back then, owners, buildersand developers were keen to keep busy and setabout transforming secondary office and elderlycommercial stock into residential – e s p e c i a l lystudent – accommodation. But what wassomething of a stopgap measure has been boostedby the faster than expected recovery and is nowf u n d a m e n t a l lytransforming theentire commercials e c t o r.

And whereasmost people wel-comed the trans-formation of somany abandoned offices or unused industrialpremises, the continuing demand for even morestudent accommodation raises the question ofwhere such development will take place – es-pecially once the supply of secondary sites isexhausted.

In Bristol, a number of well known office build-ings have already been converted or earmarkedfor student accommodation, not to mention thecity’s former ice rink, a police station and anumber of old people’s apartments.

Now developers are looking at ‘hands on’ in-dustrial and commercial sites in Bristol and Bath– several of which have already been taken out ofthe sector to create additional space for studenta c c o m m o d at i o n .

Hands on businesses such as garages, tyre firmsand repair shops have traditionally been locatedin secondary premises and many are beginning torun out of options if they need to move, aftergrowing out of their old premises for instance.

The level of demand we are seeing is certainlyskewing development patterns and impacting onthe city centre scene, transforming traditionalcommercial property function and usage.

According to recent forecasts some 50,000 stu-dents are expected to be looking for accommod-ation in Bristol over the next few years with afurther 20,000 in Bath – the equivalent of buildinga new town ten times bigger than Keynsham.

We need to accommodate thesurging student population

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

Mayor maps out thefuture at conference

Property matters

STRETCHED P L A N N E R S S T R U G G L E TO KEEP PACE W I T H RECOVERY Paul WilliamsHead of AgencyBruton Knowlespaul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk0117 287 2101

Expert eye

� Skanska’s 66 Queen Square development is taking shape with the steelframe now in place

Jo Davis, senior planningdirector at property

agency GVA in Bristol

“They cut the planningteams very hard and theability to build back thatresource toaccommodate growthwill be challenging

the city each year at our universities(see Expert Eye column, right).

And that’s just Bristol itself. Thenorthern and eastern fringes arebuzzing with largely house-buildingled activity, such as the Lyde Greendevelopment in Emersons Greenand several sites around Keyn-sham.

The upsurge is welcomed acrossindustry, but the speed of the re-covery has caught many off guard,not least the local authorities.

Planning departments have notbeen exempt from years of austerityand deep cuts in local authoritybudgets from Whitehall.

For the last five years, it probablyd i d n’t matter because there was so

little development activity.Jo Davis, right, senior planning

director at property agency GVA,said last year in Bristol 878 homeswere built, compared with 2,574 in2008/9.

“In the last three years, the onlycranes we had seen in sky were atSouthmead Hospital,” she said,speaking at a recent property sem-inar the firm hosted at the M shed.

She praised Bristol, SouthGloucestershire and Bath andNorth-East Somerset councils forusing the downturn in activity todevelop their core strategies for fu-ture development sites.

“We now have some planningpolicy certainty across the Bristola re a , ” said Jo. “The property in-dustry needs to use that toensure we speed up theplaning process.

“And the planning au-thorities need to beready to take on theextra activity that istaking place.

“That is more difficult.They cut the planningteams very hard and the abil-ity to build back that resource toaccommodate growth will be chal-lenging.”

The problem is that all those newdevelopments need input from the

relevant council all along theway, including public con-

sultation, reports andeventual planning per-mission. Any big devel-opment will involvemultiple applications.

That means theslimmed down, auster-

ity-sized planning teamsare becoming a bottleneck

that could be holding up eco-nomic growth in and around Bris-

tol.Gavin Bridge, far right, director of

Cubex which is behind the Finzel’sReach development in Bristol citycentre and has also been refurbish-ing Bridgewater House in VictoriaStreet to bring it up to grade Astandard, has seen the problem firsthand.

He understands the challenges fa-cing the city council, but would liketo see action taken.

“We have five planning applica-tions being considered by BristolCity Council at the moment and areshortly to submit a further two,”said Gavin. “Collectively these rep-resent over £100 million of devel-opment, more than 100 homes, a new

bridge and the potential to createover 800 new jobs.

“We enjoy an excellentworking relationshipwith planners but haveseen how the cutbacksat council to reduceplanning officernumbers has put tre-mendous pressureon the remaining of-f i c e r s.

“This does causedelays in the planningprocess whether before anapplication is registered or duringthe consideration period. We would

welcome any measures that wouldprovide additional resource and sup-

port to those officers.”The obvious impact is onnew developments but any

bottleneck will have an ef-fect further down thechain. If, for example, anew office site is delayed,then firms interested inmoving in might have to

wait, meaning there oldpremises is tied up that bit

longer. And the propertymerry-go-round stops.

It’s an issue Bristol City Council iswell aware of and it is looking to hire

more people. Zoe Willcox, servicedirector for planning and sustain-ability, said: “The council’s devel-opment management section ismanaged to ensure it has resilienceto flex and respond to the demands ofthe local property market.

“The global financial crisis of 2008resulted in a significant drop off inthe amount of planning applications.Happily however, Bristol has been atthe forefront of a national economicrevival which has led to a significantincrease in development activity inthe city and we are currently in theprocess of recruiting in order tomeet this renewed demand. We reg-

ularly liaise with property organ-isations such as the Planning UserGroup and Bristol Property AgentsAssociation to ensure that they arekept up-to-date with any develop-ments to our service. In this way wefeel confident that we will maintaina good working relationship with thecommercial property sector at thisincreasingly busy time.”

Recruiting skilled people in thecurrent growing market is not al-ways so easy however, as manyprivate sector companies havefound, so developers, agents andother interested parties will bewatching closely.

� BRISTOL mayor George Ferguson will bespeaking at a major property conference laterthis month.

The MIPIM commercial property event is amainstay of the industry calendar and the Bristolregion has in the past sent high profiledelegations in a bid to woo investors to there g i o n .

The event takes place in Cannes but this year aUK version of the event is being staged for thefirst time at London’s Olympia.

Bristol’s elected mayor is taking part in asession called My Future City in 2050, staged bythe Future Cities Catapult,looking at how placessuch as Bristol canbecome smarter andmore successful.

But overall,Bristol’s industry istaking more of await-and-seeapproach to theevent.

David Mace,regional senior directorat GVA, which is attendingthe event but not exhibiting, said: “As a companyGVA has been attending MIPIM in Cannes forsome time, and for the last couple of years we’veworked very closely with Bristol, Bath, SouthGloucestershire and North Somerset on theirpresence at this hugely influential event – we’relooking forward to being there again in 2015.

“It’s therefore a talking point for the propertyindustry that the UK is to have its own event inLondon, and we’re hugely encouraged thatmayor Ferguson will be representing Bristol in aCities of the Future debate, clearly strengtheningBristol’s place as a core city.

“We ’ll be a keen and supportive observer of theLondon event this year both from the perspectiveof Bristol’s participation and GVA’s own.”

in association with

MIPIM commercial property

� Bridgewater House in Bristol’s Victoria Street which has been refurbished by Cubex, the firm behind the Finzel’s Reach development in Bristol city centre

� CREATIVE companies like tohuddle together for inspiration. It’sone of the appeals of places suchas Bath Road Studios.

The final phase of theredevelopment of the former HTVstudios into office what theowners describe as “n e w,contemporary workspace” spacehas been complete, and it isalready 80 per cent let.

The project, commissioned bythe building’s owners Cube RealEstate, highlights a continueddemand for small-scale,contemporary space in Bristol, inline with a rise in the number ofstart-ups and SMEs in the city.

Almost 80 per cent of thebuilding has now been let to avariety of firms, ranging from smallstart-up companies to bigmultinationals such as PUMA.

The fact that the site includes anon-site Friska café and a Pilatesstudio gives you an insight into thetarget market.

Ruari Laidlaw of Cube RealEstate said: “We are really pleasedto have completed thismuch-needed refurbishmentproject, which will now allow us toturn our attention to improvingsustainability and green initiativeswithin the building.

“It also gives us an opportunityto work with existing tenants tofurther improve our offer so it iseven more attractive to futureoccupiers.”

Jon Mowat, managing directorof tenant Hurricane Media said:“Being in a building with suchgood facilities, and a broad range

of other creative SMEs, hasbenefited Hurricane enormouslysince we arrived here in February2012.

“Whilst it’s a highly creative andrelaxed environment to work in,t h e re ’s an air of professionalismthat resonates throughout thebuilding which is perfect for ourbrand’s image and our ability tocollaborate with otherbusiness-focussed creative

companies.”The building is also home to The

Set, an workspace that operatesas a membership club wherelike-minded businesses cannetwork and share skills andideas. Its collaborative baseremoves the isolation of workingfrom home, while offeringcontemporary facilities.

On the first Wednesday of eachmonth, The Set plays host to aninformal networking night wherelike-minded creatives share aglass or two of something, a fewnibbles and some of thatcollective inspiration.

� Mainp i c t u re ,the newlyre f u r b i s h e dBath RoadStudiosand,above, theBristol andBathSciencePark

across the road, Paintworks is one ofthe top media hubs in the city, whilstTemple Studios next to the train sta-tion has continued the trend.

“These popular centres help createthe buzz which all cities need to takefull advantage of the recovery,” saidPaul. “The confidence generated inour creative hubs is percolating backalong the riverside to mothballed citycentre sites such as the Glassfieldsdevelopment in Temple Way – wh i chhas now been earmarked for threenew buildings including offices, flatsand a café.

“Although many telecommunica-

Property of the Week

Paul MatthewsPartnerBruton Knowles0117 287 2101paul.matthews@brutonknowles.co.uk

Expert eye

In association with

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8 We d n e s d a y, November 5, 2014 9We d n e s d a y, November 5, 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 face of Bristol’s businesscommunity is changing. Ifyou look around the EngineShed – a hub of digital andtech companies from

start-ups to fast growing businesses –yo u ’ll see more hipster beards thant i e s.

That change is reflected in prop-erty needs too. Style is important.These companies are attractingyoung, skilled and motivated workerswho don’t want to sit in a boring oldof fice.

The industries are fast moving too.Companies expand quickly andsometimes vanish just as fast, solong-term leases just don’t work.

And that can be a problem for thecommercial property market, whereinstitutional investors such as pen-sion companies look for safe,long-term returns.

But this thriving technology anddigital sector is growing in import-ance in Bristol. It is becoming theposter child of economy.

Government ministers arequeuing up to the pictured next to afancy piece of kit that symbolises afast-paced and future-proofed eco-nomy. This past week saw BusinessSecretary Vince Cable meeting thecreations of OC Robotics in AbbeyWood. The week before the Presidentof Singapore was at the University ofBristol to see how advances in wear-able technology could be applied tothe healthcare market. The EngineShed itself is a regular stop-off forVIPs, from politicians to royals.

Paul Williams, from commercialproperty agency Bruton Knowles’Bristol office, said the influx of tech-nology firms was good for the city.

“The regeneration of large areas ofpreviously abandoned commercialspace has been key to Bristol’s recentsuccess and is lifting the city up thenational league table in terms of at-tracting new business,” he said.

“Previously redundant and neg-lected locations in the city centre andaround the Temple Quarter are set-ting the trend, attracting increasingnumbers of technology, media andtelecommunications firms and ex-tending the city’s so-called MediaMile out along the A4.”

He points to the £1.35 million re-furbishment project by Cube RealEstate which has transformed the oldHTV studios in Bath Road. Just

tions, media and technology sectordeals tend to be fairly modest in scale,the sheer number of business movesbrings the footfall – not to mentionspend – city centres rely on forg rowth.”

The modest nature of those dealscan pose a problem, particularly forold-style property investors such aspension funds which look for steadylong-term returns.

Matt Cross, head of inward invest-ment agency Invest Bristol and Bath,said: “When developers are governedby institutional lenders then thoseinstitutions create conditions on

funding which don’t suit lower cost,easy-in easy-out terms.”

It takes a different kind of de-veloper, with a different businessmodel. Thankfully there are some,with firms such as Verve behind thePaintworks and TCN behind TempleS t u d i o s.

Matt said Invest Bristol and Bathwas building a picture of demand,finding out what the needs of some fothe companies it is attracting to thecity are and being proactive and hav-ing “mature conversations” with de-ve l o p e r s.

“We have been working on creating

a proposition to take to developers tosay we’ve got four of five companieswith demand – where can you buildbased on evidence of demand we cangive you?”

Ben Shorrock, product develop-ment manager at Invest Bristol andBath, said: “It’s often not about styleof space but having a bit more flex-ibility. If you are working in anim-ation for example, need to go up anddown a lot in size. With traditionaloffice, you sign a five-year lease forspecific space so that doesn’t work.”

He added firms moving to Bristolare often won over by spaces like the

WITH money from overseas continuing toflow into the UK, Bristol is poised for asignificant increase in inward invest-ment. For many years overseas investorshave been concentrating their cash on

trophy investments in London and the South East.But high demand and rocketing prices are obliging

more and more overseas investors to look at theregional cities as well as the capital. Manchester andBirmingham are already seeing increased activity butBristol is also on their radar.

Overseas investors own almost a quarter of in-come-producing commercial property in the UK, withshopping centres, warehouses, hotels and office build-ings a favourite target. China, Russia and more re-cently Brazil have been busy in this area but there hasalso been a marked rise in investment from Germanfunds and also from the Middle East.

Invest Bristol & Bath is helping to focus interest inthe Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire,Bath and North-East Somerset areas and has workedclosely with groups like the West of England ChinaBureau to raise the city’s profile.

High-powered delegations from the major Chinesecities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou have visited Bristolin the past month looking for investment oppor-t u n i t i e s.

Overseas in-vestors snappingup competitivelypriced propertyhas its draw-backs – shar pen-ing demand andincreasing com-petition for UKbuyers – but this is more of an issue in London than itis in the regions.

So what is it that makes the Bristol and Bath areasuch a target for overseas investment?

As well as being a key regional transport andcommunications hub, the concentration of aerospaceand other high-tech industries attracts and supports ahighly skilled workforce ably supported by no fewerthan four major universities.

UWE Bristol alone is investing £220 million ininfrastructure including a dedicated business schoolbuilding. The additional student accommodation re-quired to support a steeply increasing student pop-ulation is also proving highly attractive for overseasi nve s t o r s.

A report by Centre for Cities and McKinsey &Company named Bristol and Bath’s high tech sector asthe only fast-growing, globally-significant cluster of itskind in the UK, with the South West’s aerospace sectorhighlighted in this category too.

The profusion of skills exhibited in the key growthareas such as aerospace, the nuclear industry; andSTEM (science, technology, engineering and math-ematics) is further helping to focus overseas intereston what Bristol and Bath has got to offer.

Overseas investors setto look towards Bristol

The growth of Bristol’stechnology and creativesectors is leading to changingdemands from the propertymarket. But can it adapt?Gavin Thompson reports

Contemporary workspace nowcomplete - and already 80% let

Case study

Property matters

BOOMING CREATIVE SCENE’S BUZZY H U B S L E A D I N G T H E WAY

Engine Shed, only to find it’s full-up.But the market is responding.

There are plans being drawn up for asecond Engine Shed within theTemple Quarter Enterprise Zone.

Another of the city’s hubs for techfirms is the Bristol and Bath SciencePark. The Emerson’s Green includeshot desk facilities for start-ups plus agrow on centre for companies thatneed more space. Crucially it is de-signed to meet the needs of researchand development-led businesses,where lab space can be more im-portant than desks.

Chief executive Bonnie Dean said:

“There is strong demand for com-mercial property space from tech-nology businesses in Bristol but notenough appropriate supply, so it vitalthat this need is addressed.

“Businesses in this sector are ableto develop and scale up more easilythan previously as barriers to entryhave been reduced. It is, for example,much easier to make prototypes nowso technology is advancing quickly.

“In addition, our region has astrong engineering skills base, de-veloped off the back of a rich heritagein aerospace and advanced engin-eering, which means that it is an

attractive location for both big busi-ness and innovative start-ups to grow.It is important that we make space tocater for this demand and at Bristol &Bath Science Park we are working upplans for a new building to help ac-commodate this.”

Such expansions need to happensoon or businesses as such as Just Eatwhich have been lured to the citybecause of the talent pool and qualityof life (and cheaper-than-Londonproperty prices) won’t wait.

The property market needs to learnfrom the technology sector and pickup the pace.

Ruari Laidlaw

“ Whilst it’s a highlycreative and relaxedenvironment to work in,t h e re ’s an air ofprofessionalism thatresonates throughout

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

To Let - High Quality Offices Near Parkway Station, Bristol

• From980-1,980sqft(91-183.9 sqm)

• 8parkingspaces

• EasyaccesstoM4/M5/M32motorways

• Flexibletermsavailable

Contact: paul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk BK code:2639

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3

6 We d n e s d a y, October 1, 2014 7We d n e s d a y, October 1, 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

enquiries@brutonknowles.co.ukbrutonknowles.co.uk

0117 287 2101 Achieve morefrom your property

B015-1411 Bruton Knowles Bristol Post Commercial Advert 270x40mm AW 2.pdf 1 06/05/2014 17:24

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

To Let - High Quality Offices Near Parkway Station, Bristol

• From 980-1,980 sq ft (91-183.9 sq m)

• 8 parking spaces

• Easy access to M4/M5/M32 motorways

• Flexible terms available

Contact: paul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk BK code:2639

enquiries@brutonknowles.co.ukbrutonknowles.co.uk

0117 287 2101 Achieve morefrom your property

B015-1411 Bruton Knowles Bristol Post Commercial Advert 270x40mm AW 2.pdf 1 06/05/2014 17:24

The recovery in theBristol property marketis gathering pace butthat speed could lead toa bottleneck in theplanning process. GavinThompson re p o r t s

TWO years ago there was littlebuilding work going on inBristol. That has changedand quickly! In the residen-tial sector we have Finzel’s

Reach at the former Courage Brew-ery revived under new developerCubex, Wapping Wharf near theM shed rising from the ground andthe General Hospital conversion intoflats is well under way.

On the office side Salmon Har-ve s t e r ’s Two Glass Wharf standsproud in its Bristol blue colourswhile Skanska’s 66 Queen Square de-velopment is taking shape, with thesteel frame that will sit behind thecurving facade now visible.

Then there’s all the bed spacesbeing created to accommodate thethousands more coming to study in

IMAGINE having to find space for the equi-valent of a new town ten times bigger thanKeynsham, somewhere in the vicinity ofBristol and Bath. Well that’s the prospect thetwo cities are facing as they seek to provide

accommodation to cope with a continuing surgein student numbers.

With Bristol, UWE, Bath and Bath Spa cam-puses predicted to grow significantly over thenext few years demand for new student accom-modation has absorbed many available sites – notjust in the residential market but also around thea re a ’s commercial, office and industrial loca-t i o n s.

With four top universities within a 20-mileradius, the impact on Bristol and Bath will bemore pronounced than in many comparable re-gional cities.

Bruton Knowles has been closely monitoringthe conversion trend since it gained tractionduring the downturn. Back then, owners, buildersand developers were keen to keep busy and setabout transforming secondary office and elderlycommercial stock into residential – e s p e c i a l lystudent – accommodation. But what wassomething of a stopgap measure has been boostedby the faster than expected recovery and is nowf u n d a m e n t a l lytransforming theentire commercials e c t o r.

And whereasmost people wel-comed the trans-formation of somany abandoned offices or unused industrialpremises, the continuing demand for even morestudent accommodation raises the question ofwhere such development will take place – es-pecially once the supply of secondary sites isexhausted.

In Bristol, a number of well known office build-ings have already been converted or earmarkedfor student accommodation, not to mention thecity’s former ice rink, a police station and anumber of old people’s apartments.

Now developers are looking at ‘hands on’ in-dustrial and commercial sites in Bristol and Bath– several of which have already been taken out ofthe sector to create additional space for studenta c c o m m o d at i o n .

Hands on businesses such as garages, tyre firmsand repair shops have traditionally been locatedin secondary premises and many are beginning torun out of options if they need to move, aftergrowing out of their old premises for instance.

The level of demand we are seeing is certainlyskewing development patterns and impacting onthe city centre scene, transforming traditionalcommercial property function and usage.

According to recent forecasts some 50,000 stu-dents are expected to be looking for accommod-ation in Bristol over the next few years with afurther 20,000 in Bath – the equivalent of buildinga new town ten times bigger than Keynsham.

We need to accommodate thesurging student population

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

Mayor maps out thefuture at conference

Property matters

STRETCHED P L A N N E R S S T R U G G L E TO KEEP PACE W I T H RECOVERY Paul WilliamsHead of AgencyBruton Knowlespaul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk0117 287 2101

Expert eye

� Skanska’s 66 Queen Square development is taking shape with the steelframe now in place

Jo Davis, senior planningdirector at property

agency GVA in Bristol

“They cut the planningteams very hard and theability to build back thatresource toaccommodate growthwill be challenging

the city each year at our universities(see Expert Eye column, right).

And that’s just Bristol itself. Thenorthern and eastern fringes arebuzzing with largely house-buildingled activity, such as the Lyde Greendevelopment in Emersons Greenand several sites around Keyn-sham.

The upsurge is welcomed acrossindustry, but the speed of the re-covery has caught many off guard,not least the local authorities.

Planning departments have notbeen exempt from years of austerityand deep cuts in local authoritybudgets from Whitehall.

For the last five years, it probablyd i d n’t matter because there was so

little development activity.Jo Davis, right, senior planning

director at property agency GVA,said last year in Bristol 878 homeswere built, compared with 2,574 in2008/9.

“In the last three years, the onlycranes we had seen in sky were atSouthmead Hospital,” she said,speaking at a recent property sem-inar the firm hosted at the M shed.

She praised Bristol, SouthGloucestershire and Bath andNorth-East Somerset councils forusing the downturn in activity todevelop their core strategies for fu-ture development sites.

“We now have some planningpolicy certainty across the Bristola re a , ” said Jo. “The property in-dustry needs to use that toensure we speed up theplaning process.

“And the planning au-thorities need to beready to take on theextra activity that istaking place.

“That is more difficult.They cut the planningteams very hard and the abil-ity to build back that resource toaccommodate growth will be chal-lenging.”

The problem is that all those newdevelopments need input from the

relevant council all along theway, including public con-

sultation, reports andeventual planning per-mission. Any big devel-opment will involvemultiple applications.

That means theslimmed down, auster-

ity-sized planning teamsare becoming a bottleneck

that could be holding up eco-nomic growth in and around Bris-

tol.Gavin Bridge, far right, director of

Cubex which is behind the Finzel’sReach development in Bristol citycentre and has also been refurbish-ing Bridgewater House in VictoriaStreet to bring it up to grade Astandard, has seen the problem firsthand.

He understands the challenges fa-cing the city council, but would liketo see action taken.

“We have five planning applica-tions being considered by BristolCity Council at the moment and areshortly to submit a further two,”said Gavin. “Collectively these rep-resent over £100 million of devel-opment, more than 100 homes, a new

bridge and the potential to createover 800 new jobs.

“We enjoy an excellentworking relationshipwith planners but haveseen how the cutbacksat council to reduceplanning officernumbers has put tre-mendous pressureon the remaining of-f i c e r s.

“This does causedelays in the planningprocess whether before anapplication is registered or duringthe consideration period. We would

welcome any measures that wouldprovide additional resource and sup-

port to those officers.”The obvious impact is onnew developments but any

bottleneck will have an ef-fect further down thechain. If, for example, anew office site is delayed,then firms interested inmoving in might have to

wait, meaning there oldpremises is tied up that bit

longer. And the propertymerry-go-round stops.

It’s an issue Bristol City Council iswell aware of and it is looking to hire

more people. Zoe Willcox, servicedirector for planning and sustain-ability, said: “The council’s devel-opment management section ismanaged to ensure it has resilienceto flex and respond to the demands ofthe local property market.

“The global financial crisis of 2008resulted in a significant drop off inthe amount of planning applications.Happily however, Bristol has been atthe forefront of a national economicrevival which has led to a significantincrease in development activity inthe city and we are currently in theprocess of recruiting in order tomeet this renewed demand. We reg-

ularly liaise with property organ-isations such as the Planning UserGroup and Bristol Property AgentsAssociation to ensure that they arekept up-to-date with any develop-ments to our service. In this way wefeel confident that we will maintaina good working relationship with thecommercial property sector at thisincreasingly busy time.”

Recruiting skilled people in thecurrent growing market is not al-ways so easy however, as manyprivate sector companies havefound, so developers, agents andother interested parties will bewatching closely.

� BRISTOL mayor George Ferguson will bespeaking at a major property conference laterthis month.

The MIPIM commercial property event is amainstay of the industry calendar and the Bristolregion has in the past sent high profiledelegations in a bid to woo investors to there g i o n .

The event takes place in Cannes but this year aUK version of the event is being staged for thefirst time at London’s Olympia.

Bristol’s elected mayor is taking part in asession called My Future City in 2050, staged bythe Future Cities Catapult,looking at how placessuch as Bristol canbecome smarter andmore successful.

But overall,Bristol’s industry istaking more of await-and-seeapproach to theevent.

David Mace,regional senior directorat GVA, which is attendingthe event but not exhibiting, said: “As a companyGVA has been attending MIPIM in Cannes forsome time, and for the last couple of years we’veworked very closely with Bristol, Bath, SouthGloucestershire and North Somerset on theirpresence at this hugely influential event – we’relooking forward to being there again in 2015.

“It’s therefore a talking point for the propertyindustry that the UK is to have its own event inLondon, and we’re hugely encouraged thatmayor Ferguson will be representing Bristol in aCities of the Future debate, clearly strengtheningBristol’s place as a core city.

“We ’ll be a keen and supportive observer of theLondon event this year both from the perspectiveof Bristol’s participation and GVA’s own.”

in association with

MIPIM commercial property

� Bridgewater House in Bristol’s Victoria Street which has been refurbished by Cubex, the firm behind the Finzel’s Reach development in Bristol city centre

� CREATIVE companies like tohuddle together for inspiration. It’sone of the appeals of places suchas Bath Road Studios.

The final phase of theredevelopment of the former HTVstudios into office what theowners describe as “n e w,contemporary workspace” spacehas been complete, and it isalready 80 per cent let.

The project, commissioned bythe building’s owners Cube RealEstate, highlights a continueddemand for small-scale,contemporary space in Bristol, inline with a rise in the number ofstart-ups and SMEs in the city.

Almost 80 per cent of thebuilding has now been let to avariety of firms, ranging from smallstart-up companies to bigmultinationals such as PUMA.

The fact that the site includes anon-site Friska café and a Pilatesstudio gives you an insight into thetarget market.

Ruari Laidlaw of Cube RealEstate said: “We are really pleasedto have completed thismuch-needed refurbishmentproject, which will now allow us toturn our attention to improvingsustainability and green initiativeswithin the building.

“It also gives us an opportunityto work with existing tenants tofurther improve our offer so it iseven more attractive to futureoccupiers.”

Jon Mowat, managing directorof tenant Hurricane Media said:“Being in a building with suchgood facilities, and a broad range

of other creative SMEs, hasbenefited Hurricane enormouslysince we arrived here in February2012.

“Whilst it’s a highly creative andrelaxed environment to work in,t h e re ’s an air of professionalismthat resonates throughout thebuilding which is perfect for ourbrand’s image and our ability tocollaborate with otherbusiness-focussed creative

companies.”The building is also home to The

Set, an workspace that operatesas a membership club wherelike-minded businesses cannetwork and share skills andideas. Its collaborative baseremoves the isolation of workingfrom home, while offeringcontemporary facilities.

On the first Wednesday of eachmonth, The Set plays host to aninformal networking night wherelike-minded creatives share aglass or two of something, a fewnibbles and some of thatcollective inspiration.

� Mainp i c t u re ,the newlyre f u r b i s h e dBath RoadStudiosand,above, theBristol andBathSciencePark

across the road, Paintworks is one ofthe top media hubs in the city, whilstTemple Studios next to the train sta-tion has continued the trend.

“These popular centres help createthe buzz which all cities need to takefull advantage of the recovery,” saidPaul. “The confidence generated inour creative hubs is percolating backalong the riverside to mothballed citycentre sites such as the Glassfieldsdevelopment in Temple Way – wh i chhas now been earmarked for threenew buildings including offices, flatsand a café.

“Although many telecommunica-

Property of the Week

Paul MatthewsPartnerBruton Knowles0117 287 2101paul.matthews@brutonknowles.co.uk

Expert eye

In association within association with Bruton Knowles

� Proposals, above, for the former Filton Airfield siteinclude more than 2,600 homes, two schools, ahotel, care home and health centre as well asemployment land to cater for 7,000 jobs.� The former Rolls-Royce East Works, close to theairfield is likely to be available for development,perhaps with room for more employment land. It’s asignificant plot, half the size of the airfield.� The owners of The Mall shopping centre in CribbsC a u s e w a y, top left, recently announced expansionplans, which could see the complex increase in sizeby 50 per cent with a new anchor store, hotel and3,000 new jobs.� Around 2,000 homes are planned for the land,left, between Cribbs and Filton, dubbed CharltonHayes.� Emerson’s Green boasts potential developmentland with 22 hectares around the Bristol and BathScience Park and another 15 in the Emerson’sGreen East site.

So, what’s going on?

Paul WilliamsHead of AgencyBruton Knowlespaul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk0117 287 2101

Expert eye

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8 We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 9We d n e s d a y, December 3, 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

BR I S T O L’S northern fringehas been the city’s engineroom in recent years. Thepresence of engineering gi-ants such as Airbus,

Rolls-Royce, GKN and BAE, as well asthose further down the supply chainhave brought well-paid engineeringj o b s.

Access to London via the M4 orBristol Parkway has made the areaattractive for offices too, with AztecWest, Almondsbury and BradleyStoke housing numerous companiesof all sizes.

But since the recession, there hasbeen little new activity. That’s aboutto change. Thousands of new homesare being built or planned in Emer-s o n’s Green, Cribbs Causeway andthe former Filton Air-field site.

And withthem shouldcome newe m p l oy -

northern fringe were “very exciting”and the Filton plans and Mall ex-pansion represented a multi-millionpound investment in the area.

“The next five years will see some

dramatic changes on the North Bris-tol skyline,” he said.

David Mace, regional senior dir-ector at another property agencyGVA, inset, agreed that with no new

developments since 2008, an areahome to some of region’s major em-ployers was more than ready.

But he warned that administrativeof political squabbles over bound-aries must be set aside,with much of thisarea falling intoSouthGloucester-shire Councilnot Bristol.

“As far asoccupiersand the prop-erty world areconcer ned,North Bristol isvery much seen as anintrinsic and dynamic part of theGreater Bristol area,” he said. “Wes h o u l d n’t let administrative bound-aries stand in the way of progressivedevelopment and inward investment.Indeed we need to think strategicallyas a city region and capitalise on allits successes if we are to be takenseriously in the UK and beyond.”

An example of how businesses canthrive either side of the boundary isThe Mall.

Richard Moore of CBRE Bristol,below right, said: “There was someconcern that Cribbs Causeway wouldstruggle following the arrival ofCabot Circus but that has proved notto be the case.

“The area has long benefited fromgood transport links and easy accessin comparison to the centre of Bris-tol, meaning it has been able to drawon a wide geographical market.

“With further expansion planned,The Mall looks set tocement its posi-tion as both athriving centrefor economicactivity, leis-ure, com-merce andindustry andone of the mostimportant shop-ping destinationsin the South West.”

Paul Matthews of Bruton Knowlesadded a note of caution. “There is nodoubt that with so many plans in thepipeline the Northern fringe of Bris-tol will look completely different 20years from now,” he said. “But it isvital that the mix of new commercialbuildings is right if they are toprovide workplaces for local people.

“We will need more basic space forgrowing small and medium-sizedbusinesses at a rent they can afford.Perhaps that is the role Filton shouldfulfil providing flexible officecentres, such as those found at theHive in Weston-super-Mare, andsmall (2,500 – 5,000 sq ft) industrial

FOR many growing and start-upbusinesses, signing the firstlease on a property is somethingto be celebrated. But it is alsosomething small businesses

should do carefully, and only after takingappropriate independent advice.

Make sure that you don’t sign a leasefor longer than you want to, as it is abinding legal agreement. True, if yourrequirements change you may be able tosub-let the property or assign the lease,but that can be a costly and time con-suming process, with no guarantee of asuccessful outcome.

Signing a Full Repairing and Insuringlease means that you are liable for thecost of any repairs to the property fromthat date, regardless of what condition itwas in when you moved in. So checkwhat your responsibilities are and howmuch it might cost to maintain the prop-erty (inside and out), over the term of thel e a s e.

Disputes can arise over servicecharges. These should be set out in thelease but often people concentrate on theheadline rent to be paid, and only laterrealise that the service charge is moresignificant than they thought. Fortu-nately for tenants, regulations have beentightened up in recent years, and land-lords are no longer permitted to treat aservice charge as rent going by a dif-ferent name, but they have to account forthe expenditure properly, and provideaudited accounts at year end.

The service charge can be almost asmuch as the rent in some instances, andone way to protect against any unfore-seen major expenditure items is to askfor a cap on the level of service chargep ayabl e.

Break clauses can be a good insurancepolicy enabling a tenant to exit from alease if business levels do not live up toexpectations or the business rapidly ex-pands and needs to move somewherebig g er.

They are also fraught with difficulty,and the detailed wording is critical toensuring that the break can be correctlyoperated. Another thing to check iswhen and how the rent will be reviewed.It is common to find that a lease containswhat are called “upward only” rent re-views, which mean that the rent cannever fall below the original level, re-gardless of prevailing market condi-tions. Agreeing upward or downwardreviews at the outset can pay dividendsfurther down the line.

Tenants often believe they have noneed of specialist advice as their so-licitor will provide all the advice that isrequired. However this can be a falseeconomy as a solicitor may not be able tocomment on property issues. Even if youget on with your landlord before thelease is signed, always remember thatcircumstances can change, and whenthey do the only thing which defines theposition between the parties is the pre-cise wording of the lease.

The lease you should do!

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

Big changes are coming forthe northern fringe ofBristol. Gavin Thompsonreports on the opportunities

ment development too.Simon Price, head of agency at

Alder King, said while attention thisyear had very much been focused onBristol city centre, particularly thesuccess of the two new speculativeoffice schemes at 2 Glass Wharf and66 Queen Square, North Bristol hadbeen “quietly creating its own suc-cess story”.

“North Bristol office take-up hasbeen very strong this year and is ontrack to exceed 400,000 sq ft, almostdouble 2013’s total,” he said.

“With no new development cur-rently under way, North Bristol hasless than 10,000 sq ft of immediatelyavailable grade A space, its lowestlevel for at least 10 years.

“The opportunities are clearlythere for speculative office develop-

� AN award-winning Bristol cardealership has being grantedplanning permission for a thirdoutlet in the city, creating 25 newjobs.

Wessex Garages, which alreadyhas two dealerships in Bristol, willopen a third, purpose-built, Nissanshowroom in October next year atCribbs Causeway.

Managing director Keith Brocksaid: “We are over the moon thatour planning permission has finallybeen approved and we can nowreally get the ball rolling on thenew project.

“It’s a massive investment for usas the whole project will cost inthe region of £5 million.

“Wessex Garages is firmlyrooted in Bristol’s business

community and this next stage inour development will enable us tohave a much greater impact on thelocal economy with the creation ofnew jobs and money being putback into the community.

“The new Nissan dealership willbe on Hayes Way at CribbsCauseway, an area that isdeveloping and it looks set to bean excellent retail location for us.”

The dealership will span justover 18,000 square feet andcreate at least 25 new jobs inaddition to the company’s existingNissan business, in PennywellRoad.

Keith said the fact the new site

was not covered by the Bristolre s i d e n t s ’ parking zones was a“great bonus”.

He added: “The entrance to thenew site will be the gateway to awhole new development of around2,000 new homes with localamenities on what we know as theold Filton runway.”

Dave Murfitt, director of networkdevelopment and quality forNissan GB, said: “Building ashowcase dealership in CribbsCauseway will ensure that we willprovide a great facility in the ideallocation to fully meet the needs ofcurrent and future Nissancustomers.”

The dealership will be a centrefor electric vehicles and will alsobe a charging point.

Dealership finds new place to parkCase study

Property Matters

‘FRINGE’ BENEFITS ARE BECOMING CLEARER FOR ALL TO SEE

and warehouse units, which are mostlikely to provide workplaces for localp e o p l e.

“The Bristol and Bath Science Parkin Emerson’s Green is excellent forembryonic businesses, but once busi-nesses are established they needroom to grow.

“Of course developers look for thebest value they can get out of thecommercial elements of theirschemes, so we need the local au-thorities to ensure that the mix isright and that everybody isn’t chas-ing the same occupiers.”

He added there were sectors werethe shortage was more acute.

“A real issue will be the provision ofworkshops, warehousing and distri-bu t i o n , ” said Paul. “If we really wanta society that doesn’t rely on the car

we have to allow these types ofpremises to be built nearer to homesand not push them out of town or intolittle industrial ghettos.

“The Victorians built communitiesaround factories, but we have nowhad 100 years where factories werebuilt in one part of the city and homesin another. If we are serious aboutbeing greener then ideas have tochange and people will need to live,once again, within walking and cyc-ling distance of their workplace andthat can’t just be smart offices.”

However it plays out, the combin-ation of motorway links, presence ofother big employers to cluster aroundand availability of development landmean the northern fringe of Bristolwill be a hub of activity for the nextfive to 10 years.

Simon Price, of Alder King

“Theopportunitiesare clearlythere for speculativeoffice development onthe north fringe The nextfive years will see somedramatic changes on theNorth Bristol skyline

ment on the north fringe and de-velopers should be encouraged by themarket reaction to 2 Glass Wharf and66 Queen Square.”

Simon said the prospects for the

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

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� Keith Brock and Dave Murfitt at the new site for Wessex Garages

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THE face of Bristol’s businesscommunity is changing. Ifyou look around the EngineShed – a hub of digital andtech companies from

start-ups to fast growing businesses –yo u ’ll see more hipster beards thant i e s.

That change is reflected in prop-erty needs too. Style is important.These companies are attractingyoung, skilled and motivated workerswho don’t want to sit in a boring oldof fice.

The industries are fast moving too.Companies expand quickly andsometimes vanish just as fast, solong-term leases just don’t work.

And that can be a problem for thecommercial property market, whereinstitutional investors such as pen-sion companies look for safe,long-term returns.

But this thriving technology anddigital sector is growing in import-ance in Bristol. It is becoming theposter child of economy.

Government ministers arequeuing up to the pictured next to afancy piece of kit that symbolises afast-paced and future-proofed eco-nomy. This past week saw BusinessSecretary Vince Cable meeting thecreations of OC Robotics in AbbeyWood. The week before the Presidentof Singapore was at the University ofBristol to see how advances in wear-able technology could be applied tothe healthcare market. The EngineShed itself is a regular stop-off forVIPs, from politicians to royals.

Paul Williams, from commercialproperty agency Bruton Knowles’Bristol office, said the influx of tech-nology firms was good for the city.

“The regeneration of large areas ofpreviously abandoned commercialspace has been key to Bristol’s recentsuccess and is lifting the city up thenational league table in terms of at-tracting new business,” he said.

“Previously redundant and neg-lected locations in the city centre andaround the Temple Quarter are set-ting the trend, attracting increasingnumbers of technology, media andtelecommunications firms and ex-tending the city’s so-called MediaMile out along the A4.”

He points to the £1.35 million re-furbishment project by Cube RealEstate which has transformed the oldHTV studios in Bath Road. Just

tions, media and technology sectordeals tend to be fairly modest in scale,the sheer number of business movesbrings the footfall – not to mentionspend – city centres rely on forg rowth.”

The modest nature of those dealscan pose a problem, particularly forold-style property investors such aspension funds which look for steadylong-term returns.

Matt Cross, head of inward invest-ment agency Invest Bristol and Bath,said: “When developers are governedby institutional lenders then thoseinstitutions create conditions on

funding which don’t suit lower cost,easy-in easy-out terms.”

It takes a different kind of de-veloper, with a different businessmodel. Thankfully there are some,with firms such as Verve behind thePaintworks and TCN behind TempleS t u d i o s.

Matt said Invest Bristol and Bathwas building a picture of demand,finding out what the needs of some fothe companies it is attracting to thecity are and being proactive and hav-ing “mature conversations” with de-ve l o p e r s.

“We have been working on creating

a proposition to take to developers tosay we’ve got four of five companieswith demand – where can you buildbased on evidence of demand we cangive you?”

Ben Shorrock, product develop-ment manager at Invest Bristol andBath, said: “It’s often not about styleof space but having a bit more flex-ibility. If you are working in anim-ation for example, need to go up anddown a lot in size. With traditionaloffice, you sign a five-year lease forspecific space so that doesn’t work.”

He added firms moving to Bristolare often won over by spaces like the

WITH money from overseas continuing toflow into the UK, Bristol is poised for asignificant increase in inward invest-ment. For many years overseas investorshave been concentrating their cash on

trophy investments in London and the South East.But high demand and rocketing prices are obliging

more and more overseas investors to look at theregional cities as well as the capital. Manchester andBirmingham are already seeing increased activity butBristol is also on their radar.

Overseas investors own almost a quarter of in-come-producing commercial property in the UK, withshopping centres, warehouses, hotels and office build-ings a favourite target. China, Russia and more re-cently Brazil have been busy in this area but there hasalso been a marked rise in investment from Germanfunds and also from the Middle East.

Invest Bristol & Bath is helping to focus interest inthe Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire,Bath and North-East Somerset areas and has workedclosely with groups like the West of England ChinaBureau to raise the city’s profile.

High-powered delegations from the major Chinesecities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou have visited Bristolin the past month looking for investment oppor-t u n i t i e s.

Overseas in-vestors snappingup competitivelypriced propertyhas its draw-backs – shar pen-ing demand andincreasing com-petition for UKbuyers – but this is more of an issue in London than itis in the regions.

So what is it that makes the Bristol and Bath areasuch a target for overseas investment?

As well as being a key regional transport andcommunications hub, the concentration of aerospaceand other high-tech industries attracts and supports ahighly skilled workforce ably supported by no fewerthan four major universities.

UWE Bristol alone is investing £220 million ininfrastructure including a dedicated business schoolbuilding. The additional student accommodation re-quired to support a steeply increasing student pop-ulation is also proving highly attractive for overseasi nve s t o r s.

A report by Centre for Cities and McKinsey &Company named Bristol and Bath’s high tech sector asthe only fast-growing, globally-significant cluster of itskind in the UK, with the South West’s aerospace sectorhighlighted in this category too.

The profusion of skills exhibited in the key growthareas such as aerospace, the nuclear industry; andSTEM (science, technology, engineering and math-ematics) is further helping to focus overseas intereston what Bristol and Bath has got to offer.

Overseas investors setto look towards Bristol

The growth of Bristol’stechnology and creativesectors is leading to changingdemands from the propertymarket. But can it adapt?Gavin Thompson reports

Contemporary workspace nowcomplete - and already 80% let

Case study

Property matters

BOOMING CREATIVE SCENE’S BUZZY H U B S L E A D I N G T H E WAY

Engine Shed, only to find it’s full-up.But the market is responding.

There are plans being drawn up for asecond Engine Shed within theTemple Quarter Enterprise Zone.

Another of the city’s hubs for techfirms is the Bristol and Bath SciencePark. The Emerson’s Green includeshot desk facilities for start-ups plus agrow on centre for companies thatneed more space. Crucially it is de-signed to meet the needs of researchand development-led businesses,where lab space can be more im-portant than desks.

Chief executive Bonnie Dean said:

“There is strong demand for com-mercial property space from tech-nology businesses in Bristol but notenough appropriate supply, so it vitalthat this need is addressed.

“Businesses in this sector are ableto develop and scale up more easilythan previously as barriers to entryhave been reduced. It is, for example,much easier to make prototypes nowso technology is advancing quickly.

“In addition, our region has astrong engineering skills base, de-veloped off the back of a rich heritagein aerospace and advanced engin-eering, which means that it is an

attractive location for both big busi-ness and innovative start-ups to grow.It is important that we make space tocater for this demand and at Bristol &Bath Science Park we are working upplans for a new building to help ac-commodate this.”

Such expansions need to happensoon or businesses as such as Just Eatwhich have been lured to the citybecause of the talent pool and qualityof life (and cheaper-than-Londonproperty prices) won’t wait.

The property market needs to learnfrom the technology sector and pickup the pace.

Ruari Laidlaw

“ Whilst it’s a highlycreative and relaxedenvironment to work in,t h e re ’s an air ofprofessionalism thatresonates throughout

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The recovery in theBristol property marketis gathering pace butthat speed could lead toa bottleneck in theplanning process. GavinThompson re p o r t s

TWO years ago there was littlebuilding work going on inBristol. That has changedand quickly! In the residen-tial sector we have Finzel’s

Reach at the former Courage Brew-ery revived under new developerCubex, Wapping Wharf near theM shed rising from the ground andthe General Hospital conversion intoflats is well under way.

On the office side Salmon Har-ve s t e r ’s Two Glass Wharf standsproud in its Bristol blue colourswhile Skanska’s 66 Queen Square de-velopment is taking shape, with thesteel frame that will sit behind thecurving facade now visible.

Then there’s all the bed spacesbeing created to accommodate thethousands more coming to study in

IMAGINE having to find space for the equi-valent of a new town ten times bigger thanKeynsham, somewhere in the vicinity ofBristol and Bath. Well that’s the prospect thetwo cities are facing as they seek to provide

accommodation to cope with a continuing surgein student numbers.

With Bristol, UWE, Bath and Bath Spa cam-puses predicted to grow significantly over thenext few years demand for new student accom-modation has absorbed many available sites – notjust in the residential market but also around thea re a ’s commercial, office and industrial loca-t i o n s.

With four top universities within a 20-mileradius, the impact on Bristol and Bath will bemore pronounced than in many comparable re-gional cities.

Bruton Knowles has been closely monitoringthe conversion trend since it gained tractionduring the downturn. Back then, owners, buildersand developers were keen to keep busy and setabout transforming secondary office and elderlycommercial stock into residential – e s p e c i a l lystudent – accommodation. But what wassomething of a stopgap measure has been boostedby the faster than expected recovery and is nowf u n d a m e n t a l lytransforming theentire commercials e c t o r.

And whereasmost people wel-comed the trans-formation of somany abandoned offices or unused industrialpremises, the continuing demand for even morestudent accommodation raises the question ofwhere such development will take place – es-pecially once the supply of secondary sites isexhausted.

In Bristol, a number of well known office build-ings have already been converted or earmarkedfor student accommodation, not to mention thecity’s former ice rink, a police station and anumber of old people’s apartments.

Now developers are looking at ‘hands on’ in-dustrial and commercial sites in Bristol and Bath– several of which have already been taken out ofthe sector to create additional space for studenta c c o m m o d at i o n .

Hands on businesses such as garages, tyre firmsand repair shops have traditionally been locatedin secondary premises and many are beginning torun out of options if they need to move, aftergrowing out of their old premises for instance.

The level of demand we are seeing is certainlyskewing development patterns and impacting onthe city centre scene, transforming traditionalcommercial property function and usage.

According to recent forecasts some 50,000 stu-dents are expected to be looking for accommod-ation in Bristol over the next few years with afurther 20,000 in Bath – the equivalent of buildinga new town ten times bigger than Keynsham.

We need to accommodate thesurging student population

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

Mayor maps out thefuture at conference

Property matters

STRETCHED P L A N N E R S S T R U G G L E TO KEEP PACE W I T H RECOVERY Paul WilliamsHead of AgencyBruton Knowlespaul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk0117 287 2101

Expert eye

� Skanska’s 66 Queen Square development is taking shape with the steelframe now in place

Jo Davis, senior planningdirector at property

agency GVA in Bristol

“They cut the planningteams very hard and theability to build back thatresource toaccommodate growthwill be challenging

the city each year at our universities(see Expert Eye column, right).

And that’s just Bristol itself. Thenorthern and eastern fringes arebuzzing with largely house-buildingled activity, such as the Lyde Greendevelopment in Emersons Greenand several sites around Keyn-sham.

The upsurge is welcomed acrossindustry, but the speed of the re-covery has caught many off guard,not least the local authorities.

Planning departments have notbeen exempt from years of austerityand deep cuts in local authoritybudgets from Whitehall.

For the last five years, it probablyd i d n’t matter because there was so

little development activity.Jo Davis, right, senior planning

director at property agency GVA,said last year in Bristol 878 homeswere built, compared with 2,574 in2008/9.

“In the last three years, the onlycranes we had seen in sky were atSouthmead Hospital,” she said,speaking at a recent property sem-inar the firm hosted at the M shed.

She praised Bristol, SouthGloucestershire and Bath andNorth-East Somerset councils forusing the downturn in activity todevelop their core strategies for fu-ture development sites.

“We now have some planningpolicy certainty across the Bristola re a , ” said Jo. “The property in-dustry needs to use that toensure we speed up theplaning process.

“And the planning au-thorities need to beready to take on theextra activity that istaking place.

“That is more difficult.They cut the planningteams very hard and the abil-ity to build back that resource toaccommodate growth will be chal-lenging.”

The problem is that all those newdevelopments need input from the

relevant council all along theway, including public con-

sultation, reports andeventual planning per-mission. Any big devel-opment will involvemultiple applications.

That means theslimmed down, auster-

ity-sized planning teamsare becoming a bottleneck

that could be holding up eco-nomic growth in and around Bris-

tol.Gavin Bridge, far right, director of

Cubex which is behind the Finzel’sReach development in Bristol citycentre and has also been refurbish-ing Bridgewater House in VictoriaStreet to bring it up to grade Astandard, has seen the problem firsthand.

He understands the challenges fa-cing the city council, but would liketo see action taken.

“We have five planning applica-tions being considered by BristolCity Council at the moment and areshortly to submit a further two,”said Gavin. “Collectively these rep-resent over £100 million of devel-opment, more than 100 homes, a new

bridge and the potential to createover 800 new jobs.

“We enjoy an excellentworking relationshipwith planners but haveseen how the cutbacksat council to reduceplanning officernumbers has put tre-mendous pressureon the remaining of-f i c e r s.

“This does causedelays in the planningprocess whether before anapplication is registered or duringthe consideration period. We would

welcome any measures that wouldprovide additional resource and sup-

port to those officers.”The obvious impact is onnew developments but any

bottleneck will have an ef-fect further down thechain. If, for example, anew office site is delayed,then firms interested inmoving in might have to

wait, meaning there oldpremises is tied up that bit

longer. And the propertymerry-go-round stops.

It’s an issue Bristol City Council iswell aware of and it is looking to hire

more people. Zoe Willcox, servicedirector for planning and sustain-ability, said: “The council’s devel-opment management section ismanaged to ensure it has resilienceto flex and respond to the demands ofthe local property market.

“The global financial crisis of 2008resulted in a significant drop off inthe amount of planning applications.Happily however, Bristol has been atthe forefront of a national economicrevival which has led to a significantincrease in development activity inthe city and we are currently in theprocess of recruiting in order tomeet this renewed demand. We reg-

ularly liaise with property organ-isations such as the Planning UserGroup and Bristol Property AgentsAssociation to ensure that they arekept up-to-date with any develop-ments to our service. In this way wefeel confident that we will maintaina good working relationship with thecommercial property sector at thisincreasingly busy time.”

Recruiting skilled people in thecurrent growing market is not al-ways so easy however, as manyprivate sector companies havefound, so developers, agents andother interested parties will bewatching closely.

� BRISTOL mayor George Ferguson will bespeaking at a major property conference laterthis month.

The MIPIM commercial property event is amainstay of the industry calendar and the Bristolregion has in the past sent high profiledelegations in a bid to woo investors to there g i o n .

The event takes place in Cannes but this year aUK version of the event is being staged for thefirst time at London’s Olympia.

Bristol’s elected mayor is taking part in asession called My Future City in 2050, staged bythe Future Cities Catapult,looking at how placessuch as Bristol canbecome smarter andmore successful.

But overall,Bristol’s industry istaking more of await-and-seeapproach to theevent.

David Mace,regional senior directorat GVA, which is attendingthe event but not exhibiting, said: “As a companyGVA has been attending MIPIM in Cannes forsome time, and for the last couple of years we’veworked very closely with Bristol, Bath, SouthGloucestershire and North Somerset on theirpresence at this hugely influential event – we’relooking forward to being there again in 2015.

“It’s therefore a talking point for the propertyindustry that the UK is to have its own event inLondon, and we’re hugely encouraged thatmayor Ferguson will be representing Bristol in aCities of the Future debate, clearly strengtheningBristol’s place as a core city.

“We ’ll be a keen and supportive observer of theLondon event this year both from the perspectiveof Bristol’s participation and GVA’s own.”

in association with

MIPIM commercial property

� Bridgewater House in Bristol’s Victoria Street which has been refurbished by Cubex, the firm behind the Finzel’s Reach development in Bristol city centre

� CREATIVE companies like tohuddle together for inspiration. It’sone of the appeals of places suchas Bath Road Studios.

The final phase of theredevelopment of the former HTVstudios into office what theowners describe as “n e w,contemporary workspace” spacehas been complete, and it isalready 80 per cent let.

The project, commissioned bythe building’s owners Cube RealEstate, highlights a continueddemand for small-scale,contemporary space in Bristol, inline with a rise in the number ofstart-ups and SMEs in the city.

Almost 80 per cent of thebuilding has now been let to avariety of firms, ranging from smallstart-up companies to bigmultinationals such as PUMA.

The fact that the site includes anon-site Friska café and a Pilatesstudio gives you an insight into thetarget market.

Ruari Laidlaw of Cube RealEstate said: “We are really pleasedto have completed thismuch-needed refurbishmentproject, which will now allow us toturn our attention to improvingsustainability and green initiativeswithin the building.

“It also gives us an opportunityto work with existing tenants tofurther improve our offer so it iseven more attractive to futureoccupiers.”

Jon Mowat, managing directorof tenant Hurricane Media said:“Being in a building with suchgood facilities, and a broad range

of other creative SMEs, hasbenefited Hurricane enormouslysince we arrived here in February2012.

“Whilst it’s a highly creative andrelaxed environment to work in,t h e re ’s an air of professionalismthat resonates throughout thebuilding which is perfect for ourbrand’s image and our ability tocollaborate with otherbusiness-focussed creative

companies.”The building is also home to The

Set, an workspace that operatesas a membership club wherelike-minded businesses cannetwork and share skills andideas. Its collaborative baseremoves the isolation of workingfrom home, while offeringcontemporary facilities.

On the first Wednesday of eachmonth, The Set plays host to aninformal networking night wherelike-minded creatives share aglass or two of something, a fewnibbles and some of thatcollective inspiration.

� Mainp i c t u re ,the newlyre f u r b i s h e dBath RoadStudiosand,above, theBristol andBathSciencePark

across the road, Paintworks is one ofthe top media hubs in the city, whilstTemple Studios next to the train sta-tion has continued the trend.

“These popular centres help createthe buzz which all cities need to takefull advantage of the recovery,” saidPaul. “The confidence generated inour creative hubs is percolating backalong the riverside to mothballed citycentre sites such as the Glassfieldsdevelopment in Temple Way – wh i chhas now been earmarked for threenew buildings including offices, flatsand a café.

“Although many telecommunica-

Property of the Week

Paul MatthewsPartnerBruton Knowles0117 287 2101paul.matthews@brutonknowles.co.uk

Expert eye

In association with

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8 We d n e s d a y, November 5, 2014 9We d n e s d a y, November 5, 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 face of Bristol’s businesscommunity is changing. Ifyou look around the EngineShed – a hub of digital andtech companies from

start-ups to fast growing businesses –yo u ’ll see more hipster beards thant i e s.

That change is reflected in prop-erty needs too. Style is important.These companies are attractingyoung, skilled and motivated workerswho don’t want to sit in a boring oldof fice.

The industries are fast moving too.Companies expand quickly andsometimes vanish just as fast, solong-term leases just don’t work.

And that can be a problem for thecommercial property market, whereinstitutional investors such as pen-sion companies look for safe,long-term returns.

But this thriving technology anddigital sector is growing in import-ance in Bristol. It is becoming theposter child of economy.

Government ministers arequeuing up to the pictured next to afancy piece of kit that symbolises afast-paced and future-proofed eco-nomy. This past week saw BusinessSecretary Vince Cable meeting thecreations of OC Robotics in AbbeyWood. The week before the Presidentof Singapore was at the University ofBristol to see how advances in wear-able technology could be applied tothe healthcare market. The EngineShed itself is a regular stop-off forVIPs, from politicians to royals.

Paul Williams, from commercialproperty agency Bruton Knowles’Bristol office, said the influx of tech-nology firms was good for the city.

“The regeneration of large areas ofpreviously abandoned commercialspace has been key to Bristol’s recentsuccess and is lifting the city up thenational league table in terms of at-tracting new business,” he said.

“Previously redundant and neg-lected locations in the city centre andaround the Temple Quarter are set-ting the trend, attracting increasingnumbers of technology, media andtelecommunications firms and ex-tending the city’s so-called MediaMile out along the A4.”

He points to the £1.35 million re-furbishment project by Cube RealEstate which has transformed the oldHTV studios in Bath Road. Just

tions, media and technology sectordeals tend to be fairly modest in scale,the sheer number of business movesbrings the footfall – not to mentionspend – city centres rely on forg rowth.”

The modest nature of those dealscan pose a problem, particularly forold-style property investors such aspension funds which look for steadylong-term returns.

Matt Cross, head of inward invest-ment agency Invest Bristol and Bath,said: “When developers are governedby institutional lenders then thoseinstitutions create conditions on

funding which don’t suit lower cost,easy-in easy-out terms.”

It takes a different kind of de-veloper, with a different businessmodel. Thankfully there are some,with firms such as Verve behind thePaintworks and TCN behind TempleS t u d i o s.

Matt said Invest Bristol and Bathwas building a picture of demand,finding out what the needs of some fothe companies it is attracting to thecity are and being proactive and hav-ing “mature conversations” with de-ve l o p e r s.

“We have been working on creating

a proposition to take to developers tosay we’ve got four of five companieswith demand – where can you buildbased on evidence of demand we cangive you?”

Ben Shorrock, product develop-ment manager at Invest Bristol andBath, said: “It’s often not about styleof space but having a bit more flex-ibility. If you are working in anim-ation for example, need to go up anddown a lot in size. With traditionaloffice, you sign a five-year lease forspecific space so that doesn’t work.”

He added firms moving to Bristolare often won over by spaces like the

WITH money from overseas continuing toflow into the UK, Bristol is poised for asignificant increase in inward invest-ment. For many years overseas investorshave been concentrating their cash on

trophy investments in London and the South East.But high demand and rocketing prices are obliging

more and more overseas investors to look at theregional cities as well as the capital. Manchester andBirmingham are already seeing increased activity butBristol is also on their radar.

Overseas investors own almost a quarter of in-come-producing commercial property in the UK, withshopping centres, warehouses, hotels and office build-ings a favourite target. China, Russia and more re-cently Brazil have been busy in this area but there hasalso been a marked rise in investment from Germanfunds and also from the Middle East.

Invest Bristol & Bath is helping to focus interest inthe Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire,Bath and North-East Somerset areas and has workedclosely with groups like the West of England ChinaBureau to raise the city’s profile.

High-powered delegations from the major Chinesecities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou have visited Bristolin the past month looking for investment oppor-t u n i t i e s.

Overseas in-vestors snappingup competitivelypriced propertyhas its draw-backs – shar pen-ing demand andincreasing com-petition for UKbuyers – but this is more of an issue in London than itis in the regions.

So what is it that makes the Bristol and Bath areasuch a target for overseas investment?

As well as being a key regional transport andcommunications hub, the concentration of aerospaceand other high-tech industries attracts and supports ahighly skilled workforce ably supported by no fewerthan four major universities.

UWE Bristol alone is investing £220 million ininfrastructure including a dedicated business schoolbuilding. The additional student accommodation re-quired to support a steeply increasing student pop-ulation is also proving highly attractive for overseasi nve s t o r s.

A report by Centre for Cities and McKinsey &Company named Bristol and Bath’s high tech sector asthe only fast-growing, globally-significant cluster of itskind in the UK, with the South West’s aerospace sectorhighlighted in this category too.

The profusion of skills exhibited in the key growthareas such as aerospace, the nuclear industry; andSTEM (science, technology, engineering and math-ematics) is further helping to focus overseas intereston what Bristol and Bath has got to offer.

Overseas investors setto look towards Bristol

The growth of Bristol’stechnology and creativesectors is leading to changingdemands from the propertymarket. But can it adapt?Gavin Thompson reports

Contemporary workspace nowcomplete - and already 80% let

Case study

Property matters

BOOMING CREATIVE SCENE’S BUZZY H U B S L E A D I N G T H E WAY

Engine Shed, only to find it’s full-up.But the market is responding.

There are plans being drawn up for asecond Engine Shed within theTemple Quarter Enterprise Zone.

Another of the city’s hubs for techfirms is the Bristol and Bath SciencePark. The Emerson’s Green includeshot desk facilities for start-ups plus agrow on centre for companies thatneed more space. Crucially it is de-signed to meet the needs of researchand development-led businesses,where lab space can be more im-portant than desks.

Chief executive Bonnie Dean said:

“There is strong demand for com-mercial property space from tech-nology businesses in Bristol but notenough appropriate supply, so it vitalthat this need is addressed.

“Businesses in this sector are ableto develop and scale up more easilythan previously as barriers to entryhave been reduced. It is, for example,much easier to make prototypes nowso technology is advancing quickly.

“In addition, our region has astrong engineering skills base, de-veloped off the back of a rich heritagein aerospace and advanced engin-eering, which means that it is an

attractive location for both big busi-ness and innovative start-ups to grow.It is important that we make space tocater for this demand and at Bristol &Bath Science Park we are working upplans for a new building to help ac-commodate this.”

Such expansions need to happensoon or businesses as such as Just Eatwhich have been lured to the citybecause of the talent pool and qualityof life (and cheaper-than-Londonproperty prices) won’t wait.

The property market needs to learnfrom the technology sector and pickup the pace.

Ruari Laidlaw

“ Whilst it’s a highlycreative and relaxedenvironment to work in,t h e re ’s an air ofprofessionalism thatresonates throughout

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

To Let - High Quality Offices Near Parkway Station, Bristol

• From980-1,980sqft(91-183.9 sqm)

• 8parkingspaces

• EasyaccesstoM4/M5/M32motorways

• Flexibletermsavailable

Contact: paul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk BK code:2639

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6 We d n e s d a y, October 1, 2014 7We d n e s d a y, October 1, 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

enquiries@brutonknowles.co.ukbrutonknowles.co.uk

0117 287 2101 Achieve morefrom your property

B015-1411 Bruton Knowles Bristol Post Commercial Advert 270x40mm AW 2.pdf 1 06/05/2014 17:24

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

To Let - High Quality Offices Near Parkway Station, Bristol

• From 980-1,980 sq ft (91-183.9 sq m)

• 8 parking spaces

• Easy access to M4/M5/M32 motorways

• Flexible terms available

Contact: paul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk BK code:2639

enquiries@brutonknowles.co.ukbrutonknowles.co.uk

0117 287 2101 Achieve morefrom your property

B015-1411 Bruton Knowles Bristol Post Commercial Advert 270x40mm AW 2.pdf 1 06/05/2014 17:24

The recovery in theBristol property marketis gathering pace butthat speed could lead toa bottleneck in theplanning process. GavinThompson re p o r t s

TWO years ago there was littlebuilding work going on inBristol. That has changedand quickly! In the residen-tial sector we have Finzel’s

Reach at the former Courage Brew-ery revived under new developerCubex, Wapping Wharf near theM shed rising from the ground andthe General Hospital conversion intoflats is well under way.

On the office side Salmon Har-ve s t e r ’s Two Glass Wharf standsproud in its Bristol blue colourswhile Skanska’s 66 Queen Square de-velopment is taking shape, with thesteel frame that will sit behind thecurving facade now visible.

Then there’s all the bed spacesbeing created to accommodate thethousands more coming to study in

IMAGINE having to find space for the equi-valent of a new town ten times bigger thanKeynsham, somewhere in the vicinity ofBristol and Bath. Well that’s the prospect thetwo cities are facing as they seek to provide

accommodation to cope with a continuing surgein student numbers.

With Bristol, UWE, Bath and Bath Spa cam-puses predicted to grow significantly over thenext few years demand for new student accom-modation has absorbed many available sites – notjust in the residential market but also around thea re a ’s commercial, office and industrial loca-t i o n s.

With four top universities within a 20-mileradius, the impact on Bristol and Bath will bemore pronounced than in many comparable re-gional cities.

Bruton Knowles has been closely monitoringthe conversion trend since it gained tractionduring the downturn. Back then, owners, buildersand developers were keen to keep busy and setabout transforming secondary office and elderlycommercial stock into residential – e s p e c i a l lystudent – accommodation. But what wassomething of a stopgap measure has been boostedby the faster than expected recovery and is nowf u n d a m e n t a l lytransforming theentire commercials e c t o r.

And whereasmost people wel-comed the trans-formation of somany abandoned offices or unused industrialpremises, the continuing demand for even morestudent accommodation raises the question ofwhere such development will take place – es-pecially once the supply of secondary sites isexhausted.

In Bristol, a number of well known office build-ings have already been converted or earmarkedfor student accommodation, not to mention thecity’s former ice rink, a police station and anumber of old people’s apartments.

Now developers are looking at ‘hands on’ in-dustrial and commercial sites in Bristol and Bath– several of which have already been taken out ofthe sector to create additional space for studenta c c o m m o d at i o n .

Hands on businesses such as garages, tyre firmsand repair shops have traditionally been locatedin secondary premises and many are beginning torun out of options if they need to move, aftergrowing out of their old premises for instance.

The level of demand we are seeing is certainlyskewing development patterns and impacting onthe city centre scene, transforming traditionalcommercial property function and usage.

According to recent forecasts some 50,000 stu-dents are expected to be looking for accommod-ation in Bristol over the next few years with afurther 20,000 in Bath – the equivalent of buildinga new town ten times bigger than Keynsham.

We need to accommodate thesurging student population

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

Mayor maps out thefuture at conference

Property matters

STRETCHED P L A N N E R S S T R U G G L E TO KEEP PACE W I T H RECOVERY Paul WilliamsHead of AgencyBruton Knowlespaul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk0117 287 2101

Expert eye

� Skanska’s 66 Queen Square development is taking shape with the steelframe now in place

Jo Davis, senior planningdirector at property

agency GVA in Bristol

“They cut the planningteams very hard and theability to build back thatresource toaccommodate growthwill be challenging

the city each year at our universities(see Expert Eye column, right).

And that’s just Bristol itself. Thenorthern and eastern fringes arebuzzing with largely house-buildingled activity, such as the Lyde Greendevelopment in Emersons Greenand several sites around Keyn-sham.

The upsurge is welcomed acrossindustry, but the speed of the re-covery has caught many off guard,not least the local authorities.

Planning departments have notbeen exempt from years of austerityand deep cuts in local authoritybudgets from Whitehall.

For the last five years, it probablyd i d n’t matter because there was so

little development activity.Jo Davis, right, senior planning

director at property agency GVA,said last year in Bristol 878 homeswere built, compared with 2,574 in2008/9.

“In the last three years, the onlycranes we had seen in sky were atSouthmead Hospital,” she said,speaking at a recent property sem-inar the firm hosted at the M shed.

She praised Bristol, SouthGloucestershire and Bath andNorth-East Somerset councils forusing the downturn in activity todevelop their core strategies for fu-ture development sites.

“We now have some planningpolicy certainty across the Bristola re a , ” said Jo. “The property in-dustry needs to use that toensure we speed up theplaning process.

“And the planning au-thorities need to beready to take on theextra activity that istaking place.

“That is more difficult.They cut the planningteams very hard and the abil-ity to build back that resource toaccommodate growth will be chal-lenging.”

The problem is that all those newdevelopments need input from the

relevant council all along theway, including public con-

sultation, reports andeventual planning per-mission. Any big devel-opment will involvemultiple applications.

That means theslimmed down, auster-

ity-sized planning teamsare becoming a bottleneck

that could be holding up eco-nomic growth in and around Bris-

tol.Gavin Bridge, far right, director of

Cubex which is behind the Finzel’sReach development in Bristol citycentre and has also been refurbish-ing Bridgewater House in VictoriaStreet to bring it up to grade Astandard, has seen the problem firsthand.

He understands the challenges fa-cing the city council, but would liketo see action taken.

“We have five planning applica-tions being considered by BristolCity Council at the moment and areshortly to submit a further two,”said Gavin. “Collectively these rep-resent over £100 million of devel-opment, more than 100 homes, a new

bridge and the potential to createover 800 new jobs.

“We enjoy an excellentworking relationshipwith planners but haveseen how the cutbacksat council to reduceplanning officernumbers has put tre-mendous pressureon the remaining of-f i c e r s.

“This does causedelays in the planningprocess whether before anapplication is registered or duringthe consideration period. We would

welcome any measures that wouldprovide additional resource and sup-

port to those officers.”The obvious impact is onnew developments but any

bottleneck will have an ef-fect further down thechain. If, for example, anew office site is delayed,then firms interested inmoving in might have to

wait, meaning there oldpremises is tied up that bit

longer. And the propertymerry-go-round stops.

It’s an issue Bristol City Council iswell aware of and it is looking to hire

more people. Zoe Willcox, servicedirector for planning and sustain-ability, said: “The council’s devel-opment management section ismanaged to ensure it has resilienceto flex and respond to the demands ofthe local property market.

“The global financial crisis of 2008resulted in a significant drop off inthe amount of planning applications.Happily however, Bristol has been atthe forefront of a national economicrevival which has led to a significantincrease in development activity inthe city and we are currently in theprocess of recruiting in order tomeet this renewed demand. We reg-

ularly liaise with property organ-isations such as the Planning UserGroup and Bristol Property AgentsAssociation to ensure that they arekept up-to-date with any develop-ments to our service. In this way wefeel confident that we will maintaina good working relationship with thecommercial property sector at thisincreasingly busy time.”

Recruiting skilled people in thecurrent growing market is not al-ways so easy however, as manyprivate sector companies havefound, so developers, agents andother interested parties will bewatching closely.

� BRISTOL mayor George Ferguson will bespeaking at a major property conference laterthis month.

The MIPIM commercial property event is amainstay of the industry calendar and the Bristolregion has in the past sent high profiledelegations in a bid to woo investors to there g i o n .

The event takes place in Cannes but this year aUK version of the event is being staged for thefirst time at London’s Olympia.

Bristol’s elected mayor is taking part in asession called My Future City in 2050, staged bythe Future Cities Catapult,looking at how placessuch as Bristol canbecome smarter andmore successful.

But overall,Bristol’s industry istaking more of await-and-seeapproach to theevent.

David Mace,regional senior directorat GVA, which is attendingthe event but not exhibiting, said: “As a companyGVA has been attending MIPIM in Cannes forsome time, and for the last couple of years we’veworked very closely with Bristol, Bath, SouthGloucestershire and North Somerset on theirpresence at this hugely influential event – we’relooking forward to being there again in 2015.

“It’s therefore a talking point for the propertyindustry that the UK is to have its own event inLondon, and we’re hugely encouraged thatmayor Ferguson will be representing Bristol in aCities of the Future debate, clearly strengtheningBristol’s place as a core city.

“We ’ll be a keen and supportive observer of theLondon event this year both from the perspectiveof Bristol’s participation and GVA’s own.”

in association with

MIPIM commercial property

� Bridgewater House in Bristol’s Victoria Street which has been refurbished by Cubex, the firm behind the Finzel’s Reach development in Bristol city centre

� CREATIVE companies like tohuddle together for inspiration. It’sone of the appeals of places suchas Bath Road Studios.

The final phase of theredevelopment of the former HTVstudios into office what theowners describe as “n e w,contemporary workspace” spacehas been complete, and it isalready 80 per cent let.

The project, commissioned bythe building’s owners Cube RealEstate, highlights a continueddemand for small-scale,contemporary space in Bristol, inline with a rise in the number ofstart-ups and SMEs in the city.

Almost 80 per cent of thebuilding has now been let to avariety of firms, ranging from smallstart-up companies to bigmultinationals such as PUMA.

The fact that the site includes anon-site Friska café and a Pilatesstudio gives you an insight into thetarget market.

Ruari Laidlaw of Cube RealEstate said: “We are really pleasedto have completed thismuch-needed refurbishmentproject, which will now allow us toturn our attention to improvingsustainability and green initiativeswithin the building.

“It also gives us an opportunityto work with existing tenants tofurther improve our offer so it iseven more attractive to futureoccupiers.”

Jon Mowat, managing directorof tenant Hurricane Media said:“Being in a building with suchgood facilities, and a broad range

of other creative SMEs, hasbenefited Hurricane enormouslysince we arrived here in February2012.

“Whilst it’s a highly creative andrelaxed environment to work in,t h e re ’s an air of professionalismthat resonates throughout thebuilding which is perfect for ourbrand’s image and our ability tocollaborate with otherbusiness-focussed creative

companies.”The building is also home to The

Set, an workspace that operatesas a membership club wherelike-minded businesses cannetwork and share skills andideas. Its collaborative baseremoves the isolation of workingfrom home, while offeringcontemporary facilities.

On the first Wednesday of eachmonth, The Set plays host to aninformal networking night wherelike-minded creatives share aglass or two of something, a fewnibbles and some of thatcollective inspiration.

� Mainp i c t u re ,the newlyre f u r b i s h e dBath RoadStudiosand,above, theBristol andBathSciencePark

across the road, Paintworks is one ofthe top media hubs in the city, whilstTemple Studios next to the train sta-tion has continued the trend.

“These popular centres help createthe buzz which all cities need to takefull advantage of the recovery,” saidPaul. “The confidence generated inour creative hubs is percolating backalong the riverside to mothballed citycentre sites such as the Glassfieldsdevelopment in Temple Way – wh i chhas now been earmarked for threenew buildings including offices, flatsand a café.

“Although many telecommunica-

Property of the Week

Paul MatthewsPartnerBruton Knowles0117 287 2101paul.matthews@brutonknowles.co.uk

Expert eye

In association within association with Bruton Knowles

� Proposals, above, for the former Filton Airfield siteinclude more than 2,600 homes, two schools, ahotel, care home and health centre as well asemployment land to cater for 7,000 jobs.� The former Rolls-Royce East Works, close to theairfield is likely to be available for development,perhaps with room for more employment land. It’s asignificant plot, half the size of the airfield.� The owners of The Mall shopping centre in CribbsC a u s e w a y, top left, recently announced expansionplans, which could see the complex increase in sizeby 50 per cent with a new anchor store, hotel and3,000 new jobs.� Around 2,000 homes are planned for the land,left, between Cribbs and Filton, dubbed CharltonHayes.� Emerson’s Green boasts potential developmentland with 22 hectares around the Bristol and BathScience Park and another 15 in the Emerson’sGreen East site.

So, what’s going on?

Paul WilliamsHead of AgencyBruton Knowlespaul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk0117 287 2101

Expert eye

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10 11We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 w w w. bristolpost.co.uk

In pictures GVA clients drinks party

P res i d e n t ’s Lecture Bristol JuniorChamber hosts inaugural event

Business diary

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

Flexibility in the Workplace -Friend or Foe? Experts examinearguments for and against. AGlass Lift Elevator event.December 4, 4pm-7.30pm,Engineers House, Clifton.Register www.the glasslift.co.uk.

A Festive Networking Boost:Small business owners canunwind with a glass of wine anda mince pie and tips fromde-stress by wellness coachAlisa Burke.Tuesday December9, Unilit Club, 5:30-8pm. Freebut register at www.festiveboost.eventbrite.co.uk.

Inspiring Women Live!Christmas social on Monday,December 8, 6:30-9pm atRevolution Bar, Baldwin Street.w w w. i n s p i r i n g w o m e n l i v e . c o . u k

Gregg Latchams BusinessClub Christmas drinks: Withguest speaker David Garmstonof BBC, Points West and SundayPolitics. At Bristol Hotel. TuesdayDecember 9, 6-8.30pm.

IoD Wednesday @6 ChristmasSpecial: Join the IoD BristolCommittee for drinks at the lastWednesday @ 6 of the year.Hosted at Smith & Williamson,Portwall Place.

Bristol Connected: The BristolPost networking event, fromnoon to 2pm on Tuesday,December 16 at 10 Templeback.Networking with guest speakers.Register via eventbrite.

THE Inaugural Bristol JuniorChamber (“BJC”) President’sLecture was recently held atthe Bristol Offices of nationallaw firm Clarke Willmott.

The topic of the lecture was socialmobility which is a core theme of

current BJC President Karl Brown.The main speaker at the lecture wasBaroness Gillian Shephard, DeputyChair of the Government’s Social Mo-bility and Child Poverty Commis-sion.

Karl Brown said “The lecture

GVA celebrates the year’s successes

In pictures Inaugural Bristol Junior Chamber President’s Lecture

PROPERTY adviser GVA hosteda drinks party for clients,friends and business associatesat The Watershed. Celebratingthe optimism that is now re-

turning to the commercial propertymarket in the South West, around 100guests attended and were entertainedwith magic from Cirque Bijou duringthe evening.

While welcoming everyone to the

evening event, GVA regional senior dir-ector David Mace took the opportunityto thank everyone for their continuedsupport over the last year, which hasseen GVA become a part of the BilfingerReal Estate group.

He also outlined some of the key pro-jects that the GVA teams have beeninvolved in throughout the region,across the commercial, residential,health and consultancy sectors.

presented by Baroness Shephard wasthought provoking and fascinating.Baroness Shephard made it clear thatthe need to improve social mobility isnot just a social issue but also animportant economic issue for thesouth west and the UK. It was great to

� Leon Musmann, Karl Brown, Baroness Shephard, Ben St Quintin, Gemma Alaway, Charles Chamiand Lucy Mills

� Bristol Lord Mayor Councillor Alastair Watsonand Lady Mayoress Sarah Watson

� KarlB ro w nwith John Hirstof DestinationBristol

� Bristol JuniorChamberpresident KarlBrown with BobDurie, BaronessS h e p h a rd ,Lucio Mesquitaand JamesDurie

hear the positive responses andthoughts from local business leaderswho attended the lecture and whoshowed a determination to increasesocial mobility in the local south weste c o n o my ”.

Photographs by Jon Craig

GALLERIESGALORE

FOR MORE PICTURESCheck out our

website at

bristolpost.co.uk/business

� Lee Halmshaw, GVA; Kieran Daya, Redrow; David King, Redrow; Leigh Richardson, GVA; with Cirque Bijou

GALLERIESGALORE

FOR MORE PICTURESCheck out our

website at

bristolpost.co.uk/business

� Thea Gregory, BarrattHomes, Martin Kendall, TheBush Consultancy,Peter Mansell, Key Transport,and Jo Davis, GVA

� Simon Speirs, OsborneClarke; Ben O’Connor, GVA;Ben Cook, St Modwen

visit rbsbusinessconnections.co.ukcall Steve Wilson on07919 210737or email steve.j.wilson@rbs.co.uk

Finding the right fundingfor your business

Planyourfinancialneeds

To find out how RBS can help your business

ANY PROPERTY USED AS SECURITY, WHICH MAY INCLUDE YOUR HOME, MAY BEREPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOANSECURED ON IT.

Security may be required. Product fees may apply. Over 18s only.

To continue driving theeconomic upturn, small andmedium-sized enterprises

need all the help they can get -and that includes planning for theright finance.Figures released last week by

the British Bankers’ Associationshow that £7.9bn was lent to smallfirms in Q3 this year, the highestquarterly amount since 2011.The current economic

conditions present a number offunding options to enterpriseslooking to develop their business.Planning to raise growth

finance is essential – especiallythose considering expansion suchas overseas trade or anacquisition. Consider yourbusiness plan and have a clearidea of funding requirements to

be realistic about what financeyou can raise.Evaluating your cash flow 12

months ahead is a good way toplan how you’ll meet existing andpotential obligations, the level ofinventory you hold and howmuch credit you should extendto customers.Imagine a company could buy

inventory, sell its product, collectpayment, and pay suppliers all inone day. The company would havea cash cycle of zero days. Thelonger the cash cycle, themorethe need for financing. Onceyou’vemastered cash flowforecasting, banks, such as RBS,have financial planning tools tohelp, including a Cash FlowCalculator and Finance Finderavailable on www.rbs.co.uk

Special feature

SteveWilSon, Director ofCorporate Banking Bristol

Gina Fucci, Managing Directorof Films at 59

If a business is to reach its fullpotential, finance has a big partto play. My team and I supportcommercially-viable businessesand we want to help you get themoney you need to grow. We’lllook at your business plan andguide you through the options– we just ask that you’rerealistic about your goals. Witha range of facilities that can betailored to your needs, we cantalk you through optionsavailable. We want you tosucceed so we’ll work hard tosupport you.

We deal with finance all the timeas we are regularly buying andupgrading our equipment as TVtechnology is changing soquickly. We have to askourselves: Do we need it? Is itsustainable to pay any loanback? Having a good relationshipwith our bank and leasingcompanies, which we also do viaRBS, is very important to us. Ourbank understands us when wego to them for finance andthey understand if somethingwe need to purchase or upgradeis sustainable.

Part of the Local World group

We supply a glossy setting worthy of any awardwinner. From staging and set design, to an assortmentof lighting from LED’s to gobos. We provide all thenecessary services and equipment you would needto make your awards evening the one to remember.

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

Presentation Production

Live Camera Relay

Pyrotechnics

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

EPB-

E01-

S3

10 11We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014 w w w. bristolpost.co.uk

In pictures GVA clients drinks party

P res i d e n t ’s Lecture Bristol JuniorChamber hosts inaugural event

Business diary

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

Flexibility in the Workplace -Friend or Foe? Experts examinearguments for and against. AGlass Lift Elevator event.December 4, 4pm-7.30pm,Engineers House, Clifton.Register www.the glasslift.co.uk.

A Festive Networking Boost:Small business owners canunwind with a glass of wine anda mince pie and tips fromde-stress by wellness coachAlisa Burke.Tuesday December9, Unilit Club, 5:30-8pm. Freebut register at www.festiveboost.eventbrite.co.uk.

Inspiring Women Live!Christmas social on Monday,December 8, 6:30-9pm atRevolution Bar, Baldwin Street.w w w. i n s p i r i n g w o m e n l i v e . c o . u k

Gregg Latchams BusinessClub Christmas drinks: Withguest speaker David Garmstonof BBC, Points West and SundayPolitics. At Bristol Hotel. TuesdayDecember 9, 6-8.30pm.

IoD Wednesday @6 ChristmasSpecial: Join the IoD BristolCommittee for drinks at the lastWednesday @ 6 of the year.Hosted at Smith & Williamson,Portwall Place.

Bristol Connected: The BristolPost networking event, fromnoon to 2pm on Tuesday,December 16 at 10 Templeback.Networking with guest speakers.Register via eventbrite.

THE Inaugural Bristol JuniorChamber (“BJC”) President’sLecture was recently held atthe Bristol Offices of nationallaw firm Clarke Willmott.

The topic of the lecture was socialmobility which is a core theme of

current BJC President Karl Brown.The main speaker at the lecture wasBaroness Gillian Shephard, DeputyChair of the Government’s Social Mo-bility and Child Poverty Commis-sion.

Karl Brown said “The lecture

GVA celebrates the year’s successes

In pictures Inaugural Bristol Junior Chamber President’s Lecture

PROPERTY adviser GVA hosteda drinks party for clients,friends and business associatesat The Watershed. Celebratingthe optimism that is now re-

turning to the commercial propertymarket in the South West, around 100guests attended and were entertainedwith magic from Cirque Bijou duringthe evening.

While welcoming everyone to the

evening event, GVA regional senior dir-ector David Mace took the opportunityto thank everyone for their continuedsupport over the last year, which hasseen GVA become a part of the BilfingerReal Estate group.

He also outlined some of the key pro-jects that the GVA teams have beeninvolved in throughout the region,across the commercial, residential,health and consultancy sectors.

presented by Baroness Shephard wasthought provoking and fascinating.Baroness Shephard made it clear thatthe need to improve social mobility isnot just a social issue but also animportant economic issue for thesouth west and the UK. It was great to

� Leon Musmann, Karl Brown, Baroness Shephard, Ben St Quintin, Gemma Alaway, Charles Chamiand Lucy Mills

� Bristol Lord Mayor Councillor Alastair Watsonand Lady Mayoress Sarah Watson

� KarlB ro w nwith John Hirstof DestinationBristol

� Bristol JuniorChamberpresident KarlBrown with BobDurie, BaronessS h e p h a rd ,Lucio Mesquitaand JamesDurie

hear the positive responses andthoughts from local business leaderswho attended the lecture and whoshowed a determination to increasesocial mobility in the local south weste c o n o my ”.

Photographs by Jon Craig

GALLERIESGALORE

FOR MORE PICTURESCheck out our

website at

bristolpost.co.uk/business

� Lee Halmshaw, GVA; Kieran Daya, Redrow; David King, Redrow; Leigh Richardson, GVA; with Cirque Bijou

GALLERIESGALORE

FOR MORE PICTURESCheck out our

website at

bristolpost.co.uk/business

� Thea Gregory, BarrattHomes, Martin Kendall, TheBush Consultancy,Peter Mansell, Key Transport,and Jo Davis, GVA

� Simon Speirs, OsborneClarke; Ben O’Connor, GVA;Ben Cook, St Modwen

visit rbsbusinessconnections.co.ukcall Steve Wilson on07919 210737or email steve.j.wilson@rbs.co.uk

Finding the right fundingfor your business

Planyourfinancialneeds

To find out how RBS can help your business

ANY PROPERTY USED AS SECURITY, WHICH MAY INCLUDE YOUR HOME, MAY BEREPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOANSECURED ON IT.

Security may be required. Product fees may apply. Over 18s only.

To continue driving theeconomic upturn, small andmedium-sized enterprises

need all the help they can get -and that includes planning for theright finance.Figures released last week by

the British Bankers’ Associationshow that £7.9bn was lent to smallfirms in Q3 this year, the highestquarterly amount since 2011.The current economic

conditions present a number offunding options to enterpriseslooking to develop their business.Planning to raise growth

finance is essential – especiallythose considering expansion suchas overseas trade or anacquisition. Consider yourbusiness plan and have a clearidea of funding requirements to

be realistic about what financeyou can raise.Evaluating your cash flow 12

months ahead is a good way toplan how you’ll meet existing andpotential obligations, the level ofinventory you hold and howmuch credit you should extendto customers.Imagine a company could buy

inventory, sell its product, collectpayment, and pay suppliers all inone day. The company would havea cash cycle of zero days. Thelonger the cash cycle, themorethe need for financing. Onceyou’vemastered cash flowforecasting, banks, such as RBS,have financial planning tools tohelp, including a Cash FlowCalculator and Finance Finderavailable on www.rbs.co.uk

Special feature

SteveWilSon, Director ofCorporate Banking Bristol

Gina Fucci, Managing Directorof Films at 59

If a business is to reach its fullpotential, finance has a big partto play. My team and I supportcommercially-viable businessesand we want to help you get themoney you need to grow. We’lllook at your business plan andguide you through the options– we just ask that you’rerealistic about your goals. Witha range of facilities that can betailored to your needs, we cantalk you through optionsavailable. We want you tosucceed so we’ll work hard tosupport you.

We deal with finance all the timeas we are regularly buying andupgrading our equipment as TVtechnology is changing soquickly. We have to askourselves: Do we need it? Is itsustainable to pay any loanback? Having a good relationshipwith our bank and leasingcompanies, which we also do viaRBS, is very important to us. Ourbank understands us when wego to them for finance andthey understand if somethingwe need to purchase or upgradeis sustainable.

Part of the Local World group

We supply a glossy setting worthy of any awardwinner. From staging and set design, to an assortmentof lighting from LED’s to gobos. We provide all thenecessary services and equipment you would needto make your awards evening the one to remember.

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

Presentation Production

Live Camera Relay

Pyrotechnics

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

EPB-

E01-

S3

12 We d n e s d a y, December 3, 2014w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

The back page Your digest of the week in business

D ea l s� A Bristol-based company thatuses innovative technology forcleaning the inside of pipes hasbeen bought by water managementspecialists, Aqualogy Environmentfor an undisclosed sum.

Ice Pigging, developed andpatented by the University of Bristolspin-out company, PCIP Ltd, is aninnovative process for cleaningpipes that uses slush ice.

It has wide-reaching applicationsin the water industry, food andbeverage industry, energy, oil andgas sectors, and has potentialacross a variety of applicationswhere pipes are used.

The acquisition gives Aqualogyfull rights to use the technologyacross industry sectors.

The process was invented anddeveloped by Joe Quarini, professorof process engineering in theDepartment of MechanicalEngineering at the University ofBristol. The technology differs toconventional pipeline cleaningmethods by using slush ice to cleanpipe walls without the use ofdisinfecting chemicals.

Professor Quarini said “We arevery pleased to have sold thetechnology to Aqualogy as they,with their many years of experienceof successfully using thetechnology, are uniquely placed tofurther develop, adapt andcustomise the technology to otherindustry and market sectors. Inshort, Aqualogy are the world’s bestplaced organisation to make the icepig fly.”

� Henleaze firm Parkhouse & CoSolicitors has joined law firm VealeWasbrough Vizards.

David Parkhouse and team willcontinue to specialise inresidential conveyancing,contentious probate and family lawwithin the private client team,headed by Michelle Rose. Davidremains as a consultant and isavailable to his clients.

VWV managing partner SimonHeald said: “VWV has a thrivingprivate client practice and is highlyranked by the legal directories. Theopportunity to further expand, withina key geographical location,complements perfectly the clientbase already held.”

� Bristol Airport has put out itsairport taxi/private hire car service totender. The airport is the ninthlargest airport in the UK and ithandled over 6.1 million passengersin 2013. Taxi/private hire companiesare invited to express their interestin providing a taxi/private hireservice to the airport, operating 24hours a day, seven days a week,365 days a year.

S u ccess� Pill-based Clifton AssetManagement has been shortlistedfor two industry awards – TheBusiness Moneyfacts BestAlternative Funding Provider 2015for pensionledfunding.com, and theInnovation in the SME FinanceSector award for thealter nativebusinessfunding.co.ukportal.

Clifton andpensionledfunding.com won theBest Alternative Funding ProviderAward in 2014 as it is one of thelargest providers of alternativebusiness finance in the UK – helpingmore than 1,500 businesses findnecessary funding, to the tune ofaround £200 million .

Adam Tavener, chairman of CliftonAsset Management and catalyst forthe alternativebusinessfunding.co.uk collaboration, said: “We ’redelighted to be shortlisted for twoawards in 2015.

“This is recognition of all of thehard work that has taken place bothwithin Clifton, and at a widerindustry level, through the ABFcollaboration.”

largest retailer, has taken a newfive-year lease on the officeaccommodation, which totals 1,600sq ft (149 sq m) and will pay anannual rent of £16,000.

Julian Cobourne, assetmanager at Aviva Investor,said: “Welcoming three newtenants to The Quorum istestament to the high qualityof the space available at thebuilding.”

Savills and Colliers aremarketing the remaining space.

� Fast-growing Buffalo FundraisingConsultants is moving to largeroffices at city centre landmark officeWhitefriars in a deal brokered byproperty consultancy JLL.

Topland Group, the landlord, hasbeen investing in refurbishing the

property, where 3,073 sq ft ofspace on the second floor

has now been let toBuffalo. In total, ToplandGroup has let 30,000sq ft in the building sofar this year.

The Buffalo team ismoving from offices inClifton due to the

growth of the business.The company expects

that the majority of the teamwill have moved into the new

offices by the second week ofD e c e m b e r.

Managing director Ed Lang said:“We are looking forward tocontinuing to grow our business andstaff numbers, as well as developingnew services for the not-for-profitmarketplace in our new home.”

� Freshford House and WCA Housein Redcliffe Way in Bristol have beensold by UK Commercial PropertyTrust to AEW UK Core PropertyFund.

The property comprisesapproximately 32,000 sq ft and is letto Ofsted until July 2015 when theywill be moving out to take up spaceelsewhere in the city core.

Both properties are held on aleasehold basis with an unexpiredterm of circa 93 years. The pricepaid was £3,610,000, reflecting£112 per sq ft.

The seller was represented byColliers International and the buyerby Knight Frank.

Richard Coombs, director ofinvestment at Colliers International,said: “The vendor took theopportunity provided by animproving market to exit from anasset with a short unexpired term ata good price.”

Pe o p l e� DTZ has appointed a new directorto its Bristol office.

Jo Williams joins the project andbuilding consultancy team. Shebrings 19 years experience and

joins from Ridge and Partners LLP.In addition to this, Jo, left, is

actively involved in theAssociation of

Women in PropertySouth West.

Senior directorTim Davis said:“Jo makes agreat addition tothe team and her

appointment willhelp to further

strengthen ourbuilding surveying

capabilities, providing our clientswith a ‘best in class’ service.”

� Business and financial advisersGrant Thornton has appointed anew businessdevelopmentm a n a g e r.

Adina Watt,right, movesfrom the samerole at thefirm’sManchesterand Liverpoolo ff i c e s .

Practice leaderTim Lincoln said:“We are investing in ourteam to drive our ambitious growthplans. That means bringing in newpeople, as well as developing ourexisting staff, and Adina’sappointment forms a crucial part ofthis. She already possesses astrong track record in driving newbusiness acquisition and clientretention programmes.”

� Communications agency McCannBristol has gone a long way for itslatest hire. It has recruited PaulCottrell, below, as creative directorfrom Ogilvy, in Melbourne, Australia.

He joins the agency during aperiod of sustained growth,following double digit growth anddoubling head count in 2014.

Paul said: “I’ve been hired to helptake McCann Bristol to the nextlevel creatively, providing a strongcreative offer for clients looking foran alternative to London.

“Bristol has a fantastic reputationfor creativity both nationally andinternationally and the city is goingfrom strength to strength.”

� Property developer Cubexcommemorated a decade ofdeveloping the region with ananniversary dinner at BridgewaterHouse, Finzels Reach.

The Clifton company, founded in2004 by directors Gavin Bridge,Josh Roberts and Peter Walford,pictured bottom, celebrated themilestone with fellow industryprofessionals who have beeninvolved in various projects over theyears. As the developer behindmixed use central Bristoldevelopment, Finzel’s Reach, the trioare ready to take on new challengesin both commercial and residentialproperty development and areactively pursuing new deals acrossthe South West and South Waleswith the ongoing support of theirfunding partner, Palmer Capital.

� Bristol-based charity, the StMonica Trust won two gold awardsbeating the likes of Tesco, Barclaysand Ladbrokes in the process.

The trust’s training anddevelopment team took the goldaward in both the Operational andNot for Profit categories at 2014Training Journal Awards in London.

“The Training Journal Awards arelike the Oscars for the trainingsector and we were so privilegedjust to get nominated,” says StMonica Trust’s Training andDevelopment Manager, Jo Boshoff.“But for a relatively small, regionalcharity like us to be up againstmultinational companies and bringhome two gold awards – it’s anamazing achievement.”

P l a ces� Three businesseshave let space in theQuorum, in Old Market,Bristol.

Felinesoft, thesoftware and websitedevelopment house, hasagreed a new five-year leaseon 4,000 sq ft suite (372 sq m)and will pay a rent of £40,000 perannum.

Yolk Recruitment has taken 2,865sq ft (266 sq m) of office space onthe second floor, agreeing to afive-year lease at a rent of £28,650per annum.

The Arcadia Group, the UK’s

FOR SALE

Prominent freehold site withdevelopment potential

KINGSWOOD, BRISTOL

Comprising a former NHS Centreof approximately

3,660 sq ft (340 sq m) with parking.

All enquiries contact the agents:

Email: mike@wghproperty.co.uk©LW