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Bristol’s property sector is on the cusp of a goldrush as investors look West for the best returns

072015JAN

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2 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 3We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 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

Off ices

Fu n d ra i s i n g

Limited supply willforce up prices� PROPERTY agency KnightFrank has made its marketpredictions, forecasting prices willbe driven up by limited supply.

Martin Booth, the partnerheading the office agency team inBristol, said: “We expect to seestrong rental growth in themajority of regional city centresover the next 12 months, withnew development completionssecuring higher prime rentallevels.

“In Bristol, headline rents of £28at the end of 2014 will have risento £29.50 by the end of 2015,driven by a lack of grade A stock.

“We fully expect that vacancyrates will continue to reduceacross all of Bristol’s officemarkets and across all grades ofaccommodation.”

Louisa Rickard, associate,commercial research, KnightFrank, added; “As economicgrowth spreads to the regions weexpect to see prime office rentsrise across regional city centres in2015. Lack of supply at the primeend of the market will add furtherupward pressure on both primeand secondary rental growth.”

Sale

Wild West Bristol property marketwill boom this year, claims expert

INCREASED investment will putBristol at the forefront of a WildWest style property boomthrough 2015, says one expert.Colliers International’s econom-

ic forecaster Walter Boettcher, pic-t u re d , made his predictions during awhistle-stop tour of leading Bristolcompanies where he gave city pro-fessionals a rundown on current andprojected business drivers through2015 and in to 2016.

Walter gave a 30-minute present-ation on key economic trends to in-vited audiences at the offices of BDO,RBS, Williams and Glynn, HSBC,VWV Solicitors and Clarke Willmottas well as hotel investors EQ Group.

He was joined by Colliers Inter-national hospitality sector directorSimon Wells, who reported on theincreasingly healthy state of the WestCountry hotel market and the latestinvestment trends within the sec-t o r.

Central to Walter’s themewas increasing invest-ment in the regions. Hesaid: “Bristol really islike the Wild West insome ways as thescramble for yield seesmultiple buyers chasinginvestment and otherproper ty.

“Regional purchasing man-a g ers’ index (PMI) indicators areimproving across the UK. Economicand property performance is pickingup in the regions and we are finallyseeing signs of rental growth in theBristol office market. We are also on

the cusp of rental growth in the widerindustrial sector.

“UK-wide property performancehas certainly recovered more quicklythan anticipated and Bristol is feeling

the lift.”Walter predicted that givenstrong take-up in Q4 2014

and a discerniblystronger rental tone, itwas plausible that theBristol office marketwould soon be breakingthe £30 per square foot

headline rentt h re s h o l d .He also said interest

rates were showing few signsof going up anytime soon and,

given the weak growth in real wagesand tax receipts, a rate hike wasunlikely until Q1 2016 and even then itwould only be modest.

“At HSBC, an interesting question

arose about the depressing effect onwages of the auto-enrolment pensionschemes of SMEs,” he added. “D at asuggests that real wages could re-main lower for longer as employersreach into the wage pot to fund in-creased pension contributions - an-other reason why interest rates areunlikely to rise soon.”

Walter also highlighted the poten-tial impact of increased devolution tothe regions and increasing cooper-ation between Bristol and Cardiff.

“I am convinced the devolutionagenda is being pushed less for polit-ical reasons and more as a means ofproviding added impetus to the re-gional economies. Let the regions dowhat they do best and choose theirown course, rather than having onecentralised model that is meant to fitall. The advantages of having entitiessuch as a Bristol-Cardiff City Regionmake sense.”

D eve l o p m e n t

Builders turn to garden sites aspressure for city space increases

Dip in optimism but‘recovery on track’� CONFIDENCE among businesseshas slipped in the past six monthsagainst a background of risingconcern about exports to Europe.

The Business in Britain reportfrom Lloyds Bank gathers the viewsof bosses twice a year.

Across the South West confidencefell from a record high in July.Expectations for total sales, ordersand profits in the next six monthshave all dropped butremain abovetheir long-termre g i o n a laverage.Fifty-twoper cent ofbusinessessaid theyexpect theirorders toi n c re a s eduring the firsthalf of the year,while just four per cent anticipate adecline. The 48 per cent net balancerepresents a 13 point decrease.

Similarly, 54 per cent stated thatthey think their sales will increase inthe next six months, while just 11per cent expect a drop, leading to a43 per cent overall balance, a 22point decrease from July.

But David Beaumont, pictur ed,area director for SMEs at LloydsBank Commercial Banking, said:“Although business confidence hasslipped back, it is important toremember that the UK recoveryremains on track. Companiesshould continue to think about theirpriorities and how they can bestgrow their businesses as we startthe New Year.”

Gyms warned to getTV licences in shape� WITH more than 150 gyms andhealth clubs across Bristolexpecting to welcome significantnumbers of new members thismonth, TV Licensing is remindingowners of fitness clubs they need alicence if their members watch liveTV while they exercise.

However, gyms and health clubsrequire a TV licence if customers orstaff watch live TV programmes –whether on a TV, tablet, computer orany other type of equipment.

Richard Chapman, spokespersonfor TV Licensing, said: “Beingcaught without a business TVlicence is a criminal offence andcould potentially mean you’reunable to provide this form ofentertainment to your members – aservice that many people enjoywhile they work out.”

Eco n o my

Fitness clubs

On crest of a wave We ’re aimingto evolve, say Fundsurfer pair

PRESSURE on space in greater Bris-tol could see more homes built ong ardens.

Two new residential projects beingundertaken by Aust-based Helm Con-struction are on garden sites.

Chief executive Gary Sheppardsaid one site in Peache Road, Down-end, had been bought by a client forits particularly large garden – now ina dilapidated state - which offersenough room for four semi-detachedh o m e s.

The other property in Muller Roadis an end terrace house where per-mission has been granted to build athree-bedroom house on the adjoin-ing garden plot.

Gary said: “Both sites have plan-

ning permission with the opportun-ity to utilise under-used space.

“Development in Bristol is dictatedby lack of space. There is not a lot ofundeveloped space to play withwhich means developers are con-stantly on the lookout for suitablebrown-field sites or thinking outsideof the box to make the best use ofspare plots like these.

“There is a housing quota to meetand land is limited, unlike SouthGloucestershire which has plenty ofland available to build on.”

The firm is active on a dozenbrown-field sites across Bristol, help-ing to bring derelict or abandonedplots back into the public realm afteryears and even decades of standing

Assistant Editor (Business)Gavin Thompson

Call 0117 934 3336Email gavin.thompson

@b-nm.co.ukTwitter @gavin_thompson1

Get in touch

Advertising RobertRodgersonCall07828 941469Email ro b e r t . ro d g e r s o n@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising JaneChapman

Call 01179 343025Email jane.chapman

@b-nm.co.uk

More stores could beopened in region� RETAILERS are eyeing theSouth West for more new storesthis year.

The TLT Retail GrowthStrategies Report 2015 found thatretailers think the South West isthe region with the most potential.

One factor could be therelatively high disposable incomearound the Bristol region.

Perran Jervis, ofBristol-headquartered law firmTLT, said: “There has beensignificant investment in recentyears across the South West,including the development ofBristol’s Cabot Circus and theexpansion of Exeter’s high street.

“But, as our annual reportreveals, there is still more potentialfor new stores in the region.”

Ret a i l

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

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

H ote l s

Owner taking hands-on role at luxury venueTHE owner of a four-star hotel nearBristol is taking greater control ofits management.

The operation of the DoubleTreeby Hilton, Cadbury House in Con-gresbury, which is owned by San-guine Hospitality, will now beoverseen by New York Italian Ltd.

With its HQ based at the NorthSomerset venue, the running of thevenue will be overseen by Wring-ton-based Nick Taplin who is chair-man of New York Italian Ltd.

The decision, made possible by anew bank facility from Lloyds, doesnot affect the day-to-day running ofCadbury House.

The hotel had previously beenoverseen by Interstate Hotels andResorts UK.

The venue has enjoyed a £26 mil-lion investment over the past 10years. And it’s this sort of invest-ment that the switch of managementcompanies will allow in future.

With backing from Downing In-vestment and Lloyds Bank the venuewas bought by Nick back in 2003 andhe has personally overseen the re-invention of the well-known venue.

He said: “This is an exciting timefor Cadbury House.

“It’s been a fantastic journey tooversee the transformation of thissleepy giant, into the leading,four-star, boutique-style hotel,health club and spa that has helpedplace North Somerset right on them ap.

“There are still lots of excitingplans that will ensure it maintainsits position as the number one venuefor conferences, meetings, weddings,celebrations and health and fitness.

“The best way we feel to do this isto give the team at the venue the

autonomy to make the decisions asthey are the ones who know thevenue better than anyone else.

“ By bringing the management ofthe venue back in house we will beable to make quicker decisions andbe a lot more present in the businessthan an international manager.”

During Nick’s tenure a new £6million health club and spa openedin 2006 followed by the refurbish-

ment of the house and opening of anew 72-bedroom hotel in 2007.

In 2009 it became part of theDoubleTree by Hilton franchisewhile remaining independent.

In 2010 a 60-bedroom hotel exten-sion was opened while the restaur-ant was re-branded as a MarcoPierre White Steakhouse Bar &Grill.

Nick added: “It will be great as an

owner to spend more time in thebusiness, ensuring we are all at thetop of our game.

“I am looking forward to gettingMarco more involved with me heretoo as well as our other restaurantsacross the country.”

Existing general managementteam of Colin Badcock and JasonEaton will report directly into theboard headed up by Nick.

ONE of Bristol’s most distinctiveGeorgian parades has new owners.

Change Real Estate has acquiredthe freehold of the parade in Red-cliffe, which includes six townhouses, most recently used as officeaccommodation, together with mod-ern offices to the rear.

Overlooking the floating harbour,near St Mary Redcliffe Church, 3-8Redcliffe Parade West have Grade IIlisted status. Together with the sep-arate office building, the total floorarea is 32,400 sq ft.

The property has been bought in ajoint venture with Cannon FamilyOffice from a private vendor for £4million. The buildings could be con-verted back into homes, as a schemeto create 14 apartments has consent.

Ron Persaud, director of ChangeReal Estate, said: “The Redcliffe areais undergoing a renaissance, from theBristol General Hospital redevelop-ment through to Redcliff Square.

“This is an exciting acquisition forChange Real Estate in the heart of anhistoric corner of Bristol.”

Fo re c a st � The DoubleTree by Hilton, Cadbury House; inset, Nick Taplin and, below, chef Marco Pierre White

e m p t y.Gary added: “Developers are re-

cognising our ability to deliverhomes on the tightest urban sites -where you have to deliberatelydownsize the whole operating sched-ule in order to work within and along-side the community rather than try

and work against it.“These inner city sites tend to be

fairly restricted in terms of elbowroom and this factor puts some build-ers off. But we see these smaller sitesas a crucial component in providingthe homes Bristolians are crying outfo r. ”

Historic harboursideparade sold for £4m

THE team behind acrowd-funding platformplans to transform it into aone-stop shop for raisingmoney for creative business

and social enterprise projects.Fundsurfer, based at the Engine

Shed centre in the Temple QuarterEnterprise Zone, launched as a re-wards-based crowd-funding websiteand helped film rental business 20thCentury Flicks get enough money tomove from Clifton to a biggerpremises in central Bristol.

The platform has helped 12 pro-jects so far, including furniture re-cycling enterprise Re:Work andauthor Amy Morse, but foundersOliver Mochizuki, p i c t u re d , andDerek Ahmedzai believe it needs toevolve if it too is to become a suc-cessful business.

20th Century Flicks wassomething of a breakthrough.

“We had our first real successstory where they set a target of£10,000 – they went a couple of thou-sand past that,” said Oliver. “We hadnational press, Simon Pegg got in-volved Tweeting about the fact he

owed them £4.50 from when he was astudent. That was great. He actuallysent a package to them with a chequeincluding interest. I don’t thinkthey’ll be cashing that cheque.”

Oliver said launching a campaignwas hard work and this one workedbecause the 20th Century Flicksteam took advice and put in theef fort.

“It was a great validationof Fundsurfer and proofthat you can do it,” saidOliver. Now the pairwant the platform toevo l ve.

“The whole finan-cial landscape is chan-ging and beingdisrupted on an almostweekly basis so we aretrying to evolve and keep upwith that,” said Oliver.

While keeping the rewards anddonation based Fundsurfer plat-form, the duo are branching out andnot just to other forms ofc rowd - f u n d i n g .

“T here’s been an evolving of ourposition from being a crowd-fundingplatform to being a funding plat-for m,” said Oliver. “We ’ve been inthe trenches now for six months andtalked to dozens of creative and so-cial projects and the number oneproblem people have is funding.”

The business will offer free30-minute consultations to develop afunding strategy with any busi-nesses or social enterprises.

Oliver said: “It may involve usputting together a crowd-fundingproject for them or there could be aneed for a start-up loan fromStart-Up Loans Company, a mentor,

support from Growth Accelerator,or a loan from a peer-to-peer

lending partner.“The objective is to put

forward sustainablebusiness fundingstrategies and to moveaway from the relianceon grants because they

always come to an end.”Fundsurfer will then

refer firms onto partnersincluding peer-to-peer lender

Funding Circle or private equityconsultants Lucid Ventures, who areeager for quality applications.

“We know what the lenders wantto see we know what grant providerswant to see so we can broker thatre l at i o n s h i p, ” said Oliver.

The right solution for a businessmight be mix of several fundingsources. Fundsurfer gets paid oncommission, so only gets moneyonce the business has succeeded inraising some.

The focus remains on social and

creative businesses and projects.But the guys are confident this

change in direction will give them along-term future. Derek put it:“Crowd-funding will lose its buzzword status at some point… but theneed for funding won’t.”

REWARD SYSTEM

� Fundsurfer started as arewards-based, crowd-funding platform – so whatdoes that mean?

It means that when peoplepledge money, rather than astake in the business (equityfunding), they get a reward.

The simplest version mightbe the product being made.

You pledge money to awriter to help them create acomic, and your reward is oneof the first copies.

It’s a way for start-ups tomeasure demand before theyorder stock.

In the case of 20th CenturyFlicks, backers receivedmembership, free rentals andcoffees, T-shirts and a specialscreening depending on theamount pledged.� Peache Road in Bristol where new homes are being built on a garden plot

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2 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 3We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 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

Off ices

Fu n d ra i s i n g

Limited supply willforce up prices� PROPERTY agency KnightFrank has made its marketpredictions, forecasting prices willbe driven up by limited supply.

Martin Booth, the partnerheading the office agency team inBristol, said: “We expect to seestrong rental growth in themajority of regional city centresover the next 12 months, withnew development completionssecuring higher prime rentallevels.

“In Bristol, headline rents of £28at the end of 2014 will have risento £29.50 by the end of 2015,driven by a lack of grade A stock.

“We fully expect that vacancyrates will continue to reduceacross all of Bristol’s officemarkets and across all grades ofaccommodation.”

Louisa Rickard, associate,commercial research, KnightFrank, added; “As economicgrowth spreads to the regions weexpect to see prime office rentsrise across regional city centres in2015. Lack of supply at the primeend of the market will add furtherupward pressure on both primeand secondary rental growth.”

Sale

Wild West Bristol property marketwill boom this year, claims expert

INCREASED investment will putBristol at the forefront of a WildWest style property boomthrough 2015, says one expert.Colliers International’s econom-

ic forecaster Walter Boettcher, pic-t u re d , made his predictions during awhistle-stop tour of leading Bristolcompanies where he gave city pro-fessionals a rundown on current andprojected business drivers through2015 and in to 2016.

Walter gave a 30-minute present-ation on key economic trends to in-vited audiences at the offices of BDO,RBS, Williams and Glynn, HSBC,VWV Solicitors and Clarke Willmottas well as hotel investors EQ Group.

He was joined by Colliers Inter-national hospitality sector directorSimon Wells, who reported on theincreasingly healthy state of the WestCountry hotel market and the latestinvestment trends within the sec-t o r.

Central to Walter’s themewas increasing invest-ment in the regions. Hesaid: “Bristol really islike the Wild West insome ways as thescramble for yield seesmultiple buyers chasinginvestment and otherproper ty.

“Regional purchasing man-a g ers’ index (PMI) indicators areimproving across the UK. Economicand property performance is pickingup in the regions and we are finallyseeing signs of rental growth in theBristol office market. We are also on

the cusp of rental growth in the widerindustrial sector.

“UK-wide property performancehas certainly recovered more quicklythan anticipated and Bristol is feeling

the lift.”Walter predicted that givenstrong take-up in Q4 2014

and a discerniblystronger rental tone, itwas plausible that theBristol office marketwould soon be breakingthe £30 per square foot

headline rentt h re s h o l d .He also said interest

rates were showing few signsof going up anytime soon and,

given the weak growth in real wagesand tax receipts, a rate hike wasunlikely until Q1 2016 and even then itwould only be modest.

“At HSBC, an interesting question

arose about the depressing effect onwages of the auto-enrolment pensionschemes of SMEs,” he added. “D at asuggests that real wages could re-main lower for longer as employersreach into the wage pot to fund in-creased pension contributions - an-other reason why interest rates areunlikely to rise soon.”

Walter also highlighted the poten-tial impact of increased devolution tothe regions and increasing cooper-ation between Bristol and Cardiff.

“I am convinced the devolutionagenda is being pushed less for polit-ical reasons and more as a means ofproviding added impetus to the re-gional economies. Let the regions dowhat they do best and choose theirown course, rather than having onecentralised model that is meant to fitall. The advantages of having entitiessuch as a Bristol-Cardiff City Regionmake sense.”

D eve l o p m e n t

Builders turn to garden sites aspressure for city space increases

Dip in optimism but‘recovery on track’� CONFIDENCE among businesseshas slipped in the past six monthsagainst a background of risingconcern about exports to Europe.

The Business in Britain reportfrom Lloyds Bank gathers the viewsof bosses twice a year.

Across the South West confidencefell from a record high in July.Expectations for total sales, ordersand profits in the next six monthshave all dropped butremain abovetheir long-termre g i o n a laverage.Fifty-twoper cent ofbusinessessaid theyexpect theirorders toi n c re a s eduring the firsthalf of the year,while just four per cent anticipate adecline. The 48 per cent net balancerepresents a 13 point decrease.

Similarly, 54 per cent stated thatthey think their sales will increase inthe next six months, while just 11per cent expect a drop, leading to a43 per cent overall balance, a 22point decrease from July.

But David Beaumont, pictur ed,area director for SMEs at LloydsBank Commercial Banking, said:“Although business confidence hasslipped back, it is important toremember that the UK recoveryremains on track. Companiesshould continue to think about theirpriorities and how they can bestgrow their businesses as we startthe New Year.”

Gyms warned to getTV licences in shape� WITH more than 150 gyms andhealth clubs across Bristolexpecting to welcome significantnumbers of new members thismonth, TV Licensing is remindingowners of fitness clubs they need alicence if their members watch liveTV while they exercise.

However, gyms and health clubsrequire a TV licence if customers orstaff watch live TV programmes –whether on a TV, tablet, computer orany other type of equipment.

Richard Chapman, spokespersonfor TV Licensing, said: “Beingcaught without a business TVlicence is a criminal offence andcould potentially mean you’reunable to provide this form ofentertainment to your members – aservice that many people enjoywhile they work out.”

Eco n o my

Fitness clubs

On crest of a wave We ’re aimingto evolve, say Fundsurfer pair

PRESSURE on space in greater Bris-tol could see more homes built ong ardens.

Two new residential projects beingundertaken by Aust-based Helm Con-struction are on garden sites.

Chief executive Gary Sheppardsaid one site in Peache Road, Down-end, had been bought by a client forits particularly large garden – now ina dilapidated state - which offersenough room for four semi-detachedh o m e s.

The other property in Muller Roadis an end terrace house where per-mission has been granted to build athree-bedroom house on the adjoin-ing garden plot.

Gary said: “Both sites have plan-

ning permission with the opportun-ity to utilise under-used space.

“Development in Bristol is dictatedby lack of space. There is not a lot ofundeveloped space to play withwhich means developers are con-stantly on the lookout for suitablebrown-field sites or thinking outsideof the box to make the best use ofspare plots like these.

“There is a housing quota to meetand land is limited, unlike SouthGloucestershire which has plenty ofland available to build on.”

The firm is active on a dozenbrown-field sites across Bristol, help-ing to bring derelict or abandonedplots back into the public realm afteryears and even decades of standing

Assistant Editor (Business)Gavin Thompson

Call 0117 934 3336Email gavin.thompson

@b-nm.co.ukTwitter @gavin_thompson1

Get in touch

Advertising RobertRodgersonCall07828 941469Email ro b e r t . ro d g e r s o n@b-nm.co.uk

Advertising JaneChapman

Call 01179 343025Email jane.chapman

@b-nm.co.uk

More stores could beopened in region� RETAILERS are eyeing theSouth West for more new storesthis year.

The TLT Retail GrowthStrategies Report 2015 found thatretailers think the South West isthe region with the most potential.

One factor could be therelatively high disposable incomearound the Bristol region.

Perran Jervis, ofBristol-headquartered law firmTLT, said: “There has beensignificant investment in recentyears across the South West,including the development ofBristol’s Cabot Circus and theexpansion of Exeter’s high street.

“But, as our annual reportreveals, there is still more potentialfor new stores in the region.”

Ret a i l

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

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

H ote l s

Owner taking hands-on role at luxury venueTHE owner of a four-star hotel nearBristol is taking greater control ofits management.

The operation of the DoubleTreeby Hilton, Cadbury House in Con-gresbury, which is owned by San-guine Hospitality, will now beoverseen by New York Italian Ltd.

With its HQ based at the NorthSomerset venue, the running of thevenue will be overseen by Wring-ton-based Nick Taplin who is chair-man of New York Italian Ltd.

The decision, made possible by anew bank facility from Lloyds, doesnot affect the day-to-day running ofCadbury House.

The hotel had previously beenoverseen by Interstate Hotels andResorts UK.

The venue has enjoyed a £26 mil-lion investment over the past 10years. And it’s this sort of invest-ment that the switch of managementcompanies will allow in future.

With backing from Downing In-vestment and Lloyds Bank the venuewas bought by Nick back in 2003 andhe has personally overseen the re-invention of the well-known venue.

He said: “This is an exciting timefor Cadbury House.

“It’s been a fantastic journey tooversee the transformation of thissleepy giant, into the leading,four-star, boutique-style hotel,health club and spa that has helpedplace North Somerset right on them ap.

“There are still lots of excitingplans that will ensure it maintainsits position as the number one venuefor conferences, meetings, weddings,celebrations and health and fitness.

“The best way we feel to do this isto give the team at the venue the

autonomy to make the decisions asthey are the ones who know thevenue better than anyone else.

“ By bringing the management ofthe venue back in house we will beable to make quicker decisions andbe a lot more present in the businessthan an international manager.”

During Nick’s tenure a new £6million health club and spa openedin 2006 followed by the refurbish-

ment of the house and opening of anew 72-bedroom hotel in 2007.

In 2009 it became part of theDoubleTree by Hilton franchisewhile remaining independent.

In 2010 a 60-bedroom hotel exten-sion was opened while the restaur-ant was re-branded as a MarcoPierre White Steakhouse Bar &Grill.

Nick added: “It will be great as an

owner to spend more time in thebusiness, ensuring we are all at thetop of our game.

“I am looking forward to gettingMarco more involved with me heretoo as well as our other restaurantsacross the country.”

Existing general managementteam of Colin Badcock and JasonEaton will report directly into theboard headed up by Nick.

ONE of Bristol’s most distinctiveGeorgian parades has new owners.

Change Real Estate has acquiredthe freehold of the parade in Red-cliffe, which includes six townhouses, most recently used as officeaccommodation, together with mod-ern offices to the rear.

Overlooking the floating harbour,near St Mary Redcliffe Church, 3-8Redcliffe Parade West have Grade IIlisted status. Together with the sep-arate office building, the total floorarea is 32,400 sq ft.

The property has been bought in ajoint venture with Cannon FamilyOffice from a private vendor for £4million. The buildings could be con-verted back into homes, as a schemeto create 14 apartments has consent.

Ron Persaud, director of ChangeReal Estate, said: “The Redcliffe areais undergoing a renaissance, from theBristol General Hospital redevelop-ment through to Redcliff Square.

“This is an exciting acquisition forChange Real Estate in the heart of anhistoric corner of Bristol.”

Fo re c a st � The DoubleTree by Hilton, Cadbury House; inset, Nick Taplin and, below, chef Marco Pierre White

e m p t y.Gary added: “Developers are re-

cognising our ability to deliverhomes on the tightest urban sites -where you have to deliberatelydownsize the whole operating sched-ule in order to work within and along-side the community rather than try

and work against it.“These inner city sites tend to be

fairly restricted in terms of elbowroom and this factor puts some build-ers off. But we see these smaller sitesas a crucial component in providingthe homes Bristolians are crying outfo r. ”

Historic harboursideparade sold for £4m

THE team behind acrowd-funding platformplans to transform it into aone-stop shop for raisingmoney for creative business

and social enterprise projects.Fundsurfer, based at the Engine

Shed centre in the Temple QuarterEnterprise Zone, launched as a re-wards-based crowd-funding websiteand helped film rental business 20thCentury Flicks get enough money tomove from Clifton to a biggerpremises in central Bristol.

The platform has helped 12 pro-jects so far, including furniture re-cycling enterprise Re:Work andauthor Amy Morse, but foundersOliver Mochizuki, p i c t u re d , andDerek Ahmedzai believe it needs toevolve if it too is to become a suc-cessful business.

20th Century Flicks wassomething of a breakthrough.

“We had our first real successstory where they set a target of£10,000 – they went a couple of thou-sand past that,” said Oliver. “We hadnational press, Simon Pegg got in-volved Tweeting about the fact he

owed them £4.50 from when he was astudent. That was great. He actuallysent a package to them with a chequeincluding interest. I don’t thinkthey’ll be cashing that cheque.”

Oliver said launching a campaignwas hard work and this one workedbecause the 20th Century Flicksteam took advice and put in theef fort.

“It was a great validationof Fundsurfer and proofthat you can do it,” saidOliver. Now the pairwant the platform toevo l ve.

“The whole finan-cial landscape is chan-ging and beingdisrupted on an almostweekly basis so we aretrying to evolve and keep upwith that,” said Oliver.

While keeping the rewards anddonation based Fundsurfer plat-form, the duo are branching out andnot just to other forms ofc rowd - f u n d i n g .

“T here’s been an evolving of ourposition from being a crowd-fundingplatform to being a funding plat-for m,” said Oliver. “We ’ve been inthe trenches now for six months andtalked to dozens of creative and so-cial projects and the number oneproblem people have is funding.”

The business will offer free30-minute consultations to develop afunding strategy with any busi-nesses or social enterprises.

Oliver said: “It may involve usputting together a crowd-fundingproject for them or there could be aneed for a start-up loan fromStart-Up Loans Company, a mentor,

support from Growth Accelerator,or a loan from a peer-to-peer

lending partner.“The objective is to put

forward sustainablebusiness fundingstrategies and to moveaway from the relianceon grants because they

always come to an end.”Fundsurfer will then

refer firms onto partnersincluding peer-to-peer lender

Funding Circle or private equityconsultants Lucid Ventures, who areeager for quality applications.

“We know what the lenders wantto see we know what grant providerswant to see so we can broker thatre l at i o n s h i p, ” said Oliver.

The right solution for a businessmight be mix of several fundingsources. Fundsurfer gets paid oncommission, so only gets moneyonce the business has succeeded inraising some.

The focus remains on social and

creative businesses and projects.But the guys are confident this

change in direction will give them along-term future. Derek put it:“Crowd-funding will lose its buzzword status at some point… but theneed for funding won’t.”

REWARD SYSTEM

� Fundsurfer started as arewards-based, crowd-funding platform – so whatdoes that mean?

It means that when peoplepledge money, rather than astake in the business (equityfunding), they get a reward.

The simplest version mightbe the product being made.

You pledge money to awriter to help them create acomic, and your reward is oneof the first copies.

It’s a way for start-ups tomeasure demand before theyorder stock.

In the case of 20th CenturyFlicks, backers receivedmembership, free rentals andcoffees, T-shirts and a specialscreening depending on theamount pledged.� Peache Road in Bristol where new homes are being built on a garden plot

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4 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 5We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 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

AN independent insurancefirm is targeting 30 per centgrowth this year, but is frus-trated over a move to largerpremises by the lack of avail-

able office space in Bristol.Venture Insurance has seen premi-

ums placed through the firm rising toin excess of £6 million in 2013/14,from £4.5 million the previous year,with two new permanent members ofstaff growing the team to 11.

Further expansion is targeted asVenture Insurance continues to buildits client base, and more growth willnecessitate a move to larger premisesaway from the company’s offices inKings Parade Avenue in Clifton.

But managing director SimonJames says he is struggling to findanything available to buy close to the

c o m p a ny ’s present location offWhiteladies Road.

He said: “We are desperate to pur-chase some new offices. We’re out ofspace here and with the parking re-strictions causing issues for our staffand our clients, we definitely need todo something. We have a good budgetand we are flexible – we are preparedto occupy anything between 2,000 sq ftand 4,000 sq ft, letting part of it out ifn e c e s s a r y.

“The problem we have is that wewant to stay in our heartland of Clif-ton and Whiteladies Road but there’sjust nothing around to buy.

“The easing of the planning reg-ulations which allow conversionfrom offices to residential is a realissue for us. We’ve been looking forseveral months but we can’t find any-thing appropriate.”

Venture Insurance’s brokers offerbetween them more than 150 years’experience in insurance across awide range of industries.

Last year the company, which was

set up three years ago, became one offewer than 100 companies in the UKto have been given Chartered status.

Despite the difficulties in findingnew office space to cater for the ex-pansion of Venture Insurance, Simonremained encouraged by his com-p a ny ’s growth.

He said: “Our performance isshown in the fact that we now have 11full-time staff – with a new accountsmanager joining us full-time – sowe ’ve added two staff since the sum-m e r.

“We ’re proud of what we’veachieved and things are lookinghealthy financially. We are a businesswhich is thriving and bringing in lotsof new clients. We are aiming for 30per cent growth in terms of the premi-ums we have placed this year.

“We are still getting great supportfrom insurers who love the fact thatwe are independent. We are hiringdeveloped, experienced, top-end pro-fessionals, employing people who canreally look after our clients.”

Growing pains We can’tfind suitable office space

Double winners ‘Awards reallygave us a great confidence boost’

A COMPANY that provides fluid systems forthe pharmaceutical, power and semiconduct-or industries has moved its Bristol sales andservice centre.

Swagelok Bristol, represented by interna-tional real estate adviser Savills, has taken aunit in Almondsbury from Aviva InvestorsGlobal Services Limited.

Simon Cooke, p i c t u re d , managing director

of Swagelok Bristol, said: “As the com-pany expanded it was clear we wouldneed to re-locate our operations tofacilitate our needs and we aredelighted with this new space onOrpen Park.

“We are particularly happy tohave found a Bristol location forthe firm, not far from our pre-vious address in Avonmouth,which enables us to continue ourfirst class service to clients across there gion.”

The firm has signed a10-year lease onthe industrial unit, which totals

18,215 sq ft (1,692 sq m). The quot-ing rent for the unit was £6 per sqft (£65 per sq m).

Rob Cleeves, industrial dir-ector at Savills, which repres-ented the firm, added: “Wi t hhigh quality industrial accom-

modation and superb transportlinks, Orpen Park is an ideal loc-

ation for Swagelok to continue itsg rowth.”

Swagelok ‘delighted’ withnew base for sales centre

Solicitors on move asstaff numbers leap� THE Bristol arm of NewLawSolicitors has revealed a growth of650 per cent in staff numberssince moving to the city less thantwo years ago.

Since January 2013 NewLaw’sBristol team – which was rankedin the Legal 500 for the SouthWest region last year – has grownfrom 10 to more than 75employees.

As a consequence, the rapidlygrowing firm has acquired theentire second floor of Bristol’sTower Wharf office building toaccommodate its expandingworkforce in the city.

With capacity for housing 160staff, this new space will allow forthe significant planned growth ofthe team in Bristol over thecoming few years.

Head of office Jon Fitzpatricksaid: “Making the move to largerpremises is the next step towardsconfirming and consolidating ourreputation as a leading law firm inthe city and we are really lookingforward to welcoming newcolleagues to join our excellentteam as the office expands.

“Bristol is a major legal centreand as such there is a large poolof existing expertise on which wecan draw to fuel our plannedgrowth, supplemented by theimpressive quality of thegraduates produced by the city’simpressive universities as far asnew talent is concerned.

“Our success in Bristol mirrorsthat of the NewLaw group as awhole, which is based on the highquality of our staff, their strongwork ethic and client focus, ourintegrity, our innovative approachto solving legal and businessproblems, as well due to thestrength of our commercialpartnerships with companiesequally successful in their ownfields.

“Our new offices in Tower Wharfare in a superb, central locationwith facilities to meet all the needsof a modern law firm and we arelooking forward to making it ournew home.”

The firm specialises in personalinjury work, as well as wills, trustsand probate.

Jo Darlington, who heads upthe firm’s Bristol Serious Injuriesunit, said: “Every year we helpthousands of injured peoplerecover the compensation thatthey deserve and need followingwhat can be devastating andlife-changing accidents.”

Le g a lOpus ranked amongtop firms to work for� A RECRUITMENT agency hasbeen named one of the top 100small companies to work for.

Opus Recruitment Solutionswas founded in 2008 and is basedin the towering Castlemead officeblock in the city centre. It hasexpanded into a London officeand an office in Sydney, Australia.

It is the first time the firm hasmade the list, but bosses won’tfind out where it is actually rankeduntil February.

Founder and chief executiveDarren Ryemill said: “We feel thatin order to grow a strongbusiness, you must start from thebottom by ensuring jobsatisfaction across the company.

“To be acknowledged by anationally recognised achievementmakes us feel very proud and wewill continue to strive forexcellence in both the work we doand the environment we do it in.”

The Best Companies survey isconducted on a yearly basis andresults consist of one, two andthree-star accreditation ratings,and a best companies Index (BCI)score. In 2012 and 2013, Opusfeatured in the Sunday TimesVirgin Fast Track.

Firm on cloud nineafter HP recognition� A BRISTOL firm has been put inthe spotlight by IT giant HP for itsinnovative work in the cloud.

GateWest is one of only ahandful of companies in Europeaccredited to work with HP on itsnext generation data analyticsplatform IDOL.

Developer Dean Kinch from theThornbury-based companycreated an app called KnowGateto allow companies using HP’sIDOL On Demand to accessimportant – and sometimessensitive – information in a secureway while on the move.

HP invited a team fromGateWest to its annual conferencein Barcelona to launch a new setof cloud analytics services calledHaven OnDemand.

Neal Holley, head of operationsfor GateWest, said: “It wasfantastic for HP to recognise ourwork in this way and to see us aspioneers in taking their newtechnology and adapting it for themodern environment.”

A START-UP company has beenshowcasing its work at one of thewo rl d ’s biggest technology shows.

In just eight months Open Bionicshas grown from a one-person,crowd-funded idea to a three-personbusiness that has attracted investorsand attention worldwide.

Now the team has flown off to theInternational Consumer ElectronicsShow (CES) in Las Vegas.

The show, taking place this week, iswhere breakthrough technologies arerevealed to the world with more than3,500 exhibitors across fields such asgaming, 3D printing, car electronics

and bio-technology.Inventor Joel Gibbard founded

Open Bionics at the Bristol RoboticsLaboratory at UWE’s Frenchay cam-pus with the goal to make affordablerobotics hands for amputees.

Last year, Joel and colleagueSammy Payne took part in a globalwearable technology competition runby Intel.

They came second and walkedaway with £125,000 to invest in theiryoung business.

Now Intel has also flown them toVegas to take part in the trade show.

Joel said: “It’s an incredible op-

portunity to be on the world stageshowing how innovative technologiescan be used to change lives and help

Robotics team hits thejackpot with Vegas trip

people. We have a feeling new ad-vancements in the field of wearabletechnology will be taking centre

stage this year. It’s going to be anexciting trip.”

An Intel spokesman added: “Intelaims to inspire and create excitementwith CES visitors by showcasing –through technology demonstrationslike these – that the future of wearablecomputing is boundless.”

Joel and Sammy were joined by athird team member, Vitória Maur-ício, and will demonstrate their latestrobotic head.

The firm’s work is open source,meaning others can use it, and itsDextrus hands have been 3D printedby people in the USA, Canada,Ukraine, Scotland, and Australia.

It has been quite a year for Joel whowas recently named British YoungDesign Engineer of the Year at theBritish Engineering ExcellenceAwards, Founder of the Year at TheBristol and Bath SPARKies, and hasbeen shortlisted for Semta’s Engin-eering Hall of Fame award sponsoredby Rolls Royce and Jaguar.

I n s u ra n ce Re c r u i t m e n t

IT

Te c h n o l o g y

Fluid systems

Women in Business

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

THE CATEGORIES

Woman of the Year: A womanwho has made a significantpersonal contribution to thesuccess of the establishedcompany they run or in whichthey are employed.Young Entrepreneur of theYe a r : A woman who has madea significant contribution to thecompany they run, in whichthey are employed or theorganisation they have beenpromoted or fast trackedwithin.Mentor of the Year: Thewoman who has demonstratedthe skills of being a mentor,who has gone the extra mile insupporting a colleague orbusinessContribution to theCommunity, sponsored byThe Mall Cribbs Causeway:The woman who candemonstrate the difference shehas made to their communityand/or Bristol and Bath overthe year to Jan 1 2015.Women in the WorkplaceAward, sponsored by PPC: Acompany which hasdemonstrated a flexibility to theemployment of women.New Business of the Year,sponsored by YourStreet GiftC a rd s : Open to all businessesthat have started trading sinceJanuary 2013 and principaltrading base is in Bristol orBath with either woman/women owners or a femalehead of the company.Business of the Year: Thisaward will go to the profitablebusiness that either has afemale owner/s or a highpercentage of females on thesenior management team.Award for Innovation: Abusiness that has introduced anew product, process,invention, idea, or design thathas made a significantcontribution to the businessand has a female owner/s or ahigh percentage of females onthe senior management team.Marketing Campaign of theYe a r : An organisation that hascommunicated effectively withits target audience over thepast year, either as part of anongoing programme or aone-off campaign.Female Apprentice of theYear, sponsored by CrestNicholson: A femaleapprentice who can show theimpact she has had on theorganisation she works for, aswell evidence of personaldevelopmentOutstanding Contribution toBusiness in Bristol and Bath,sponsored by UWE: Thebusinesswoman who has madea considerable, profitable andlasting contribution to businessin Bristol and Bath. Not openfor submissions, buthandpicked by the judges.

Rupert JanischBusiness@b-nm.co.uk

� Simon James,managing director ofVenture Insurance,says the right kind ofoffice is not available inthe firm’s Clifton andWhiteladies Roadheartland

� Sammy Payne with Open Bionics founder Joel Gibbard

in association with

FOR Imogen McIntosh andAnne-Louise Perez, the 2014Bristol and Bath Women inBusiness Awards was a keymoment in the journey of

their burgeoning business.The pair won two awards, new busi-

ness and innovation, for their com-pany YourStreet Gift Cards whichcreates gift cards to be used in in-dependent stores.

Now they are urging other womento nominate themselves for theawards before the deadline on Friday,January 16.

“The awards really gave us a greatconfidence boost,” said Imogen. “Weare passionate about our business buthaving it recognised in that wayshowed other people were also pas-sionate about it.

“We were setting up in business forthe first time having both beenstay-at-home mums.

“Taking a career break, you feelde-skilled and lacking in confidencebut having won these awards made usfeel so empowered to carry on.”

Imogen, 38, and Anna, 45, were soimpressed by the evening that thisyear they are sponsoring the NewBusiness prize in the hope others willenjoy the benefits they have had.

“We had such a great experiencelast year,” said Imogen.

“The exposure was fantastic and itwas a brilliant way to network.

“I used to be a mental health nurseand Anna was a teacher so didn’thave a lot of experience in the busi-ness world before and tend to findourselves surrounded by lots of menin suits.

“It is really empowering to see lotsof other women in similar positions.That was really important for us.”

The past year has been good forYo u r S t re e t .

They have been piloting their giftcards in their home city of Bristol andhope to roll it out to Bath and othertowns and cities in 2015.

“It’s really exciting time for us,”said Imogen.

“Bristol has been a learning ex-perience, now we know what peoplelove, what didn’t work and have spenttime working out solutions to prob-lems and have a model ready to rollout elsewhere.”

Entries for the 2015 Bristol andBath Women in Business Awards,held in association with the Uni-versity of the West of England, must

be submitted by Friday, January 16,and will then be judged by an expertpanel who will draw up a shortlist off i n a l i s t s.

The winners will be revealed at agala awards dinner at the Bristol CityCentre Marriott on March 19.� To enter, sponsor a category orbook tickets for the night, visitw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t . c o . u k / w i b a . Ifyou’re talking about the awards onsocial medial, use #wiba.

SPONSORED BY

� Imogen McIntosh and Anne-Louise Perez, founders of YourStreet Gift Cards Pic: Barbara Evripidou

“ It is really empoweringto see lots of otherwomen in similarpositions. That was reallyimportant for us.

TO LET

Period Offce BuildingWestbury on Trym

BristolApprox 1,700 sq ft with parking

All enquiries:

andrew@wghproperty.co.uk©LW

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4 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 5We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 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

AN independent insurancefirm is targeting 30 per centgrowth this year, but is frus-trated over a move to largerpremises by the lack of avail-

able office space in Bristol.Venture Insurance has seen premi-

ums placed through the firm rising toin excess of £6 million in 2013/14,from £4.5 million the previous year,with two new permanent members ofstaff growing the team to 11.

Further expansion is targeted asVenture Insurance continues to buildits client base, and more growth willnecessitate a move to larger premisesaway from the company’s offices inKings Parade Avenue in Clifton.

But managing director SimonJames says he is struggling to findanything available to buy close to the

c o m p a ny ’s present location offWhiteladies Road.

He said: “We are desperate to pur-chase some new offices. We’re out ofspace here and with the parking re-strictions causing issues for our staffand our clients, we definitely need todo something. We have a good budgetand we are flexible – we are preparedto occupy anything between 2,000 sq ftand 4,000 sq ft, letting part of it out ifn e c e s s a r y.

“The problem we have is that wewant to stay in our heartland of Clif-ton and Whiteladies Road but there’sjust nothing around to buy.

“The easing of the planning reg-ulations which allow conversionfrom offices to residential is a realissue for us. We’ve been looking forseveral months but we can’t find any-thing appropriate.”

Venture Insurance’s brokers offerbetween them more than 150 years’experience in insurance across awide range of industries.

Last year the company, which was

set up three years ago, became one offewer than 100 companies in the UKto have been given Chartered status.

Despite the difficulties in findingnew office space to cater for the ex-pansion of Venture Insurance, Simonremained encouraged by his com-p a ny ’s growth.

He said: “Our performance isshown in the fact that we now have 11full-time staff – with a new accountsmanager joining us full-time – sowe ’ve added two staff since the sum-m e r.

“We ’re proud of what we’veachieved and things are lookinghealthy financially. We are a businesswhich is thriving and bringing in lotsof new clients. We are aiming for 30per cent growth in terms of the premi-ums we have placed this year.

“We are still getting great supportfrom insurers who love the fact thatwe are independent. We are hiringdeveloped, experienced, top-end pro-fessionals, employing people who canreally look after our clients.”

Growing pains We can’tfind suitable office space

Double winners ‘Awards reallygave us a great confidence boost’

A COMPANY that provides fluid systems forthe pharmaceutical, power and semiconduct-or industries has moved its Bristol sales andservice centre.

Swagelok Bristol, represented by interna-tional real estate adviser Savills, has taken aunit in Almondsbury from Aviva InvestorsGlobal Services Limited.

Simon Cooke, p i c t u re d , managing director

of Swagelok Bristol, said: “As the com-pany expanded it was clear we wouldneed to re-locate our operations tofacilitate our needs and we aredelighted with this new space onOrpen Park.

“We are particularly happy tohave found a Bristol location forthe firm, not far from our pre-vious address in Avonmouth,which enables us to continue ourfirst class service to clients across there gion.”

The firm has signed a10-year lease onthe industrial unit, which totals

18,215 sq ft (1,692 sq m). The quot-ing rent for the unit was £6 per sqft (£65 per sq m).

Rob Cleeves, industrial dir-ector at Savills, which repres-ented the firm, added: “Wi t hhigh quality industrial accom-

modation and superb transportlinks, Orpen Park is an ideal loc-

ation for Swagelok to continue itsg rowth.”

Swagelok ‘delighted’ withnew base for sales centre

Solicitors on move asstaff numbers leap� THE Bristol arm of NewLawSolicitors has revealed a growth of650 per cent in staff numberssince moving to the city less thantwo years ago.

Since January 2013 NewLaw’sBristol team – which was rankedin the Legal 500 for the SouthWest region last year – has grownfrom 10 to more than 75employees.

As a consequence, the rapidlygrowing firm has acquired theentire second floor of Bristol’sTower Wharf office building toaccommodate its expandingworkforce in the city.

With capacity for housing 160staff, this new space will allow forthe significant planned growth ofthe team in Bristol over thecoming few years.

Head of office Jon Fitzpatricksaid: “Making the move to largerpremises is the next step towardsconfirming and consolidating ourreputation as a leading law firm inthe city and we are really lookingforward to welcoming newcolleagues to join our excellentteam as the office expands.

“Bristol is a major legal centreand as such there is a large poolof existing expertise on which wecan draw to fuel our plannedgrowth, supplemented by theimpressive quality of thegraduates produced by the city’simpressive universities as far asnew talent is concerned.

“Our success in Bristol mirrorsthat of the NewLaw group as awhole, which is based on the highquality of our staff, their strongwork ethic and client focus, ourintegrity, our innovative approachto solving legal and businessproblems, as well due to thestrength of our commercialpartnerships with companiesequally successful in their ownfields.

“Our new offices in Tower Wharfare in a superb, central locationwith facilities to meet all the needsof a modern law firm and we arelooking forward to making it ournew home.”

The firm specialises in personalinjury work, as well as wills, trustsand probate.

Jo Darlington, who heads upthe firm’s Bristol Serious Injuriesunit, said: “Every year we helpthousands of injured peoplerecover the compensation thatthey deserve and need followingwhat can be devastating andlife-changing accidents.”

Le g a lOpus ranked amongtop firms to work for� A RECRUITMENT agency hasbeen named one of the top 100small companies to work for.

Opus Recruitment Solutionswas founded in 2008 and is basedin the towering Castlemead officeblock in the city centre. It hasexpanded into a London officeand an office in Sydney, Australia.

It is the first time the firm hasmade the list, but bosses won’tfind out where it is actually rankeduntil February.

Founder and chief executiveDarren Ryemill said: “We feel thatin order to grow a strongbusiness, you must start from thebottom by ensuring jobsatisfaction across the company.

“To be acknowledged by anationally recognised achievementmakes us feel very proud and wewill continue to strive forexcellence in both the work we doand the environment we do it in.”

The Best Companies survey isconducted on a yearly basis andresults consist of one, two andthree-star accreditation ratings,and a best companies Index (BCI)score. In 2012 and 2013, Opusfeatured in the Sunday TimesVirgin Fast Track.

Firm on cloud nineafter HP recognition� A BRISTOL firm has been put inthe spotlight by IT giant HP for itsinnovative work in the cloud.

GateWest is one of only ahandful of companies in Europeaccredited to work with HP on itsnext generation data analyticsplatform IDOL.

Developer Dean Kinch from theThornbury-based companycreated an app called KnowGateto allow companies using HP’sIDOL On Demand to accessimportant – and sometimessensitive – information in a secureway while on the move.

HP invited a team fromGateWest to its annual conferencein Barcelona to launch a new setof cloud analytics services calledHaven OnDemand.

Neal Holley, head of operationsfor GateWest, said: “It wasfantastic for HP to recognise ourwork in this way and to see us aspioneers in taking their newtechnology and adapting it for themodern environment.”

A START-UP company has beenshowcasing its work at one of thewo rl d ’s biggest technology shows.

In just eight months Open Bionicshas grown from a one-person,crowd-funded idea to a three-personbusiness that has attracted investorsand attention worldwide.

Now the team has flown off to theInternational Consumer ElectronicsShow (CES) in Las Vegas.

The show, taking place this week, iswhere breakthrough technologies arerevealed to the world with more than3,500 exhibitors across fields such asgaming, 3D printing, car electronics

and bio-technology.Inventor Joel Gibbard founded

Open Bionics at the Bristol RoboticsLaboratory at UWE’s Frenchay cam-pus with the goal to make affordablerobotics hands for amputees.

Last year, Joel and colleagueSammy Payne took part in a globalwearable technology competition runby Intel.

They came second and walkedaway with £125,000 to invest in theiryoung business.

Now Intel has also flown them toVegas to take part in the trade show.

Joel said: “It’s an incredible op-

portunity to be on the world stageshowing how innovative technologiescan be used to change lives and help

Robotics team hits thejackpot with Vegas trip

people. We have a feeling new ad-vancements in the field of wearabletechnology will be taking centre

stage this year. It’s going to be anexciting trip.”

An Intel spokesman added: “Intelaims to inspire and create excitementwith CES visitors by showcasing –through technology demonstrationslike these – that the future of wearablecomputing is boundless.”

Joel and Sammy were joined by athird team member, Vitória Maur-ício, and will demonstrate their latestrobotic head.

The firm’s work is open source,meaning others can use it, and itsDextrus hands have been 3D printedby people in the USA, Canada,Ukraine, Scotland, and Australia.

It has been quite a year for Joel whowas recently named British YoungDesign Engineer of the Year at theBritish Engineering ExcellenceAwards, Founder of the Year at TheBristol and Bath SPARKies, and hasbeen shortlisted for Semta’s Engin-eering Hall of Fame award sponsoredby Rolls Royce and Jaguar.

I n s u ra n ce Re c r u i t m e n t

IT

Te c h n o l o g y

Fluid systems

Women in Business

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

THE CATEGORIES

Woman of the Year: A womanwho has made a significantpersonal contribution to thesuccess of the establishedcompany they run or in whichthey are employed.Young Entrepreneur of theYe a r : A woman who has madea significant contribution to thecompany they run, in whichthey are employed or theorganisation they have beenpromoted or fast trackedwithin.Mentor of the Year: Thewoman who has demonstratedthe skills of being a mentor,who has gone the extra mile insupporting a colleague orbusinessContribution to theCommunity, sponsored byThe Mall Cribbs Causeway:The woman who candemonstrate the difference shehas made to their communityand/or Bristol and Bath overthe year to Jan 1 2015.Women in the WorkplaceAward, sponsored by PPC: Acompany which hasdemonstrated a flexibility to theemployment of women.New Business of the Year,sponsored by YourStreet GiftC a rd s : Open to all businessesthat have started trading sinceJanuary 2013 and principaltrading base is in Bristol orBath with either woman/women owners or a femalehead of the company.Business of the Year: Thisaward will go to the profitablebusiness that either has afemale owner/s or a highpercentage of females on thesenior management team.Award for Innovation: Abusiness that has introduced anew product, process,invention, idea, or design thathas made a significantcontribution to the businessand has a female owner/s or ahigh percentage of females onthe senior management team.Marketing Campaign of theYe a r : An organisation that hascommunicated effectively withits target audience over thepast year, either as part of anongoing programme or aone-off campaign.Female Apprentice of theYear, sponsored by CrestNicholson: A femaleapprentice who can show theimpact she has had on theorganisation she works for, aswell evidence of personaldevelopmentOutstanding Contribution toBusiness in Bristol and Bath,sponsored by UWE: Thebusinesswoman who has madea considerable, profitable andlasting contribution to businessin Bristol and Bath. Not openfor submissions, buthandpicked by the judges.

Rupert JanischBusiness@b-nm.co.uk

� Simon James,managing director ofVenture Insurance,says the right kind ofoffice is not available inthe firm’s Clifton andWhiteladies Roadheartland

� Sammy Payne with Open Bionics founder Joel Gibbard

in association with

FOR Imogen McIntosh andAnne-Louise Perez, the 2014Bristol and Bath Women inBusiness Awards was a keymoment in the journey of

their burgeoning business.The pair won two awards, new busi-

ness and innovation, for their com-pany YourStreet Gift Cards whichcreates gift cards to be used in in-dependent stores.

Now they are urging other womento nominate themselves for theawards before the deadline on Friday,January 16.

“The awards really gave us a greatconfidence boost,” said Imogen. “Weare passionate about our business buthaving it recognised in that wayshowed other people were also pas-sionate about it.

“We were setting up in business forthe first time having both beenstay-at-home mums.

“Taking a career break, you feelde-skilled and lacking in confidencebut having won these awards made usfeel so empowered to carry on.”

Imogen, 38, and Anna, 45, were soimpressed by the evening that thisyear they are sponsoring the NewBusiness prize in the hope others willenjoy the benefits they have had.

“We had such a great experiencelast year,” said Imogen.

“The exposure was fantastic and itwas a brilliant way to network.

“I used to be a mental health nurseand Anna was a teacher so didn’thave a lot of experience in the busi-ness world before and tend to findourselves surrounded by lots of menin suits.

“It is really empowering to see lotsof other women in similar positions.That was really important for us.”

The past year has been good forYo u r S t re e t .

They have been piloting their giftcards in their home city of Bristol andhope to roll it out to Bath and othertowns and cities in 2015.

“It’s really exciting time for us,”said Imogen.

“Bristol has been a learning ex-perience, now we know what peoplelove, what didn’t work and have spenttime working out solutions to prob-lems and have a model ready to rollout elsewhere.”

Entries for the 2015 Bristol andBath Women in Business Awards,held in association with the Uni-versity of the West of England, must

be submitted by Friday, January 16,and will then be judged by an expertpanel who will draw up a shortlist off i n a l i s t s.

The winners will be revealed at agala awards dinner at the Bristol CityCentre Marriott on March 19.� To enter, sponsor a category orbook tickets for the night, visitw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t . c o . u k / w i b a . Ifyou’re talking about the awards onsocial medial, use #wiba.

SPONSORED BY

� Imogen McIntosh and Anne-Louise Perez, founders of YourStreet Gift Cards Pic: Barbara Evripidou

“ It is really empoweringto see lots of otherwomen in similarpositions. That was reallyimportant for us.

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

6 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 7We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

The Big Interview

IT was a case of needs must whenNeil Ash joined the companythat is now plasterboard-makerSiniat. He wanted to buy a houseand needed a mortgage but,

self-employed, he was struggling toget one. He joined the business “fo rthree months” to get his mortgageapproved. That was 18 years ago.Neil’s still there and 12 months agobecame managing director.

It’s a journey that has taken himfrom Bristol to France, Poland andback again and stands as a message tothe 350 people working at the firm’shead office and manufacturing plantin Bristol that if they work hard, theycould fulfil their ambitions too.

“T hat’s how this company developsp e o p l e, ” says Neil. “If people want tojoin they can have a great career inour business.”

Having cut production during therecession, the business is growingagain and taking on staff. It has about20 vacancies in a range of roles fromengineers to finance, and having hadthe opportunity to develop his own

career, Neil is keen others who joinget the same.

“The opportunities are diverse butwe try to keep each role focused,” hesays. “The more you ask someone todo many things, the harder it is torecruit that role. We make the rolesmaller, more focused and it’s easierto recruit but also means you canprogress in our business. There arelayers. You need to give people theopportunity to develop and see wherethey are going, otherwise good peoplewill leave.”

It’s not just about fulfilling the am-bitions of its workers, Neil has goalsfor the business too. The plasterboardbusiness may sound a little, ahem,dry, but there’s innovation here as theconstruction industry aims to be-come more efficient and sustainable.

“Our vision is we want to becomethe leader in dry construction,” s ay sNeil. “Dry construction is movingaway from traditional heavy tradeslike bricks, blocks, masonry whichhave their place in the market but canbe time and energy consuming. Thatincludes taking plasterboard fromthe inside to the outside. So we’verecently launched an innovationcalled Weather Defence, which is thefirst time in the UK plasterboard hasbeen able to be used outside to cladthe building before the final surfacecladding goes on top of that.”

Neil explains the advantages of dryconstruction is that it can be built off

PLASTERBOARD FIRM’S SHAPING UPThe construction industry needs to innovate tocope with fast growing demand and labourshortages. Gavin Thompson meets Neil Ash, themanaging director of plasterboard maker Siniat,who believes he may have some of the answers

to be the leader in dry constructionand wants Siniat to be the vehicle todoing that.”

The company came through therecession much better than most inthe construction sector, largely be-cause of it wasn’t solely reliant onbu i l d i n g .

“Like every company we had toresize our organisation,” says Neil.“But I’m really pleased to say therewe re n’t major redundancies. Weweathered better than our compet-itors because our background has

My working day

Name: Neil AshAge: 43,Bor n: BristolEducation: Bedminster DownSchoolFirst job: Working in the familybusiness. My parents ownedpetrol stations /garages when Iwas growing up so I wasinvolved from an early age.

Vital statistics

been with builders’ merchants whowork on small repair, maintain andimprove projects and through the re-cession that was the part of the mar-ket that was least impacted. If yourbath overflows and your ceiling fallsdown you need to repair it. We wereless exposed to national housebuild-ing.”

The firm lost some shifts but keptthe capacity in terms of space andproduction lines so can now scale upagain. And Neil believes it has comeout stronger.

“The recession makes you think alot about your business and we aremore focussed now,” he says. “One ofthe things I’ve tried to implement is afocus on different parts of the market.We ’ve segmented our sales force tomake sure our sales teams who visitbuilders merchants understand thatmarket while we have a specificationteam to work with the bigger projects.We do big construction markets rightdown to builders’ merchants whereyou can buy products for your bath-room ceiling. The needs aren’t thesame for both. What general buildersneed isn’t the same as something likeSouthmead Hospital.”

Now it’s about growing the busi-ness. For Neil there are a number ofstrands to that. One is a happy work-force, he’s taking more time to listen

Lefarge we were a small part of a hugeorganisation. Now we are a very bigpart of the Etex group. We are apriority. We can set our focus andhave parent company behind us pre-pared to invest in that ambition.”

The new facility is an example ofthat, another is a £250,000 testing labwhich opened last year.

“That investment would not havehappened under the old ownership.Not because it wasn’t a great com-pany but it’s focus was elsewhere.Etex has bought us because it wants

site and assembled on site more eas-ily and quickly, which saves on labourcosts. There are a range of boardsfrom the basic to the high-end whichhave greater degrees of fire, soundand impact proofing depending onthe customer’s need.

“What we try to do is provide solu-tions and systems,” says Neil. “Ourstrapline is shaping the way peoplebuild and live and what that means istrying to create better environmentsfor people to live and work in. We dothat with plasterboard.”

An example is Southmead Hospit-al, where the firm installed apre-sealed board that doesn’t needpriming, saving time on decoration.And when there are 800 bedrooms,t h at ’s a lot of time.

“Southmead Hospital was one ofthe biggest jobs in the county for awh i l e, ” says Neil. “T hat’s all Siniatplasterboard, using a high-perform-ance plasterboard for fire, impact andsound with a pre-sealed surface sowhat that brings is simplicity on thejob site. My wife’s had a baby recentlyand I’ve seen been into the new hos-pital. When people ask what ‘do youdo?’, that’s what we do.”

On big projects such as Southmead,Siniat aims to design out waste, mak-ing plasterboard to specification sothat there’s no need for off-cuts. Whatwaste there is, can be collected andre cycl e d .

Plasterboard is a strange concept.It’s gypsum, which you dry out, thenadd water, stick it between two sheetsof paper then dry them out againwhich, somewhat surprisingly, be-comes tough enough to become awall. With old or waste plasterboard,the paper and gypsum can be sep-arated so that the latter can be fedback into the manufacturing pro-c e s s.

Gypsum itself comes from twosources, natural gypsum is dug out ofthe ground while synthetic gypsum ismade from a byproduct of coal powerstations. The Bristol plant usedmainly the former but a recent£9 million investment means it canstart to use more recycled syntheticgypsum too.

“We try to leave as light a footprintas possible,” says Neil. “We are work-ing to make the processes more en-ergy efficient, we try to optimisetransport so trucks go out full and weare one of the first companies usingtear drop trailers, which are moreefficient for fuel consumption.”

It seems right that sustainability ison the agenda for a Bristol companyas the city is the European GreenCapital this year. This is a businessborn in Bristol. The company isbased here, close to Portbury dock,having started here in 1987. A secondproduction line was added five yearslater. The ownership has changed acouple of times with Australian firmCSR selling out to Lafarge and morerecently Etex buying the businessand re-branding it as Siniat.

Neil admits that an acquisition isalways a worrying time, but has beendelighted at the outcome.

“We now have a parent companymuch more focused on what we wantto do,” he says. “When we were part of

A BRISTOL business has teamed up with achain of burger bars to try to solve problemscaused by long queues.

CreditCall, based in the city’s Harbourside,makes technology that allows businesses totake card payments without staff on hand suchas in car parks.

Now it has developed software that meansstaff at burger restaurant Five Guys can takeorders and payment in the queue using tabletcomputers. It should speed things up by cuttingout the dead time while people stand aroundwaiting to be served.

American chain Five Guys came to the UK inJuly 2013 and recently opened a restaurant inBristol’s Cabot Circus shopping centre.

Sian Bosley, commercial director of Cred-itcall, which employs 60 people in Bristol, said,“As mobile continues to become an integral partof our everyday lives, mobile point of salecapability is increasingly important.

“It requires a payment system that is not onlyas secure and reliable as any traditional retailpoint of sale system but also one that requires

easy integration for developers.“Companies have the option of white labelling

our mPOS (mobile point of sale) payment solu-tion, or using our mPOS SDK which can beadded to existing mobile customer serviceap p s.

“By doing this the secure integration of pay-ment processing, as illustrated by the Five Guysimplementation, is assured.”

John Eckbert, chief executive of Five Guys inthe UK, said, “In sites where we have limitedspace or that get particularly busy – such asIslington when Arsenal play their homematches – we needed a queue busting solution toalleviate the wait time and improve the processfor customers.

“This solution, with Creditcall’s mPOS pay-ment functionality at the heart, has been hugelywelcomed by both customers and our man-a g ers.

“It has enabled us to offer an improved ser-vice and to better engage with customers which,for a relatively new brand in the UK, is veryimpor tant.”

Five G u y s adopt queue-busting payments

COMPANIES supplying digital services arebeing warned about impending changes to VATrules in the EU.

Any business which provides broadcasting orelectronic services to EU consumers will beaffected by the changes, which came into effectfrom January 1.

Services affected include TV and radio broad-casting, websites and website hosting,downloaded software, e-books, apps,electronic games and music andfilm downloads.

According to the Bristol officeof accountancy and tax special-ists Moore Stephens, supplierswill be liable to account for VATin each EU member state where acustomer consumes the service,even if they are not currently re-gistered for VAT in the UK becausethey fall below the registrationt h re s h o l d .

Affected company owners not preparing forthe changes by registering for a new system setup by HMRC risk major inconvenience and lossof valuable business time.

Evading VAT payments is a criminal offenceand, in the worst case scenario, business own-ers entering a country where tax is due couldface demands for payment or even arrest.

Mark Chesham, p i c t u re d , director of indirecttax services based at the Moore Stephens officein Redcliffe Street, said: “An example is a UKsupplier who is selling an e-book to a consumer

in France. From January next year, they will beliable to account for French VAT (TVA).

“At the moment, VAT is accounted for in thecountry of the supplier and, as a result, manysuppliers of electronic services have basedthemselves in countries like Luxembourgwhich have low VAT rates.

“These changes are designed to level theplaying field.”

Normally the changes would meanthe supplier has to register in every

country in which they sell the ser-vices. But in the UK, HMRC hasintroduced a Mini One Stop Shop(MOSS), which lets businesses ac-count for all non-UK VAT on asingle return and make a payment

to HMRC.Businesses have to register for

MOSS.Mark said: “Those caught out by the

changes will need to show they can identify andevidence, with two pieces of evidence, theircustomer locations and amend their billingsystems to ensure the correct rate of VAT isap p l i e d .

“Businesses will first need to establish theyare affected by these changes, then decidewhether they want to register for MOSS, al-though it’s difficult to see that doing so wouldn’tbe beneficial.

“All this will need to be done in a very shortspace of time. I recommend getting some expertadvice and support where required.”

Now you’ll have to pay VATacross Europe, suppliers told

to staff and invest in making theworking environment better. Anotheris targeting the big projects at theearly stages, so that the company’sproducts and capabilities can be in-cluded in the design. We want to comewith the right solution for what theywant. Understand what they need foracoustic performance, ongoing main-tenance costs and so on, so we canidentify products which are right forthe building,” says Neil.

Third is working with the trades-men and small businesses, throughthe builders’ m e rch a n t s.

“We bought a mobile trainingvehicle to go round builders mer-chants and educated the buildersabout our products,” says Neil. “If wed o n’t, who will?” An example is thatthe company’s market research intowhy builders weren’t recommendingits performance plasterboard to cus-tomers. The builders said it was be-cause their customers wanted thecheapest quote. But the customerssaid actually they chose on trust andreferences and rarely picked thecheapest quote, a message the firmcan take back to the builders.

“It’s a time of change in our busi-n e s s, ” says Neil. “We have a newbrand as Siniat. We have to demon-strate what that means by what wed o. ”

My downtime

What’s your perfect weekend? A perfectweekend for me is spending time with my fourlovely daughters. I have two girls from my firstmarriage and two with my partner, Edyta, whois Polish. It doesn’t really matter where we goor what we do, it’s thespending time togetherthat counts. I lovehearing what theyare up to andwhat’s going onin their world.

What’s yourfavourite bookor film or TVshow? I love TheApprentice, just forthe cringe factorreally. Bookwise, Irecently read AlexF e rg u s o n ’s autobiography, an amazing leaderof people regardless of what team yousupport.

What are your hobbies (if any)? I love playinggolf. The perfect start to a weekend would be18 holes really early in the morning on a sunnysummer’s day, having some banter with a fewfriends.

You wake up at? 6.30amWhat do you have forbreakfast? Cornflakes and adouble espressoWhat time do you start work?My day starts around 7am,checking emails while havingbreakfast and making plans forthe day ahead.What happens in your typicalworking day? My job hastremendous variety, so there’s notreally a typical day. I lovespending time talking to peopleand spending time with

customers. Doing this allows meto understand how we are doingand where we should develop.What time do you go home? If Iam in the office I try to leave nolater than 7pm, but it reallydepends what I am working on.Sometimes I am so engrossed inwhat I am doing I look at mywatch and its 7.30pm and othertimes if I have been away fromhome a lot I will go home at 5.30to spend some time with myfamily. A good work-life balanceis so important.

FOR SUCCESS

� Neil Ash of Siniat in Easton-in-Gordano Pic: Dan Regan BRDR20141024D-006_C

Digital services

Rest a u ra n ts

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3

6 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 7We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

The Big Interview

IT was a case of needs must whenNeil Ash joined the companythat is now plasterboard-makerSiniat. He wanted to buy a houseand needed a mortgage but,

self-employed, he was struggling toget one. He joined the business “fo rthree months” to get his mortgageapproved. That was 18 years ago.Neil’s still there and 12 months agobecame managing director.

It’s a journey that has taken himfrom Bristol to France, Poland andback again and stands as a message tothe 350 people working at the firm’shead office and manufacturing plantin Bristol that if they work hard, theycould fulfil their ambitions too.

“T hat’s how this company developsp e o p l e, ” says Neil. “If people want tojoin they can have a great career inour business.”

Having cut production during therecession, the business is growingagain and taking on staff. It has about20 vacancies in a range of roles fromengineers to finance, and having hadthe opportunity to develop his own

career, Neil is keen others who joinget the same.

“The opportunities are diverse butwe try to keep each role focused,” hesays. “The more you ask someone todo many things, the harder it is torecruit that role. We make the rolesmaller, more focused and it’s easierto recruit but also means you canprogress in our business. There arelayers. You need to give people theopportunity to develop and see wherethey are going, otherwise good peoplewill leave.”

It’s not just about fulfilling the am-bitions of its workers, Neil has goalsfor the business too. The plasterboardbusiness may sound a little, ahem,dry, but there’s innovation here as theconstruction industry aims to be-come more efficient and sustainable.

“Our vision is we want to becomethe leader in dry construction,” s ay sNeil. “Dry construction is movingaway from traditional heavy tradeslike bricks, blocks, masonry whichhave their place in the market but canbe time and energy consuming. Thatincludes taking plasterboard fromthe inside to the outside. So we’verecently launched an innovationcalled Weather Defence, which is thefirst time in the UK plasterboard hasbeen able to be used outside to cladthe building before the final surfacecladding goes on top of that.”

Neil explains the advantages of dryconstruction is that it can be built off

PLASTERBOARD FIRM’S SHAPING UPThe construction industry needs to innovate tocope with fast growing demand and labourshortages. Gavin Thompson meets Neil Ash, themanaging director of plasterboard maker Siniat,who believes he may have some of the answers

to be the leader in dry constructionand wants Siniat to be the vehicle todoing that.”

The company came through therecession much better than most inthe construction sector, largely be-cause of it wasn’t solely reliant onbu i l d i n g .

“Like every company we had toresize our organisation,” says Neil.“But I’m really pleased to say therewe re n’t major redundancies. Weweathered better than our compet-itors because our background has

My working day

Name: Neil AshAge: 43,Bor n: BristolEducation: Bedminster DownSchoolFirst job: Working in the familybusiness. My parents ownedpetrol stations /garages when Iwas growing up so I wasinvolved from an early age.

Vital statistics

been with builders’ merchants whowork on small repair, maintain andimprove projects and through the re-cession that was the part of the mar-ket that was least impacted. If yourbath overflows and your ceiling fallsdown you need to repair it. We wereless exposed to national housebuild-ing.”

The firm lost some shifts but keptthe capacity in terms of space andproduction lines so can now scale upagain. And Neil believes it has comeout stronger.

“The recession makes you think alot about your business and we aremore focussed now,” he says. “One ofthe things I’ve tried to implement is afocus on different parts of the market.We ’ve segmented our sales force tomake sure our sales teams who visitbuilders merchants understand thatmarket while we have a specificationteam to work with the bigger projects.We do big construction markets rightdown to builders’ merchants whereyou can buy products for your bath-room ceiling. The needs aren’t thesame for both. What general buildersneed isn’t the same as something likeSouthmead Hospital.”

Now it’s about growing the busi-ness. For Neil there are a number ofstrands to that. One is a happy work-force, he’s taking more time to listen

Lefarge we were a small part of a hugeorganisation. Now we are a very bigpart of the Etex group. We are apriority. We can set our focus andhave parent company behind us pre-pared to invest in that ambition.”

The new facility is an example ofthat, another is a £250,000 testing labwhich opened last year.

“That investment would not havehappened under the old ownership.Not because it wasn’t a great com-pany but it’s focus was elsewhere.Etex has bought us because it wants

site and assembled on site more eas-ily and quickly, which saves on labourcosts. There are a range of boardsfrom the basic to the high-end whichhave greater degrees of fire, soundand impact proofing depending onthe customer’s need.

“What we try to do is provide solu-tions and systems,” says Neil. “Ourstrapline is shaping the way peoplebuild and live and what that means istrying to create better environmentsfor people to live and work in. We dothat with plasterboard.”

An example is Southmead Hospit-al, where the firm installed apre-sealed board that doesn’t needpriming, saving time on decoration.And when there are 800 bedrooms,t h at ’s a lot of time.

“Southmead Hospital was one ofthe biggest jobs in the county for awh i l e, ” says Neil. “T hat’s all Siniatplasterboard, using a high-perform-ance plasterboard for fire, impact andsound with a pre-sealed surface sowhat that brings is simplicity on thejob site. My wife’s had a baby recentlyand I’ve seen been into the new hos-pital. When people ask what ‘do youdo?’, that’s what we do.”

On big projects such as Southmead,Siniat aims to design out waste, mak-ing plasterboard to specification sothat there’s no need for off-cuts. Whatwaste there is, can be collected andre cycl e d .

Plasterboard is a strange concept.It’s gypsum, which you dry out, thenadd water, stick it between two sheetsof paper then dry them out againwhich, somewhat surprisingly, be-comes tough enough to become awall. With old or waste plasterboard,the paper and gypsum can be sep-arated so that the latter can be fedback into the manufacturing pro-c e s s.

Gypsum itself comes from twosources, natural gypsum is dug out ofthe ground while synthetic gypsum ismade from a byproduct of coal powerstations. The Bristol plant usedmainly the former but a recent£9 million investment means it canstart to use more recycled syntheticgypsum too.

“We try to leave as light a footprintas possible,” says Neil. “We are work-ing to make the processes more en-ergy efficient, we try to optimisetransport so trucks go out full and weare one of the first companies usingtear drop trailers, which are moreefficient for fuel consumption.”

It seems right that sustainability ison the agenda for a Bristol companyas the city is the European GreenCapital this year. This is a businessborn in Bristol. The company isbased here, close to Portbury dock,having started here in 1987. A secondproduction line was added five yearslater. The ownership has changed acouple of times with Australian firmCSR selling out to Lafarge and morerecently Etex buying the businessand re-branding it as Siniat.

Neil admits that an acquisition isalways a worrying time, but has beendelighted at the outcome.

“We now have a parent companymuch more focused on what we wantto do,” he says. “When we were part of

A BRISTOL business has teamed up with achain of burger bars to try to solve problemscaused by long queues.

CreditCall, based in the city’s Harbourside,makes technology that allows businesses totake card payments without staff on hand suchas in car parks.

Now it has developed software that meansstaff at burger restaurant Five Guys can takeorders and payment in the queue using tabletcomputers. It should speed things up by cuttingout the dead time while people stand aroundwaiting to be served.

American chain Five Guys came to the UK inJuly 2013 and recently opened a restaurant inBristol’s Cabot Circus shopping centre.

Sian Bosley, commercial director of Cred-itcall, which employs 60 people in Bristol, said,“As mobile continues to become an integral partof our everyday lives, mobile point of salecapability is increasingly important.

“It requires a payment system that is not onlyas secure and reliable as any traditional retailpoint of sale system but also one that requires

easy integration for developers.“Companies have the option of white labelling

our mPOS (mobile point of sale) payment solu-tion, or using our mPOS SDK which can beadded to existing mobile customer serviceap p s.

“By doing this the secure integration of pay-ment processing, as illustrated by the Five Guysimplementation, is assured.”

John Eckbert, chief executive of Five Guys inthe UK, said, “In sites where we have limitedspace or that get particularly busy – such asIslington when Arsenal play their homematches – we needed a queue busting solution toalleviate the wait time and improve the processfor customers.

“This solution, with Creditcall’s mPOS pay-ment functionality at the heart, has been hugelywelcomed by both customers and our man-a g ers.

“It has enabled us to offer an improved ser-vice and to better engage with customers which,for a relatively new brand in the UK, is veryimpor tant.”

Five G u y s adopt queue-busting payments

COMPANIES supplying digital services arebeing warned about impending changes to VATrules in the EU.

Any business which provides broadcasting orelectronic services to EU consumers will beaffected by the changes, which came into effectfrom January 1.

Services affected include TV and radio broad-casting, websites and website hosting,downloaded software, e-books, apps,electronic games and music andfilm downloads.

According to the Bristol officeof accountancy and tax special-ists Moore Stephens, supplierswill be liable to account for VATin each EU member state where acustomer consumes the service,even if they are not currently re-gistered for VAT in the UK becausethey fall below the registrationt h re s h o l d .

Affected company owners not preparing forthe changes by registering for a new system setup by HMRC risk major inconvenience and lossof valuable business time.

Evading VAT payments is a criminal offenceand, in the worst case scenario, business own-ers entering a country where tax is due couldface demands for payment or even arrest.

Mark Chesham, p i c t u re d , director of indirecttax services based at the Moore Stephens officein Redcliffe Street, said: “An example is a UKsupplier who is selling an e-book to a consumer

in France. From January next year, they will beliable to account for French VAT (TVA).

“At the moment, VAT is accounted for in thecountry of the supplier and, as a result, manysuppliers of electronic services have basedthemselves in countries like Luxembourgwhich have low VAT rates.

“These changes are designed to level theplaying field.”

Normally the changes would meanthe supplier has to register in every

country in which they sell the ser-vices. But in the UK, HMRC hasintroduced a Mini One Stop Shop(MOSS), which lets businesses ac-count for all non-UK VAT on asingle return and make a payment

to HMRC.Businesses have to register for

MOSS.Mark said: “Those caught out by the

changes will need to show they can identify andevidence, with two pieces of evidence, theircustomer locations and amend their billingsystems to ensure the correct rate of VAT isap p l i e d .

“Businesses will first need to establish theyare affected by these changes, then decidewhether they want to register for MOSS, al-though it’s difficult to see that doing so wouldn’tbe beneficial.

“All this will need to be done in a very shortspace of time. I recommend getting some expertadvice and support where required.”

Now you’ll have to pay VATacross Europe, suppliers told

to staff and invest in making theworking environment better. Anotheris targeting the big projects at theearly stages, so that the company’sproducts and capabilities can be in-cluded in the design. We want to comewith the right solution for what theywant. Understand what they need foracoustic performance, ongoing main-tenance costs and so on, so we canidentify products which are right forthe building,” says Neil.

Third is working with the trades-men and small businesses, throughthe builders’ m e rch a n t s.

“We bought a mobile trainingvehicle to go round builders mer-chants and educated the buildersabout our products,” says Neil. “If wed o n’t, who will?” An example is thatthe company’s market research intowhy builders weren’t recommendingits performance plasterboard to cus-tomers. The builders said it was be-cause their customers wanted thecheapest quote. But the customerssaid actually they chose on trust andreferences and rarely picked thecheapest quote, a message the firmcan take back to the builders.

“It’s a time of change in our busi-n e s s, ” says Neil. “We have a newbrand as Siniat. We have to demon-strate what that means by what wed o. ”

My downtime

What’s your perfect weekend? A perfectweekend for me is spending time with my fourlovely daughters. I have two girls from my firstmarriage and two with my partner, Edyta, whois Polish. It doesn’t really matter where we goor what we do, it’s thespending time togetherthat counts. I lovehearing what theyare up to andwhat’s going onin their world.

What’s yourfavourite bookor film or TVshow? I love TheApprentice, just forthe cringe factorreally. Bookwise, Irecently read AlexF e rg u s o n ’s autobiography, an amazing leaderof people regardless of what team yousupport.

What are your hobbies (if any)? I love playinggolf. The perfect start to a weekend would be18 holes really early in the morning on a sunnysummer’s day, having some banter with a fewfriends.

You wake up at? 6.30amWhat do you have forbreakfast? Cornflakes and adouble espressoWhat time do you start work?My day starts around 7am,checking emails while havingbreakfast and making plans forthe day ahead.What happens in your typicalworking day? My job hastremendous variety, so there’s notreally a typical day. I lovespending time talking to peopleand spending time with

customers. Doing this allows meto understand how we are doingand where we should develop.What time do you go home? If Iam in the office I try to leave nolater than 7pm, but it reallydepends what I am working on.Sometimes I am so engrossed inwhat I am doing I look at mywatch and its 7.30pm and othertimes if I have been away fromhome a lot I will go home at 5.30to spend some time with myfamily. A good work-life balanceis so important.

FOR SUCCESS

� Neil Ash of Siniat in Easton-in-Gordano Pic: Dan Regan BRDR20141024D-006_C

Digital services

Rest a u ra n ts

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3

8 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 9We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 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 property marketappears to be boomingagain. Cranes can be seenacross the skyline, there arehundreds of homes being

built in big residential developmentsin the city centre and northernfring es.

Proximity to the M4 and availableland makes the area attractive foremployment sites too. It is home tothe local aerospace sector, withmarque companies such as Airbusand Rolls-Royce, employing about7,000 people between them in largelyhighly skilled jobs.

The Avonmouth and Severnsidearea is on the rise too, with Europe’sbiggest brown-field development site

those on the motorway corridor.“In the industrial space market,

warehouse enquiries dominate 80:20over manufacturing. The parcel car-riers, trade counters/merchants,supply chain businesses such asAmazon, DPD and Royal Mail can’trisk vehicles taking more than onehour to get to the motorway net-wo rk . ”

Paul says the 1960s employmentstock in South Bristol is anotherissue, making up some of the lowestgrade premises in the city.

“Cramped estates at Brislington,Cater Road, Ashton Vale, Novers Hilland Hengrove have declined becausethe demand market has changed,” hes ay s.

Things are finally looking up,however. The new Filwood GreenBusiness Park is creating 40,000 sq ftof workshop and office accommod-ation and is expected to support 350j o b s.

“This is an excellent starting pointwith public-sector support, and ab-solutely what the area needs,” s ay sPa u l .

The landmark offices for ImperialTobacco and the redevelopment of theAshton Gate stadium are changingthe face of the Winterstoke Road areaand providing spin-off for local busi-n e s s e s.

The Bottle Yard Studios in Hen-grove is proving a hit in the mediaindustry, with a growing number of

productions film there from Deal OrNo Deal to Trollied and upcomingBBC drama Wolf Hall.

Bristol Airport has a £120-millionexpansion plan including a 200-bedhotel. Further expansion is plannedat Imperial Park too.

But the improvement is limited byinfrastr ucture.

“South Bristol is restrainedhowever by its topography, the lack ofinward investment subsidy, and bythe lack of significant scale employ-ment sites that could attract newmajor employers to the area,” s ay sPa u l .

The proposal for the South BristolLink Road, which has cleared plan-ning hurdles, is the biggest hope for

THE economic recovery which gatheredpace throughout 2014 shows no signs ofletting up for the new year. But it’s im-portant to draw a distinction between thefrantic activity levels in and around the

capital with the more complicated picture in there gions.

The feedback we are getting demonstrates land-lords and tenants are keeping their cards prettyclose to their collective chests – although we sensethe balance is beginning to tip back toward thel a n d l o rd .

We are seeing some increasingly big deals inBristol which will inevitably reduce the levels ofquality stock available. The balance of power ischanging as supply diminishes and demand con-tinues to increase. Rents and quoting rents aregoing up as a result of this increased activity.

With leases much shorter, the frequency of leaserenewal has increased. This creates a dilemma forboth the landlord and the tenant.

From the landlord’s perspective they need toconsider whether their rental values have risensufficiently to take proactive approach and ter-minate the existing lease or allow the currentrental income to drift on.

Tenants also need to consider their position inthe market and possibly strike early by restruc-turing their lease with a longer term. If in doubt,take professional advice.

For those paying business rates, the AutumnStatement has brought a little Christmas cheer –although the reforms outlined by the Chancellorare nowhere near as radical as many comment-ators have been urging.

It is good to see the Government finally ac-knowledging and responding to the need forchange to make the system fairer for business.

The doubling of the small business rate relief fora further year and the capping of inflation-linkedbusiness rates at two per cent are welcome meas-ures in the short-term, but the long-term focusmust be on reforming the system so that it is fit forthe 21st century.

Most business people would agree business ratesshould be calculated on an annual basis ratherthan every five years as it is currently.

This would ensure that rates more accuratelyreflect the current value of the property and not thevalue five years prior, when market conditionsmay have been completely different.

Do check when you last appealed against yourrating though. Has anything changed since then,either on your property or in the immediate area,e.g. traffic changes or development?

Many people are paying too much in rates be-cause they don’t regularly review factors like thesethat may influence their rates bill.

Rather than simply add these suggestions toyour must-do list take a more strategic view of yourproperty. For instance, weigh up the pros and consof an alternative use to take full advantage of lastye a r ’s changes in planning legislation. Do you haveroom to grow your business? Is there any emptyspace you can make more use of ?

Rents rising as big deals seelevels of quality stock reduce

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While North Bristol grabsthe headlines and investment,the south of the city hasbeen left behind on jobs andprosperity. Gavin Thompsonasks, is it time for CinderellaSouth Bristol to go to theball?

being eyed by mainly by the dis-tribution and warehousing sector.The proposed new M49 junction an-nounced in December’s AutumnStatement should help this mo-mentum build.

What of poor old South Bristol?Surely it’s time to get that marketm ov i n g .

Paul Hobbs, of commercial prop-erty agency GVA, says the reasons forthe area’s relative poverty are longstanding but not always helped byp o l i cy.

“For those wanting to travel fromthe south of the city to the north thereare rivers to cross, narrow streets,new speed limits and well-known bot-t l e n e ck s, ” he says. “As we have seenwith similar problems in Gloucesterand Bridgwater – the winners on theeconomic development front are

Property Matters

‘CINDERELLA’ SOUTH BRISTOL GETS READY FOR THE BALL

the area. As Paul puts it: “The mostobvious opportunity to improve thesituation is the A4174 ring road withthe missing links at Stockwood toHengrove, and Long Ashton to Whit-church. The South Bristol Link hasall the permissions it needs to startbuilding. Now awaiting full approvalfrom the Department for Transport,release of the funds to start thismuch-needed project to open up thesouth of the city is expected in 2015.

“In commercial terms this will be amajor bonus for South Bristol andmake it a more realistic location fornew investment and renewal of theexisting stock, as well as allowing theflow of labour to where the bulk ofnew jobs are if public transport in-

vestment is delivered in tandem.“The fact that it will open up the

expanding employment opportunit-ies of north Bristol to the labourmarket of south Bristol is a hugeadvantage for the whole city.”

Paul Matthews, from the Bristoloffice of commercial property BrutonKnowles, agrees.

“South Bristol has for too long beenthe Cinderella area for commercialproperty in the region,” he says.“Full of hard-working grafters butsomehow never quite getting invitedto enjoy the full riches.

“Plans for a South Bristol LinkRoad have been talked about for dec-ades and there is no doubt that if itdoes happen it will go a long way toensuring that Cinderella finally getsto the ball.

“In many ways South Bristol’s timeis about to arrive. The northern partof Bristol always had an advantage ofbeing the crossing point of the twomotorways and while there was landavailable for development was alwaysgoing to be favoured by both officeand distribution businesses wantingto relocate to the area.”

He says despite poor infrastruc-ture, the area has a real asset in itswo rk fo rc e.

“The strength of the local labourmarket has meant that some pocketsof commercial property have re-mained strong with Cater Road,Bishopsworth, Hartcliffe Way andSouth Liberty Lane all providinggood bases for local businesses andconsequent employment opportunit-ies. Our surveys have shown thatmany people in South Bristol work inthe Avonmouth and Port of Bristolarea and the new link road will helpthem with their daily commute.

“But more importantly it will en-courage businesses to locate them-selves in South Bristol, especially if alink into South Liberty Lane isopened up at Brookgate and somenew commercial development is al-lowed along the route.”

Paul believes the road will lead tothe quality of the workplaces in im-proving as older stock is refurbishedand brought up to date.

“It will be a big advantage for thegreen credentials of the area aspeople will be able to work closer toh o m e, ” he adds. “South Bristol at themoment does not have enough work-places for the number of houses andthat surely has to be addressed.Providing easier access to the areawill change that balance if it is usedto open up opportunities to developemployment land and provide thequality of the buildings to attract newbu s i n e s s e s. ”

Perhaps the link road will be theglass slipper many south of the riverhaving been waiting for.

Columnistfirm’s

logo here

Paul Matthews

“South Bristol has for toolong been the Cinderellaarea for commercialproperty in the region. Fullof hard-working graftersbut somehow never quitegetting invited to enjoythe full riches.

Paul MatthewsPartnerBruton Knowles,paul.matthews@brutonknowles.co.uk

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!

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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

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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

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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 eyeIn association with Bruton Knowles

� Bottle Yard studios, where upcoming dramas Wolf Halland Poldark have been filmed

� Paul Hobbs

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

To Let - Modern Office Suite Heron House, 7 Thornbury Office Park

Contact: paul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk

• Openplangroundfloorsuite• 1,130sqft(105sqm)• Withparking• Flexibleterms

BK code:2738

� Imperial Tobacco’s new headquarters in Winterstoke Road, Bristol Pic: Jon Kent BRJK20150102B-004_C

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8 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 9We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 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 property marketappears to be boomingagain. Cranes can be seenacross the skyline, there arehundreds of homes being

built in big residential developmentsin the city centre and northernfring es.

Proximity to the M4 and availableland makes the area attractive foremployment sites too. It is home tothe local aerospace sector, withmarque companies such as Airbusand Rolls-Royce, employing about7,000 people between them in largelyhighly skilled jobs.

The Avonmouth and Severnsidearea is on the rise too, with Europe’sbiggest brown-field development site

those on the motorway corridor.“In the industrial space market,

warehouse enquiries dominate 80:20over manufacturing. The parcel car-riers, trade counters/merchants,supply chain businesses such asAmazon, DPD and Royal Mail can’trisk vehicles taking more than onehour to get to the motorway net-wo rk . ”

Paul says the 1960s employmentstock in South Bristol is anotherissue, making up some of the lowestgrade premises in the city.

“Cramped estates at Brislington,Cater Road, Ashton Vale, Novers Hilland Hengrove have declined becausethe demand market has changed,” hes ay s.

Things are finally looking up,however. The new Filwood GreenBusiness Park is creating 40,000 sq ftof workshop and office accommod-ation and is expected to support 350j o b s.

“This is an excellent starting pointwith public-sector support, and ab-solutely what the area needs,” s ay sPa u l .

The landmark offices for ImperialTobacco and the redevelopment of theAshton Gate stadium are changingthe face of the Winterstoke Road areaand providing spin-off for local busi-n e s s e s.

The Bottle Yard Studios in Hen-grove is proving a hit in the mediaindustry, with a growing number of

productions film there from Deal OrNo Deal to Trollied and upcomingBBC drama Wolf Hall.

Bristol Airport has a £120-millionexpansion plan including a 200-bedhotel. Further expansion is plannedat Imperial Park too.

But the improvement is limited byinfrastr ucture.

“South Bristol is restrainedhowever by its topography, the lack ofinward investment subsidy, and bythe lack of significant scale employ-ment sites that could attract newmajor employers to the area,” s ay sPa u l .

The proposal for the South BristolLink Road, which has cleared plan-ning hurdles, is the biggest hope for

THE economic recovery which gatheredpace throughout 2014 shows no signs ofletting up for the new year. But it’s im-portant to draw a distinction between thefrantic activity levels in and around the

capital with the more complicated picture in there gions.

The feedback we are getting demonstrates land-lords and tenants are keeping their cards prettyclose to their collective chests – although we sensethe balance is beginning to tip back toward thel a n d l o rd .

We are seeing some increasingly big deals inBristol which will inevitably reduce the levels ofquality stock available. The balance of power ischanging as supply diminishes and demand con-tinues to increase. Rents and quoting rents aregoing up as a result of this increased activity.

With leases much shorter, the frequency of leaserenewal has increased. This creates a dilemma forboth the landlord and the tenant.

From the landlord’s perspective they need toconsider whether their rental values have risensufficiently to take proactive approach and ter-minate the existing lease or allow the currentrental income to drift on.

Tenants also need to consider their position inthe market and possibly strike early by restruc-turing their lease with a longer term. If in doubt,take professional advice.

For those paying business rates, the AutumnStatement has brought a little Christmas cheer –although the reforms outlined by the Chancellorare nowhere near as radical as many comment-ators have been urging.

It is good to see the Government finally ac-knowledging and responding to the need forchange to make the system fairer for business.

The doubling of the small business rate relief fora further year and the capping of inflation-linkedbusiness rates at two per cent are welcome meas-ures in the short-term, but the long-term focusmust be on reforming the system so that it is fit forthe 21st century.

Most business people would agree business ratesshould be calculated on an annual basis ratherthan every five years as it is currently.

This would ensure that rates more accuratelyreflect the current value of the property and not thevalue five years prior, when market conditionsmay have been completely different.

Do check when you last appealed against yourrating though. Has anything changed since then,either on your property or in the immediate area,e.g. traffic changes or development?

Many people are paying too much in rates be-cause they don’t regularly review factors like thesethat may influence their rates bill.

Rather than simply add these suggestions toyour must-do list take a more strategic view of yourproperty. For instance, weigh up the pros and consof an alternative use to take full advantage of lastye a r ’s changes in planning legislation. Do you haveroom to grow your business? Is there any emptyspace you can make more use of ?

Rents rising as big deals seelevels of quality stock reduce

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While North Bristol grabsthe headlines and investment,the south of the city hasbeen left behind on jobs andprosperity. Gavin Thompsonasks, is it time for CinderellaSouth Bristol to go to theball?

being eyed by mainly by the dis-tribution and warehousing sector.The proposed new M49 junction an-nounced in December’s AutumnStatement should help this mo-mentum build.

What of poor old South Bristol?Surely it’s time to get that marketm ov i n g .

Paul Hobbs, of commercial prop-erty agency GVA, says the reasons forthe area’s relative poverty are longstanding but not always helped byp o l i cy.

“For those wanting to travel fromthe south of the city to the north thereare rivers to cross, narrow streets,new speed limits and well-known bot-t l e n e ck s, ” he says. “As we have seenwith similar problems in Gloucesterand Bridgwater – the winners on theeconomic development front are

Property Matters

‘CINDERELLA’ SOUTH BRISTOL GETS READY FOR THE BALL

the area. As Paul puts it: “The mostobvious opportunity to improve thesituation is the A4174 ring road withthe missing links at Stockwood toHengrove, and Long Ashton to Whit-church. The South Bristol Link hasall the permissions it needs to startbuilding. Now awaiting full approvalfrom the Department for Transport,release of the funds to start thismuch-needed project to open up thesouth of the city is expected in 2015.

“In commercial terms this will be amajor bonus for South Bristol andmake it a more realistic location fornew investment and renewal of theexisting stock, as well as allowing theflow of labour to where the bulk ofnew jobs are if public transport in-

vestment is delivered in tandem.“The fact that it will open up the

expanding employment opportunit-ies of north Bristol to the labourmarket of south Bristol is a hugeadvantage for the whole city.”

Paul Matthews, from the Bristoloffice of commercial property BrutonKnowles, agrees.

“South Bristol has for too long beenthe Cinderella area for commercialproperty in the region,” he says.“Full of hard-working grafters butsomehow never quite getting invitedto enjoy the full riches.

“Plans for a South Bristol LinkRoad have been talked about for dec-ades and there is no doubt that if itdoes happen it will go a long way toensuring that Cinderella finally getsto the ball.

“In many ways South Bristol’s timeis about to arrive. The northern partof Bristol always had an advantage ofbeing the crossing point of the twomotorways and while there was landavailable for development was alwaysgoing to be favoured by both officeand distribution businesses wantingto relocate to the area.”

He says despite poor infrastruc-ture, the area has a real asset in itswo rk fo rc e.

“The strength of the local labourmarket has meant that some pocketsof commercial property have re-mained strong with Cater Road,Bishopsworth, Hartcliffe Way andSouth Liberty Lane all providinggood bases for local businesses andconsequent employment opportunit-ies. Our surveys have shown thatmany people in South Bristol work inthe Avonmouth and Port of Bristolarea and the new link road will helpthem with their daily commute.

“But more importantly it will en-courage businesses to locate them-selves in South Bristol, especially if alink into South Liberty Lane isopened up at Brookgate and somenew commercial development is al-lowed along the route.”

Paul believes the road will lead tothe quality of the workplaces in im-proving as older stock is refurbishedand brought up to date.

“It will be a big advantage for thegreen credentials of the area aspeople will be able to work closer toh o m e, ” he adds. “South Bristol at themoment does not have enough work-places for the number of houses andthat surely has to be addressed.Providing easier access to the areawill change that balance if it is usedto open up opportunities to developemployment land and provide thequality of the buildings to attract newbu s i n e s s e s. ”

Perhaps the link road will be theglass slipper many south of the riverhaving been waiting for.

Columnistfirm’s

logo here

Paul Matthews

“South Bristol has for toolong been the Cinderellaarea for commercialproperty in the region. Fullof hard-working graftersbut somehow never quitegetting invited to enjoythe full riches.

Paul MatthewsPartnerBruton Knowles,paul.matthews@brutonknowles.co.uk

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!

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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

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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

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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

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

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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)

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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 eyeIn association with Bruton Knowles

� Bottle Yard studios, where upcoming dramas Wolf Halland Poldark have been filmed

� Paul Hobbs

0117 287 2101brutonknowles.co.uk

To Let - Modern Office Suite Heron House, 7 Thornbury Office Park

Contact: paul.williams@brutonknowles.co.uk

• Openplangroundfloorsuite• 1,130sqft(105sqm)• Withparking• Flexibleterms

BK code:2738

� Imperial Tobacco’s new headquarters in Winterstoke Road, Bristol Pic: Jon Kent BRJK20150102B-004_C

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10 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 11We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

Business Digest

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: NEW YEAR,Business diary

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

Business West ChamberNetworking Breakfast: Meetlike-minded business people.Arrive at Bordeaux Quaytomorrow, January 8, from7.30am for 8.10am breakfast.Event finished by 9.30am. Bookvia businesswest.co.uk/events.

Bristol Jobs Fair: 21 localemployers exhibit from 10am to2pm on Wednesday, January 14at Colston Hall. Admission free.

Executive briefing on internetsecurity: Designed to inform youof the security threats you face,your responsibilities in respect ofthose threats and practicalsuggestions on how to dischargethose responsibilities. Run byBristol-based TVS at the EngineShed, Tuesday, January 20,8-9am. Register via Eventbrite.

LEP Digital – driving resultsthrough social media: Simplysigning up to Twitter, Facebookand LinkedIn is not enough, youneed to align your social mediaactivity with your businessstrategy to drive results.9.30am-3.30pm on January 22,at the BAWA Centre, Filton.

Bristol PA Network: Aprofessional forum where youcan find inspiration, develop yourskills and meet fellow PAs. Eachmeeting includes elements oflearning & development,inspirational speakers andnetworking. January 25, 6pm atHotel du Vin. Strictly for PAs,EAs, secretaries and officeadministrative professionals.Book via eventbrite.

Western Daily Press BusinessGuide launch: A breakfast eventto mark the annual must-readWestern Daily Press guide. Savethe date, Thursday, January 29.Venue and time to be confirmed.

Bristol Distinguished AddressSeries - Peter Mather: BP’sgroup regional vice president,Europe and head of country, UK,delivers the latest in the addressseries supported by the BristolPost. From 6pm, February 11, atthe Glendinning Lecture Theatre,Frenchay Campus, UWE.

Bristol Airport Careers Fair:Information on becoming one ofthe 3,000 workers are the airport.Held in the AdministrationBuilding at Bristol Airport from4-6pm on Friday, February 6 and10am- noon on February 28.Email recruitment@bristolairport.com to register,indicating preferred date.

Start-up Drinks Bristol: UWEEnterprise hosts drinks andinformal networking evening atthe Engine Shed on Tuesday,February 17, for all thoseinterested in start-ups andentrepreneurship. Book viaEventbrite.

Bristol Post and BathChronicle Women In BusinessAwards 2015: The winners willbe revealed at a gala awardsdinner at the Bristol City CentreMarriott on March 19. To booktickets visitwww.bristolpost.co.uk/ wiba.

The new year will meana new start for many inthe business world.Gavin Thompson ro u n d sup some of the latestappointments in theBristol business scene

New head for BNPParibas Real EstateBNP Paribas Real Estate has appoin-ted Jeremy Hughes as the new head ofthe firm’s Bristol office in PortwallP l a c e.

Jeremy, a well-known figure withinthe commercial property market, hasbeen with the company since 1997 andas the director in charge of the agencydepartment brings a wealth of ex-perience to the role.

Jeremy said: “I am really excitedabout leading and expanding the BNPParibas Real Estate team into a newera. This is a fantastic time for theproperty sector in Bristol and acrossthe South West.

“The planned investment for theSouth West’s infrastructure meansthat the profile of the city will beraised immensely, resulting in su-perb future opportunities for busi-ness in the region in which BNPParibas Real Estate will play a majorrole. Our confidence in the Bristolmarket has allowed us to appoint twonew members of staff who will bejoining this month.”

Keith Low joins as an associatedirector in the building consultancydepartment, and a new secretary foragency and residential consultinghas just been appointed, with moreroom left for expansion.

Jeremy added: “It heralds ex-tremely exciting times ahead foru s. ”

Four new hires atFo r rest B row nClifton-based research and develop-ment tax credit consultancy Forrest-Brown is celebrating a successfulfirst year of trading with the ap-pointment of four new members ofstaff: three more senior tax special-ists, all three having experience ofworking for the ‘Big Four’ ac-countancy firms, and a ded-icated marketingmana g er.

Alex Price, right,joins ForrestBrown asdirector from PwC.Alex has 16 years taxexperience includingDeloitte and KPMG inLondon and nine years atPwC in Bristol. Alex workedacross a wide range of tax areas,leading a 14-strong team at PWC indelivering advice to companies re-locating staff to and from the UK.

Adam Kotas, chartered tax adviser,joins as a senior tax manager. Hiscareer started at Deloitte in Bristolbefore moving to Marcussen Consult-ing – a tax consultancy in Bath wherehe advised entrepreneurs on optim-ising the tax structure of their busi-n e s s.

Graham Heydon, also a charteredtax adviser, started his career atErnst & Young in Exeter before join-ing Baker Tilly in Leeds. Grahamgained his ATT and CTA qualific-ation relatively early in his careerand enjoys the technical side of taxwo rk .

Marketing manager Simon Crozier,inset below right, has a professionalservices background having workedas a digital marketing manager forBristol-based law firm Burges Sal-mon and at a marketing firm spe-cialising in providing digital

solutions for law firms.Managing director SimonBrown said: “It has been a

fantastic first year, wehave far exceeded ourforecasts and these ap-pointments reflect howquickly the businesshas grown.

“Maintaining highservice levels is para-

mount and these latest ap-pointments mean that every

client will continue to benefitfrom receiving best in class advicefrom experienced tax specialists.”

ForrestBrown is a specialist R&Dtax credit consultancy. In the first 12months of trading the team have suc-cessfully recouped almost £10 millionfor clients.

Bibby FinancialServices investsInvoice finance provider Bibby Fin-ancial Services has invested in itsBristol sales and operations teamswith the appointment of six newstaf f.

Based in Bradley Stoke, they willwork with SMEs throughout theSouth West region.

The team welcomes four new busi-ness development managers to thecompany: David Baum, Jon Dyer,Morgan Whiteside and Nick Risdale.

With 18 years’ experience withinthe invoice finance industry, Davidwill work with businesses acrossCornwall, Somerset and Devon.

Jon has worked in the sec-tor for 13 years’ and holdsthe Asset Based FinanceAssociation (ABFA) Cer-tification; he will be re-sponsible for fundingsmall businesses withturnover between £5million and £100 mil-lion.

Morgan joins with re-sponsibility for Gloucester-shire and Herefordshire, bringingover 15 years’ experience to the busi-ness. Nick’s previous role was basedin asset based lending and acquis-i t i o n s.

He brings 16 years’ experience tothe business and will be responsiblefor funding SMEs in Bristol andB at h .

The firm also welcomes Craig Dur-nell as head of operations in Bristol.Craig has 22 years’ commercial fin-ance expertise and will hold respons-ibility for a team of 23, coaching anddeveloping operational staff.

Terry Burke joins as relationshipmanager for customers in the SouthWe s t .

Terry brings a 26 years’ experiencein financial services to the role and

will work closely with both custom-ers and the sales team.

Sharon Wiltshire, South West man-aging director, said: “These new ap-pointments reflect the period ofgrowth BFS is seeing at the moment,which is mirrored by the invoice fin-

ance market more widely.“In the third quarter of theyear, we increased funding

to SMEs by six per centand we now provide over£400 million of financeto companies across theUK.

“It’s clear that the ap-petite for funding is

growing throughout theregion and our

strengthened team will en-sure that businesses receive the

expertise and support they need tog row.”

Clarke Willmottexpands as ZoeStollard joinsLaw firm Clarke Willmott has ex-panded its construction team in Bris-tol with the appointment of ZoeStollard, who joins as a partner.

Zoe joins has spent five years prac-tising law in Asia and has particularexpertise in construction, infrastruc-ture and commercial projects.

She specialises in non-contentiousadvice to stakeholders on a variety ofpublic, private, domestic and inter-

national projects.Zoe is experienced in creating

frameworks for complex commercialdeals and developments including,property and leasing issues, mergersand acquisitions and agreementswith interested third parties.

Peter O’Brien, partner in the Bris-tol construction team, said: “Zoe is astrong addition to the team and willbring considerable additional exper-ience to our fast growing construc-tion service offering.”

New face at MedikasCat Powell has joined the team atBristol’s newest aesthetic clinicM e d i k a s.

The 21-year-old, who lives in Kings-wood, is a facial specialist and worksfrom the clinic at 20 WhiteladiesRoad, Clifton.

Medikas Bristol is run by Dr Be-atriz Molina and Dr Ian Strawford.They are founding members of Save-Face, a campaign to promote highstandards in the aesthetics sector.

Cat, a former pupil of Oldfield GirlsSchool in Bath, has recently taken upher role as a beauty therapist aftercompleting a range of qualificationsincluding a course in hair and beautytherapy at the City of Bristol Col-le ge.

Akhlaq Ahmedbolsters KPMGKPMG has bolstered its forensic team

in Bristol with the appointment ofAkhlaq Ahmed as director.

Akhlaq joins the firm after 10 yearsat EY, where he was responsible forleading the firm’s forensic practice inBristol and Reading.

In his new role at KPMG, Akhlaqwill lead the team of forensic expertswho work with public and privatesector organisations to help themidentify and protect themselvesagainst risks that could result infinancial, commercial and reputa-tional loss.

Phil Cotton, regional chairman atKPMG, said: “While the changingnature of business has created newopportunities for organisations, ithas also created new risks and po-tential threats as fraudsters becomeever more sophisticated.

“Akhlaq will work closely with ourteam to help our clients take im-mediate and decisive action to pre-vent, detect and respond topotentially harmful situations.”

New directors atWeston CollegeSix new directors have been appoin-ted at Weston College to gear up fornew challenges across the board.

Principal and chief executive DrPaul Phillips has overseen the col-le ge’s turnover soar from £10 millionto £50 million in 10 years.

The new directors will supportplans to continue that growth. AndyDavidson will be executive directorfor strategic intervention, Liz Red-wood becomes enterprise and com-mercial development director fordata compliance, funding and FionaQuick as external partnership dir-e c t o r.

Jo Watson assumes the role of newbusiness opportunities executive dir-ector, Darran George ismulti-academy trust executive dir-ector and Barbara Titmuss takes onthe job assistant director of inclus-ivity, leading on the Bristol FuturesA c a d e my.

Paul said: “Competition for theseposts was extremely strong and Ibelieve the team we have now willcompliment and take forward thisoutstanding college.

“The strategic plan is all aboutputting learners first and we havefocussed on consolidating key as-pects of our business as well as de-veloping a multi academy trustmodel the college can sponsor.”

In the last six months the collegehas invested in IT for the prisons itoffers education in, created a secondextension for its university campus,finished multi-million pound worksat the South West Skills Campus, andcreated bespoke resources for stu-dents with learning difficulties anddisabilities at the Knightstone Cam-p u s.

The new £12 million designs for theNorth Somerset Enterprise College(NSETC) have been unveiled, as hasthe College’s first Bristol venture –Bristol Futures.

Dr Phillips added: “With this newteam on board we can look forward toan even more exciting future as one ofthe top-performing colleges in thec o u n t r y. ”

Victoria Moore joinsDT ZProperty agency DTZ welcomesgraduate Victoria Moore, fromNorthumbria University, to the valu-ations team at the Bristol office.

Tim Davis, senior director andhead of office, said: “Graduates areessential to the future success of ourbusiness and I am delighted to wel-come Victoria.

“Our graduate programme offersfor those that have the ambition, abil-ity and attitude to succeed a hugeamount of opportunities, with manyof our senior leadership joining thescheme straight from university.”

Corrigan Associates toappoint Pete Edwardsas a partnerBristol’s fast growing reputation as ahub for high-tech businesses promp-

ted Corrigan Associates to appointPete Edwards as a partner special-ising in tax advice to owner-managedbusinesses. Corrigan Associates –formed in 2009 by Edward Corrigan –is a fast-growing independent ac-countancy practice specialising inhelping local entrepreneurial busi-n e s s e s.

Edward said: “Our payroll hasgrown from two to eight in just overfive years and our clients includefast-growth technology businesses aswell as not-for-profit organisationsand private individuals.

“Pe t e ’s promotion is well earnedand an indication of the progress ofthe practice. Our clients are increas-ingly looking for investment, dispos-

als and expanding overseas whichare all areas where Pete has accu-mulated significant experience andexper tise.”

Pete is Bristol born and bred, an oldboy of Bristol Grammar School, akeen local football player and a Bris-tol City season ticket holder.

Pete said: “A marked increase ininvestment has made Bristol one ofthe main regional hubs outside ofLondon. This is attracting moresmall-to-medium owner-managed op-erations which are particularly de-pendent on achieving maximum taxef ficiency.

“Owner-managed businesses aredriving the recovery but face a num-ber of challenges in terms of findingthe time to concentrate on businessdevelopment and growth.”

Pete has been working with theSETsquared business incubator unitin Bristol, helping fast growing cli-ents with tax and investment brief-i n g s.

Metcalfes Solicitorsappoints Peter WatkinMetcalfes Solicitors has appointedPeter Watkin, who is an experiencedchartered legal executive to its res-idential property department at thefir m’s Queen Square offices.

Originally trained as a litigator,Peter now specialises in the sale andpurchase of property, with a partic-ular interest in new homes, long res-idential leaseholds and smallresidential developments.

Peter acts for individuals, smallbusinesses and management com-panies and has a reputation for astraightforward approach.

Peter said: “Living in Somerset formost of my life, I know Bristol verywell, but I am looking forward to thedaily buzz of city life.

“As anyone can see, the city is alivewith development. That togetherwith Bristol’s legacy of leaseholdproperty should provide plenty ofwork to satisfy my areas of specialexpertise, new build and residentialleasehold.”

When not in the office, Peter is akeen Harley Davidson rider.

Hotcha expands againEntrepreneur James Liang has madea second hire from Domino’s Pizza ashe continues his drive to turn hisHotcha brand into a national Chinesetakeaway franchise.

The Bristol-based company hashired Clive Mellor, former senior ex-ecutive at Domino’s as part of itsnational growth plan to open 100 fran-chised stores across the UK in thenext five years.

Clive joined Hotcha’s managementboard as operations director. His hos-pitality career has spanned a numberof big brands including Little Chef,Burger King and Traveller’s Fare.

He will be responsible for main-taining high trading standardsacross all aspects of the business andalso help increase the frequency ofstore openings.

James, 32, said: “This high-levelappointment signals our intentionsto make Hotcha a leading nationaltakeaway and restaurant brand in thenext few years.”

It is the second former Domino’ssenior executive he has taken on,following Andrew Emmerson whowas appointed as non-executive dir-ector, advising on business strategylast year.

NEW START FOR NEW FACES

� BNP Paribas Real Estate has appointed Jeremy Hughes as new head of the firm’s Bristol office, in Portwall Place

� Staff from Bibby Financial Services Bristol office. From left, MorganWhiteside, David Baum, Nick Risdale and Jon Dyer. Front row sitting is MikeFreebury Pic: Professional Images

� Cat Powell joins Medikas

� Akhlaq Ahmed has joined KPMG � Victoria Moore joins DTZ

� Pete Edwards, of CorriganAssociates

� Zoe Stollard joins Clarke Willmott� Peter Watkin joins Metcalfes

� Graham Heydon � Adam Kotas

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10 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 11We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

Business Digest

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: NEW YEAR,Business diary

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

Business West ChamberNetworking Breakfast: Meetlike-minded business people.Arrive at Bordeaux Quaytomorrow, January 8, from7.30am for 8.10am breakfast.Event finished by 9.30am. Bookvia businesswest.co.uk/events.

Bristol Jobs Fair: 21 localemployers exhibit from 10am to2pm on Wednesday, January 14at Colston Hall. Admission free.

Executive briefing on internetsecurity: Designed to inform youof the security threats you face,your responsibilities in respect ofthose threats and practicalsuggestions on how to dischargethose responsibilities. Run byBristol-based TVS at the EngineShed, Tuesday, January 20,8-9am. Register via Eventbrite.

LEP Digital – driving resultsthrough social media: Simplysigning up to Twitter, Facebookand LinkedIn is not enough, youneed to align your social mediaactivity with your businessstrategy to drive results.9.30am-3.30pm on January 22,at the BAWA Centre, Filton.

Bristol PA Network: Aprofessional forum where youcan find inspiration, develop yourskills and meet fellow PAs. Eachmeeting includes elements oflearning & development,inspirational speakers andnetworking. January 25, 6pm atHotel du Vin. Strictly for PAs,EAs, secretaries and officeadministrative professionals.Book via eventbrite.

Western Daily Press BusinessGuide launch: A breakfast eventto mark the annual must-readWestern Daily Press guide. Savethe date, Thursday, January 29.Venue and time to be confirmed.

Bristol Distinguished AddressSeries - Peter Mather: BP’sgroup regional vice president,Europe and head of country, UK,delivers the latest in the addressseries supported by the BristolPost. From 6pm, February 11, atthe Glendinning Lecture Theatre,Frenchay Campus, UWE.

Bristol Airport Careers Fair:Information on becoming one ofthe 3,000 workers are the airport.Held in the AdministrationBuilding at Bristol Airport from4-6pm on Friday, February 6 and10am- noon on February 28.Email recruitment@bristolairport.com to register,indicating preferred date.

Start-up Drinks Bristol: UWEEnterprise hosts drinks andinformal networking evening atthe Engine Shed on Tuesday,February 17, for all thoseinterested in start-ups andentrepreneurship. Book viaEventbrite.

Bristol Post and BathChronicle Women In BusinessAwards 2015: The winners willbe revealed at a gala awardsdinner at the Bristol City CentreMarriott on March 19. To booktickets visitwww.bristolpost.co.uk/ wiba.

The new year will meana new start for many inthe business world.Gavin Thompson ro u n d sup some of the latestappointments in theBristol business scene

New head for BNPParibas Real EstateBNP Paribas Real Estate has appoin-ted Jeremy Hughes as the new head ofthe firm’s Bristol office in PortwallP l a c e.

Jeremy, a well-known figure withinthe commercial property market, hasbeen with the company since 1997 andas the director in charge of the agencydepartment brings a wealth of ex-perience to the role.

Jeremy said: “I am really excitedabout leading and expanding the BNPParibas Real Estate team into a newera. This is a fantastic time for theproperty sector in Bristol and acrossthe South West.

“The planned investment for theSouth West’s infrastructure meansthat the profile of the city will beraised immensely, resulting in su-perb future opportunities for busi-ness in the region in which BNPParibas Real Estate will play a majorrole. Our confidence in the Bristolmarket has allowed us to appoint twonew members of staff who will bejoining this month.”

Keith Low joins as an associatedirector in the building consultancydepartment, and a new secretary foragency and residential consultinghas just been appointed, with moreroom left for expansion.

Jeremy added: “It heralds ex-tremely exciting times ahead foru s. ”

Four new hires atFo r rest B row nClifton-based research and develop-ment tax credit consultancy Forrest-Brown is celebrating a successfulfirst year of trading with the ap-pointment of four new members ofstaff: three more senior tax special-ists, all three having experience ofworking for the ‘Big Four’ ac-countancy firms, and a ded-icated marketingmana g er.

Alex Price, right,joins ForrestBrown asdirector from PwC.Alex has 16 years taxexperience includingDeloitte and KPMG inLondon and nine years atPwC in Bristol. Alex workedacross a wide range of tax areas,leading a 14-strong team at PWC indelivering advice to companies re-locating staff to and from the UK.

Adam Kotas, chartered tax adviser,joins as a senior tax manager. Hiscareer started at Deloitte in Bristolbefore moving to Marcussen Consult-ing – a tax consultancy in Bath wherehe advised entrepreneurs on optim-ising the tax structure of their busi-n e s s.

Graham Heydon, also a charteredtax adviser, started his career atErnst & Young in Exeter before join-ing Baker Tilly in Leeds. Grahamgained his ATT and CTA qualific-ation relatively early in his careerand enjoys the technical side of taxwo rk .

Marketing manager Simon Crozier,inset below right, has a professionalservices background having workedas a digital marketing manager forBristol-based law firm Burges Sal-mon and at a marketing firm spe-cialising in providing digital

solutions for law firms.Managing director SimonBrown said: “It has been a

fantastic first year, wehave far exceeded ourforecasts and these ap-pointments reflect howquickly the businesshas grown.

“Maintaining highservice levels is para-

mount and these latest ap-pointments mean that every

client will continue to benefitfrom receiving best in class advicefrom experienced tax specialists.”

ForrestBrown is a specialist R&Dtax credit consultancy. In the first 12months of trading the team have suc-cessfully recouped almost £10 millionfor clients.

Bibby FinancialServices investsInvoice finance provider Bibby Fin-ancial Services has invested in itsBristol sales and operations teamswith the appointment of six newstaf f.

Based in Bradley Stoke, they willwork with SMEs throughout theSouth West region.

The team welcomes four new busi-ness development managers to thecompany: David Baum, Jon Dyer,Morgan Whiteside and Nick Risdale.

With 18 years’ experience withinthe invoice finance industry, Davidwill work with businesses acrossCornwall, Somerset and Devon.

Jon has worked in the sec-tor for 13 years’ and holdsthe Asset Based FinanceAssociation (ABFA) Cer-tification; he will be re-sponsible for fundingsmall businesses withturnover between £5million and £100 mil-lion.

Morgan joins with re-sponsibility for Gloucester-shire and Herefordshire, bringingover 15 years’ experience to the busi-ness. Nick’s previous role was basedin asset based lending and acquis-i t i o n s.

He brings 16 years’ experience tothe business and will be responsiblefor funding SMEs in Bristol andB at h .

The firm also welcomes Craig Dur-nell as head of operations in Bristol.Craig has 22 years’ commercial fin-ance expertise and will hold respons-ibility for a team of 23, coaching anddeveloping operational staff.

Terry Burke joins as relationshipmanager for customers in the SouthWe s t .

Terry brings a 26 years’ experiencein financial services to the role and

will work closely with both custom-ers and the sales team.

Sharon Wiltshire, South West man-aging director, said: “These new ap-pointments reflect the period ofgrowth BFS is seeing at the moment,which is mirrored by the invoice fin-

ance market more widely.“In the third quarter of theyear, we increased funding

to SMEs by six per centand we now provide over£400 million of financeto companies across theUK.

“It’s clear that the ap-petite for funding is

growing throughout theregion and our

strengthened team will en-sure that businesses receive the

expertise and support they need tog row.”

Clarke Willmottexpands as ZoeStollard joinsLaw firm Clarke Willmott has ex-panded its construction team in Bris-tol with the appointment of ZoeStollard, who joins as a partner.

Zoe joins has spent five years prac-tising law in Asia and has particularexpertise in construction, infrastruc-ture and commercial projects.

She specialises in non-contentiousadvice to stakeholders on a variety ofpublic, private, domestic and inter-

national projects.Zoe is experienced in creating

frameworks for complex commercialdeals and developments including,property and leasing issues, mergersand acquisitions and agreementswith interested third parties.

Peter O’Brien, partner in the Bris-tol construction team, said: “Zoe is astrong addition to the team and willbring considerable additional exper-ience to our fast growing construc-tion service offering.”

New face at MedikasCat Powell has joined the team atBristol’s newest aesthetic clinicM e d i k a s.

The 21-year-old, who lives in Kings-wood, is a facial specialist and worksfrom the clinic at 20 WhiteladiesRoad, Clifton.

Medikas Bristol is run by Dr Be-atriz Molina and Dr Ian Strawford.They are founding members of Save-Face, a campaign to promote highstandards in the aesthetics sector.

Cat, a former pupil of Oldfield GirlsSchool in Bath, has recently taken upher role as a beauty therapist aftercompleting a range of qualificationsincluding a course in hair and beautytherapy at the City of Bristol Col-le ge.

Akhlaq Ahmedbolsters KPMGKPMG has bolstered its forensic team

in Bristol with the appointment ofAkhlaq Ahmed as director.

Akhlaq joins the firm after 10 yearsat EY, where he was responsible forleading the firm’s forensic practice inBristol and Reading.

In his new role at KPMG, Akhlaqwill lead the team of forensic expertswho work with public and privatesector organisations to help themidentify and protect themselvesagainst risks that could result infinancial, commercial and reputa-tional loss.

Phil Cotton, regional chairman atKPMG, said: “While the changingnature of business has created newopportunities for organisations, ithas also created new risks and po-tential threats as fraudsters becomeever more sophisticated.

“Akhlaq will work closely with ourteam to help our clients take im-mediate and decisive action to pre-vent, detect and respond topotentially harmful situations.”

New directors atWeston CollegeSix new directors have been appoin-ted at Weston College to gear up fornew challenges across the board.

Principal and chief executive DrPaul Phillips has overseen the col-le ge’s turnover soar from £10 millionto £50 million in 10 years.

The new directors will supportplans to continue that growth. AndyDavidson will be executive directorfor strategic intervention, Liz Red-wood becomes enterprise and com-mercial development director fordata compliance, funding and FionaQuick as external partnership dir-e c t o r.

Jo Watson assumes the role of newbusiness opportunities executive dir-ector, Darran George ismulti-academy trust executive dir-ector and Barbara Titmuss takes onthe job assistant director of inclus-ivity, leading on the Bristol FuturesA c a d e my.

Paul said: “Competition for theseposts was extremely strong and Ibelieve the team we have now willcompliment and take forward thisoutstanding college.

“The strategic plan is all aboutputting learners first and we havefocussed on consolidating key as-pects of our business as well as de-veloping a multi academy trustmodel the college can sponsor.”

In the last six months the collegehas invested in IT for the prisons itoffers education in, created a secondextension for its university campus,finished multi-million pound worksat the South West Skills Campus, andcreated bespoke resources for stu-dents with learning difficulties anddisabilities at the Knightstone Cam-p u s.

The new £12 million designs for theNorth Somerset Enterprise College(NSETC) have been unveiled, as hasthe College’s first Bristol venture –Bristol Futures.

Dr Phillips added: “With this newteam on board we can look forward toan even more exciting future as one ofthe top-performing colleges in thec o u n t r y. ”

Victoria Moore joinsDT ZProperty agency DTZ welcomesgraduate Victoria Moore, fromNorthumbria University, to the valu-ations team at the Bristol office.

Tim Davis, senior director andhead of office, said: “Graduates areessential to the future success of ourbusiness and I am delighted to wel-come Victoria.

“Our graduate programme offersfor those that have the ambition, abil-ity and attitude to succeed a hugeamount of opportunities, with manyof our senior leadership joining thescheme straight from university.”

Corrigan Associates toappoint Pete Edwardsas a partnerBristol’s fast growing reputation as ahub for high-tech businesses promp-

ted Corrigan Associates to appointPete Edwards as a partner special-ising in tax advice to owner-managedbusinesses. Corrigan Associates –formed in 2009 by Edward Corrigan –is a fast-growing independent ac-countancy practice specialising inhelping local entrepreneurial busi-n e s s e s.

Edward said: “Our payroll hasgrown from two to eight in just overfive years and our clients includefast-growth technology businesses aswell as not-for-profit organisationsand private individuals.

“Pe t e ’s promotion is well earnedand an indication of the progress ofthe practice. Our clients are increas-ingly looking for investment, dispos-

als and expanding overseas whichare all areas where Pete has accu-mulated significant experience andexper tise.”

Pete is Bristol born and bred, an oldboy of Bristol Grammar School, akeen local football player and a Bris-tol City season ticket holder.

Pete said: “A marked increase ininvestment has made Bristol one ofthe main regional hubs outside ofLondon. This is attracting moresmall-to-medium owner-managed op-erations which are particularly de-pendent on achieving maximum taxef ficiency.

“Owner-managed businesses aredriving the recovery but face a num-ber of challenges in terms of findingthe time to concentrate on businessdevelopment and growth.”

Pete has been working with theSETsquared business incubator unitin Bristol, helping fast growing cli-ents with tax and investment brief-i n g s.

Metcalfes Solicitorsappoints Peter WatkinMetcalfes Solicitors has appointedPeter Watkin, who is an experiencedchartered legal executive to its res-idential property department at thefir m’s Queen Square offices.

Originally trained as a litigator,Peter now specialises in the sale andpurchase of property, with a partic-ular interest in new homes, long res-idential leaseholds and smallresidential developments.

Peter acts for individuals, smallbusinesses and management com-panies and has a reputation for astraightforward approach.

Peter said: “Living in Somerset formost of my life, I know Bristol verywell, but I am looking forward to thedaily buzz of city life.

“As anyone can see, the city is alivewith development. That togetherwith Bristol’s legacy of leaseholdproperty should provide plenty ofwork to satisfy my areas of specialexpertise, new build and residentialleasehold.”

When not in the office, Peter is akeen Harley Davidson rider.

Hotcha expands againEntrepreneur James Liang has madea second hire from Domino’s Pizza ashe continues his drive to turn hisHotcha brand into a national Chinesetakeaway franchise.

The Bristol-based company hashired Clive Mellor, former senior ex-ecutive at Domino’s as part of itsnational growth plan to open 100 fran-chised stores across the UK in thenext five years.

Clive joined Hotcha’s managementboard as operations director. His hos-pitality career has spanned a numberof big brands including Little Chef,Burger King and Traveller’s Fare.

He will be responsible for main-taining high trading standardsacross all aspects of the business andalso help increase the frequency ofstore openings.

James, 32, said: “This high-levelappointment signals our intentionsto make Hotcha a leading nationaltakeaway and restaurant brand in thenext few years.”

It is the second former Domino’ssenior executive he has taken on,following Andrew Emmerson whowas appointed as non-executive dir-ector, advising on business strategylast year.

NEW START FOR NEW FACES

� BNP Paribas Real Estate has appointed Jeremy Hughes as new head of the firm’s Bristol office, in Portwall Place

� Staff from Bibby Financial Services Bristol office. From left, MorganWhiteside, David Baum, Nick Risdale and Jon Dyer. Front row sitting is MikeFreebury Pic: Professional Images

� Cat Powell joins Medikas

� Akhlaq Ahmed has joined KPMG � Victoria Moore joins DTZ

� Pete Edwards, of CorriganAssociates

� Zoe Stollard joins Clarke Willmott� Peter Watkin joins Metcalfes

� Graham Heydon � Adam Kotas

EPB-

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12 We d n e s d a y, January 7, 2015w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

The back page

United, we can make most of 2015Forget carbon targets. Thinksustainable neighbourhoods.Nina Skubala, Initiative man-ager at Business West andvice chair of the BristolGreen Capital Partnership,thinks it’s time to redefinebeing “green” if we want toachieve everyone’s buy-in.

2015 is here: Bristol’s year inthe sun. But I have some realconcerns that we still run arisk of switching people offby making them feel that

leading a sustainable lifestyle is ex-pensive, difficult or even dull.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t allstrive towards having smaller carbonfootprints. Or that it doesn’t matter ifwe plough on using fossil fuels at thecurrent rate.

My point is this: for many of us justgetting through the day is a toughenough task without worrying howmany food miles we’ve burned up, orCO2 we’ve been responsible for bydriving rather than cycling to work…let alone obsessing about whether ornot we have left food on our plates.

Read the forum sections of our localpapers and online blogs you’ll seeplenty of people who are already un-enthusiastic, and many downrightunpersuaded, about the whole greena g enda… not least those who railagainst restrictions on car use, orreclaiming our streets.

T here’s a real risk that being greenis seen as a middle-class pursuit –something that’s a lot easier to do ifyou can afford to put solar panels onyour roof, drive a hybrid car or shopat Waitrose.

So I do hope that – as we becomeEuropean Green Capital – we can putthis whole green thing into some sortof perspective, and see it as an op-portunity to think of it in terms ofdeveloping sustainable communitiesand healthy futures and foster a vis-ion that. If not everyone, far more ofus can buy into.

Because the last thing we need to doas a city during 2015 is to sow di-visions rather than spread harmony.

So what’s my vision of a greenerBristol? Critically: how can everyonein the city benefit?

� Nina Skubala, Initiative Manager, Business West and vice-chair of theBristol Green Capital Partnership

To me, this is a once-in-a-gener-ation opportunity to re-look at ourcity and – rather than being guilttripped into being told how we shouldlive – make some informed, collectivedecisions on how we want live… andnot just us either, but our childrenand future generations.

Personally, I’m really optimisticthat there is plenty of commonground – because, given a choice,most of us would want to live insustainable, resilient, self-reliantcommunities. And that, at the veryheart of it, is what being “g reen” is allab o u t .

So what does a sustainable, resi-lient community and city look like?Years ago it was how most of us lived:in a village. Goods and servicesmostly came from local suppliers –circulating wealth rather than seeingit sucked out by multi-nationals. Thecommunity itself played a bigger partin looking after each other and run-ning communal facilities, and mak-ing the decisions that affected locallives. Of course we’re now living in alarge and expanding city, so piningfor a rural past serves no useful pur-pose… but so many areas of our city –neighbourhoods, suburbs, evenstreets – have established a real vil-lage feel to them.

Look at places such as GloucesterRoad and St Marks Road, Easton, andyo u ’ll see residents shopping locally,cafes are buzzing, street markets arespringing up and community groupsare thriving. That shouldn’t be a sur-prise: you only have to look back atthe times we’ve had street parties tomark big occasions to recognise thata great many of us would welcomethinking and acting more locally.

But surely that runs counter to ourincreasingly digital world? Not in theleast. We are all quite capable ofliving locally at the same time asworking globally. Indeed, digital con-nectivity will be enabling more andmore of us to do that in the years tocome and the possibilities that mayarise from the “internet of things”and smart cities is uplifting: andt h at ’s as green and carbon-free a vis-ion as you’re ever likely to get.

So if I can embed one thought to goaway with, it’s this: let’s use this yearto re-evaluate what being green reallyis… and try to build a more sus-tainable, more resilient and self-re-liant Bristol. Now that would be a reallegacy from our year as Green Cap-ital.

Phil SmithManaging Director of Business West

In numbers

Business currentaccounts

Petrol prices

1.01%£10,000 deposit

0.25%£1 deposit

State Bankof India

Corporation tax

21 %20 %Main rate

Small profitsrate – below

£300,000

111 .32pUnleaded

118 .30pDiesel

121 . 24 pSuperunleaded

64 .88pLPG

Source: PetrolPrices.com

Business savingsaccounts

1.49%£10,000 deposit

1.9%£1,000 deposit

State Bankof India

Inflation (CPI)

1%

Weekly earnings

1.8 %Base interest rate

0.5 %Ave mortgage rate

3.99 %

S o u rc e :

Secure TrustBank

Inflation (RPI)

2%

THE noise and glare of fire-works we’ve enjoyed thisNew Year must not mask thefact that we are fast approach-ing a significant economic

and political crossroads. Look behindus and we see a year when the UKfinally emerged from a damaging re-cession. Turn to look ahead and wesee a political battleground to secureour economic and constitutional fu-t u re s.

In the last 12 months businesswatched unemployment plummet,GDP climb above its pre-recessionpeak, the UK survive a break-up at-

tempt and business confidence boom.Yes, this was a year to applaud, butclapping hands now will soon turn topointing fingers, as all eyes focus onthe General Election in May.

The big issues are on the table forall to see. When Scotland votedagainst independence in September,it sparked a brawl for the wider de-volution of local power and freedomsfrom Westminster, with the Brave-heart cries spreading to all corners ofthe UK. This constitutional reform

momentum promises to roll its way tothe election and beyond, with de-volution pledges set to be penned onall party manifestos.

Our future relationship with theEU is far from certain, with Con-servative promises of a referendumand UKIP demands for exit. Insideand out, the political ropes are wear-ing thin. With political powers beingrearranged, struggling tax bases anda further round of austerity looming,this promises to be the most im-portant economic and political elec-tion in recent memory.

As this drama unfolds, we as busi-

ness cannot simply sit as bystandersenjoying the show. Over the past yearwe have been consulting with ourmembers and the wider businesscommunity, driving hard to gatheryour concerns so we can shout themto the stage at this decisive time. Thiswork all builds towards the release ofour election manifesto, which will bethe focal point of our lobbying workin the lead-up to May.

With the political landscape farfrom certain and the economy only ayear out of the recovery ward, we willsee battle commence and the voice ofbusiness must be heard.

Crunch year ahead with country at crossroads

Opinion

Opinion