Freebridge seek Board member for new development company
Freebridge Community Housing are looking to recruit a Board member for their new subsidiary development company, Bridgegate Homes.
Bridgegate Homes has been set up by Freebridge in order to develop and acquire new homes in and around West Norfolk - with plans to build 150 properties each year, with 40 of those being for sale on the open market.
The Board of this new company will be made up of the Freebridge Board Chairman, two non-executive Freebridge Board members and the Freebridge Director of Finance and Resources. It is also anticipated that the person being recruited will be appointed as Chairman of Bridgegate Homes.
Tony Hall said “This is an exciting opportunity for someone with experience at a senior level in the commercial house-building sector. We’re looking for an individual who can provide strategic thinking,clear direction and good quality leadership to the Board of Bridgegate Homes.
Application packs for the role are available on Freebridge’s website at https://www.freebridge.org.uk/Work-for-us.html or by telephoning 01553 667792.
If anyone has questions or wishes to discuss the opportunity further they can contact Freebridge’s Company Secretary Angus MacQueen on 01553 667754 or e-mail [email protected]
An issue that has recently received increased coverage in the press and on social media is the incidence of vans being broken into for the contents they’re carrying, rather than the vehicles themselves. Thieves appear to be targeting in particular tools, equipment and goods, the presumption being that they’re easily disposed of and aren’t readily traced or recognised as stolen property by innocent purchasers.
Vulnerabilities
The majority of the thefts appear to be taking place when vehicles are parked away from their home locations; hotel car parks are prime sites for many of the incidents we’re currently dealing with. Methods of entry are often violent as there is no interest in preserving the appearance of the vehicle being targeted, panels have been ripped, rear doors levered open, as the goal is the theft of the contents.
Precautions / Prevention
Prevention of these incidents is not straightforward, obvious factors like comprehensive vehicle security and alarms are essential, but the accidental triggering of such precautions has negated them as a guaranteed form of security. Parking in a well-lit secure car park or locked compound, monitored by CCTV, will minimise the likelihood of a theft being attempted. If feasible the removal of the high value items is also advisable, particularly if you believe you may be vulnerable to an incident of this nature.
Claims Management
Insurance cover for theft of goods from your vehicle shouldn’t be assumed, and even where cover is stated, there may be restrictions that you need to be aware of. The key factors you should look for are:
Method of entry to the vehicle. Most policies will require the entry to have been ‘forcible and violent’ for the cover to apply
Time of day. Some policies will restrict cover to exclude incidents occurring overnight (typically between 9pm-6am)
Location of the vehicle. Some policies will offer cover providing the vehicle is secured in a locked compound/garage overnight.
Value. Every policy will state the financial limit of your cover. The value of your goods should not exceed your insured limit.
If you’re unfortunate enough to be a victim of one of these incidents and your insurers confirm that you have cover, for what has happened, they’ll almost certainly request an inventory of the stolen items. It will aid the speed with which they deal with your claim, if you provide the age and purchase price of the stolen items. Therefore keeping a track on what items are carried on a specific vehicle is an advantage if you have to present a claim.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to minimise your exposure to this type of incident, park, whether at a home location or away on site, in a well-lit, secure car park or compound and remove valuable items. None of these measures will prevent a determined criminal, but they could discourage them and make the effect to you and your business as minimal as possible. If you would like to discuss anything raised in this article or to assist in a no-obligation review of the insurance cover you have in place, please contact a member of the Hugh J Boswell team on 01603 626155.
Freebridge Community Housing were delighted to unveil a number of new homes at their most recent development in Gayton yesterday.
The development, on the site of the former Rampant Horse public house, sees two 1 bedroom properties and two 2 bedroom properties brought to the village, with new tenants due to move in next month.
The development was given an official opening by Freebridge Community Housing Chief Executive, Tony Hall, who was accompanied by Freebridge Chairman Andy Walder, Director of Assets and Development Alex Dixon and Andrew Mowbray from building firm Smiths of Honingham.
Tony Hall, said: “This new development is a great addition to the village of Gayton, it’s been really good to hear some of the very positive feedback we have received for the work we’ve done bringing these new homes to life.
“At Freebridge we want to support the many rural communities that we have here in West Norfolk, we understand that as well as providing much needed housing for the area, developments like this can also have a very positive impact on keeping rural communities alive and thriving.”
Alex Dixon said: “Projects like these always present us with a number of challenges given that we have to work around the existing framework of the old buildings, however we’re really pleased with what we’ve been able to achieve and think that we’ve ended up with four very special new homes in a great setting, which in turn fit right into the village as a whole.”
Norwich International Airport is delighted to announce the launch of Fly Norwich 2013 produced in association with Archant Norfolk.
The brochure highlights more than twenty holiday destinations that can be reached directly from Norwich International including classic favourites such as Corfu and Majorca to Bulgaria and Turkey whose growing popularity has been confirmed with the additional flights to both Dalaman and Bourgas. In addition the airport has also welcomed Tunisia back for 2013 with twice weekly departures and Tenerife has been reinstated as a year round destination.
First issued in 2011 Fly Norwich has gone from strength to strength with more than 110,000 copies printed this year, an increase of over 400% on 2012 along with an additional eight pages of content too.
Andrew Bell, CEO of Norwich International commented “The airport’s brochure has proved to be hugely popular over the past couple of years and we are delighted that, with the increased holiday options available from the airport this year we have been able to expand the brochure and its distribution to a wider audience. A complete guide to everything available from Norwich, we see this brochure as a ‘must have’ for anyone planning to travel from their local airport in 2013.”
For your copy of Fly Norwich 2013 email your name and address to [email protected] pop in and collect a copy from the airport or your local independent travel agent or download from www.norwichinternational.com
Zing Insights have been awarded the research contract for Europe’s biggest trade show event for the retail industry. Zing will be conducting research with visitors at Spring Fair International which runs from during February, using their innovative iPad Research Pods.
David Langrish, Global Head of Brand Marketing at i2i Events Group said “It is important to us that we have real-time data collected during the show to provide our sales team with the insights they need to aid the exhibitor re-booking process. Zing came highly recommended and they have an innovative, flexible way of collecting large amounts of data, fast, during the event and not having to wait until after the show for results.”
Zing director Jo Walther said “Our research pods are the perfect data collection solution for any high footfall area, we’ve used them in retail outlets, in tourist attractions as well as at events to capture customer views at the point of consumption”. We’ve also found significant differences in results captured during an ‘experience’ vs. those captured after using online research methodologies because online samples are self-selecting, results are often much more polarised and extreme, positive and negative, whereas our samples are more reflective of an overall customer perception.”
Zing Insights is an award winning research and insights consultancy run by a team of highly skilled research professionals with over 40 years experience of delivering world class business insights. Zing were highly commended as a finalist for the EDP Business Award – best new business 2012 and are in this year’s EDP Future50.
A recent BBC article reported that Facebook has been accused of rolling sexist job advertising.
Investigative campaigners, Global Witness, have brought a startling bias to light, claiming that Facebook’s advertising strategy has a considerably sexist approach. The organization had created 4 test adverts to put Facebook under scrutiny, which lead to uncovering a huge discriminatory gender bias.
The ads that ran were for 4 job advertisements, linking to genuine vacancies posted by recruitment company indeed.com. The roles were for nursery nurses, pilots, mechanics and psychologists. It’s critical to note that Global Witness did not manually enter any targeting strategy, it was left entirely to Facebook who use an automated algorithm that shows your ads to ‘who is most likely to click on them’. When creating your advertisement via Facebook, they require advertisers to confirm that they ‘will not discriminate when posting job ads’ however ‘it’s own ad delivery system appears to operate in a discriminatory manner’. (Global Witness)
And here are the findings to prove it:
96% of the people shown the ad for mechanic jobs were men;
95% of those shown the ad for nursery nurse jobs were women;
75% of those shown the ad for pilot jobs were men;
77% of those shown the ad for psychologist jobs were women
Professional recruitment specialists Pure has been awarded an Investors in People Gold Award. Described as an achievement of ‘world class best practice’, IIP Gold is only given to organisations who can demonstrate excellence in developing and supporting staff to achieve high performance.
Investors in People is an internationally recognised accreditation held by more than 30,000 organisations across the world, but only 1.5% of these achieve the prestigious Gold award. Pure was first awarded the Gold standard in 2016 and following another assessment it has been awarded the top accolade for another three years.
The leading recruitment organisation, which has offices in Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich and Chelmsford, was described as a ‘growing, forward-thinking company that prides itself on being a values-led organisation in a market where by far the majority are financially led’. The assessors described how people choose to work for Pure because of this approach and enjoyed the working environment created by the Executive team, and original founders, Gill Buchanan, Ian Walters and Lynn Walters.
Gill Buchanan, Chief Operating Officer at Pure, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and a highly desirable accreditation for businesses to hold. We’re extremely proud of this external recognition of the fact we like to do things differently and our ongoing focus on our company values, which are all based around making Pure a rewarding and positive place to work. We have created a supportive environment where people work flexibly, a culture of teamwork is fostered, and we are passionate about ensuring all our team are fully engaged to go the extra mile for our clients and candidates alike. Our focus is on establishing long-term relationships as trusted advisors and our targets are focused on outcomes rather than making a quick return.”
Organisations are only awarded with the Gold status following assessments in all aspects of people development, communications and engagement, through employee surveys, interviews and observations.
Pure was founded in 2002 and specialises in Accountancy, Financial Services, IT, Human Resources, Marketing and Office Support recruitment solutions at all levels, including board level appointments through its specialist Executive division. As well as its values led approach, the Investors in People assessors highlighted Pure’s strengths in open and transparent communication, the encouragement of innovation and its reward and recognition schemes which ensure everyone feels appreciated and valued for their hard work.
Abate Pest Management has recently secured a service agreement with leading 3PL and warehousing company Johnston Logistics UK, based in Snetterton, Norfolk.
From their 640,000-square foot facility in Snetterton, Johnston Logistics UK deliver warehousing, logistics and fulfilment services for businesses throughout the UK. They offer a complete range of services, from bulk storage to individually picking and packing customer orders.
Abate Pest Management will manage the entire site for the prevention of pests by carrying out 12 visits per year. The site has approximately 180 bait stations, several insect monitors and electronic fly killing units. The service will cover any ad-hoc call outs to treat other pests such as wasps or ants if required. Each quarter Abate will produce rodent and insect trend graphs to analyse activities. Full electronic service reporting is made available for each visit to assist with the companies BRC compliance.
Jon Blake, Managing Director of Abate Pest Management said: “We are delighted to implement a full-service pest programme at Johnston Logistics UK which was with a national pest control company. We work to BRC level 7, Tesco Food Manufacturers and M&S Food standards for pest control, which is what is needed for a company that works within the food chain. We very much look forward to a long relationship and to maintain a pest free environment.
Jane Bull Compliance Manager said: As a AA Grade BRC approved business it is essential that we have a reliable and effective pest control company taking care of the site. After just a couple of weeks, I already have complete confidence in the service being provided which means I can leave Abate to do what they do best and get on with other work.
Abate Pest Management is based near Wymondham and services commercial and domestic clients throughout the Eastern region for rodents, insects, birds, woodworm and specialist cleans. Abate offers commercial businesses free site surveys with recommendations and costs.
ROTA are an innovative start-up and mobile application which helps those in the hospitality, catering and hotel industries find temporary staff for their needs. They also help those looking for hospitality jobs in London and other related part-time work in these industries acquire the perfect role. We are proud to be working closely with the great team at ROTA, helping them increase their positions online through clean, white hat search engine optimisation (SEO).
With an app as well as their website, there are some unique challenges. As is the case with other app-reliant businesses, getting users and customers to download and utilise the mobile application is paramount to the success of ROTA. Hence, as part of the strategy for the website, the app has remained at the forefront of our minds at all times and continues to do so.
Some of the Challenges
Upon starting our works with the team at ROTA, their website was not performing fast enough and was not responsive. This meant that many users upon landing upon the site were leaving before engaging with any aspect of the website. Moreover, those that reached the site and attempted to engage were often unable to do so at all times due to the slight lack in responsiveness. The website was also not optimised technically for SEO.
This manifested in the site ranking for some irrelevant keyword terms. It also did not satisfy some basic SEO best-practices and ranking criteria. This was as a result of a distinct lack of meta data (titles and descriptions) and content not being relevant enough to ensure accurate rankings. In addition, the backlink profile of the site (links pointing towards ROTA from other websites) was quite full of spammy and potentially toxic links, which were greatly holding back the performance and rankings of the entire website.
With regards to targeting and the strategy, there was previously only very sparse keyword and search term tracking set up. This means that as well as not performing as well as it should, the site’s progress was also not being tracked efficiently.
What We Are Doing
With a very aesthetically pleasing website, there was not much design-related work to be done on the ROTA website. However, we have been carrying out a number of other important tasks which are already paying dividends; getting the website up the rankings on Google and other search engines:
Website Performance – We removed a number of defunct functions and plugins from the website. This lead to almost immediate increases in website speed and responsiveness with various plugins having slowed down the site previously. We have also ensured wherever possible that a wide range of website files and media files have been sufficiently compressed to allow for much faster rendering and loading of the site
Website Crawlability – With numerous important factors missing from the site, the website was simply not being read properly by search engines. We therefore optimised the meta data, ensuring what Google reads and what users see in search engine results pages (SERPs) is fully optimised. As well as increasing positions online, this has also increased the click-throughs of users via search engines. We have also ensured that only relevant keywords and search terms are targeted and tracked to be able to accurately monitor progress over time
Links and Natural PR – Having previously been signed up to old-fashioned and spammy web directories as well as toxic ‘link farms,’ there was a great deal of negative link work which had been done upon the ROTA website in the past. Hence, we disavowed (disassociated) the spammy and toxic links, which numbered in the hundreds. We have also started to build ROTA a clean and natural backlink profile from strong and reputable sites. This is also working in ROTA’s favour as this acts as traditional PR in an online sphere, increasing the number of relevant users finding the ROTA brand through other naturally associated websites.
Start-Rite Shoes has appointed Kate Tansley as Product Director to provide leadership and direction for the strategic development of its product portfolio.
Kate has extensive experience in product environments; her last role was that of Brand Director at Multiyork where she was responsible for its creative and brand strategies, as well as the briefing of all product design and development. Prior to this, Kate held positions with Harrods, Tesco’s, TK Maxx and British Home Stores.
Ian Watson, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Kate boasts a very strong, category focussed background and will be instrumental in bringing our strategic vision to life. She will have overall responsibility for our Product, Technical and Design teams and we’re delighted to have her on board.”
Kate Tansley, Product Director, Start-Rite Shoes, said: “I am delighted to be joining the team at Start-Rite. I have a passion for product and design and I’m excited to be applying this to a new category. Children’s shoes are close to my heart and I’m looking forward to developing the product portfolio with our expert design and technical team. I’ve always been a Start-Rite customer, they are a brand that inspires trust through their great heritage and expertise. Our new brand positioning builds from this while refocusing on the pioneering spirit that was so central to Start-Rite in the past. We know kids and take a lot of time and care to understand what they need from their shoes as they grow and develop – that for me is what makes our design approach so refreshing.”
Staff at East Anglian accountancy firm, Aston Shaw, which has its head office in Norwich, have announced they will be fundraising for Norfolk and Waveney cancer charity, Big C, over the next 12 months.
Big C was chosen following a staff vote from four local charities and follows Aston Shaw’s support for EACH over the past three years.
Staff at Aston Shaw had already run a Big C biscuit appeal for a charity dress-down day. The biscuits were delivered to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) Big C Centre for visitors to enjoy. The team will continue to fundraise via ‘Casual Fridays’ and hope to take on some sporting challenges.
Charlie Maylin, marketing executive at Aston Shaw said, “Big C is a fantastic local charity and we can’t wait to start fundraising through a variety of events and activities. As a team we feel it is so worthwhile to be contributing towards ground-breaking cancer research, state of the art equipment and Big C’s support and information centres across Norfolk.
Dr Chris Bushby, Chief Executive at Big C, said, “Our grateful thanks to Aston Shaw for voting for us as their named charity. It is this kind of support which makes such a significant difference to those in our community affected by cancer.
To learn more about the work Big C does to improve the lives of those affected by cancer in Norfolk and Waveney, please visit www.big-c.co.uk
The Big C story:
2018 is shaping up to be quite a year for Norfolk and Waveney’s cancer charity, Big C. This summer the charity looks set to hit a phenomenal fundraising total of £30 million since Big C was founded in 1980 by local men David Moar and Clive Bamford. Having been through their own cancer journeys and enduring lengthy journeys to receive treatment, the pair passionately wanted to ensure that local people had access to outstanding treatment and support, close to where they are.
From its first small, but important fundraising project providing chemotherapy equipment at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Big C has grown into an impressive organisation which funds specialist life-saving equipment and internationally significant research projects based at the Norwich Research Park. These projects greatly benefit local people and have a global impact on our understanding and treatment of the many types of cancer.
The charity has also established three Big C centres located at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, in Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth and a hub at the Louise Hamilton Centre in Gorleston. These centres provide an oasis of specialist emotional and practical support for those with a cancer diagnosis and their loved ones away from a clinical environment.
UEA spin-out company, Intelligent Fingerprinting, was named the region’s ‘One to Watch’ business at the EDP’s annual Business Awards ceremony which took place last night at a gala event at the Holiday Inn in Norwich.
The One to Watch category set out to identify a company from within the EDP’s Future 50 family of businesses able to demonstrate a pioneering approach to business and with the potential to flourish and deliver impressive results. The category is about recognising an early stage business which shows the promise to become a success story of tomorrow. Judges were looking for drive, impact, potential and vision.
Intelligent Fingerprinting was one of three finalists competing for the award, which was sponsored by NWES. Professor David Russell received the award from BBC Look East’s Stewart White.