Siemens and offshore wind: How Humber firms can benefit from the bonanza

By common agreement, the plan by Siemens to build turbines in Hull for the huge Round 3 wind farms in the North Sea represents the most significant inward investment the city has seen for decades.

The combined investment by Siemens and Associated British Ports in Green Port Hull at Alexandra Dock is in excess of £200m. Siemens will employ 700 directly at the turbine factory, but the real boost for the city and region will come from the thousands employed in the supply chain and other activities as Siemens becomes the catalyst for the Humber to emerge as a major hub for renewable energy industries.

But the key issue is how do businesses in Hull and the Humber claim a slice of the action and ensure a significant proportion of the jobs and economic benefits stay local. The big risk is that, if local firms don’t know how to become part of the supply chain, many of the jobs will go elsewhere - most likely to Europe where  to the German giant has an existing network of suppliers and contractors.

So what do companies in Hull, East Yorkshire or the wider region need to do to ensure this once-in-a-generation opportunity doesn’t pass them by?

Many of the answers will come from a special conference specifically focused on advising companies on how to win business as the offshore wind industry takes off. The conference - Offshore Wind: A Guide for Business - is being staged at the Country Park Inn, Hessle, on Thursday, 16th February, from 8.30am-2.30pm.

The line-up is impressive, including Nicola Yates, Chief Executive of Hull City Council, who will spell out the vision for the Green Port Hull development and the impact it is expected to have on the Humber region. Other speakers include Professor Chee Wong, an expert in logistics and supply chain management from the University of Hull, and Bruce Marbrow, of Alpha Energy, a joint venture based at The Deep in Hull formed to meet the growing demand for contract labour to work on both onshore and offshore turbines.

The conference has been organised by the Renewables Network, a major grouping of businesses operating in the renewable energy market,  and Footprint Renewables, a PR and marketing agency focused specifically on the industry.

I spoke to Sam Pick, of the Renewables Network, and Andrew Morton, of Footprint Renewables, and both were keen to stress that the conference would be specific in its focus  as expectations of the emergence of a major new industry for the region turn to reality.

So the content will address issues such as:

·         What Siemens and other major players want and expect from potential suppliers.

·         What exactly are the opportunities from the offshore wind industry, directly and indirectly.

·         Which accreditations are required from firms looking to tender for work.

·         The guarantees that the sector demands, in terms of quality, safety and delivery.

·         And where to find the vital information on available tenders and contract opportunities.

And Mr Pick emphasises that there will be key messages about the need for local companies to work in different ways to seize the opportunities. Competence and scaleability will be vital and that will often demand joint ventures, such as the British and Danish ownership of Alpha Energy, or looser collaborative partnerships. Those links could be formed as a result of networking at events such as this conference, which will bring together businesses focused on the offshore wind opportunity.

Mr Pick also stressed that it’s not just about building wind turbines - quoting the example of Humberside Airport which has the potential to become the UK’s no.1 heliport as a result of transporting workers to and from the huge North Sea turbine fields. He reels off a diverse range of other sectors which stand to benefit - such as legal, insurance, hotels and business consultancies - but stresses that firms engaged in all these activities will need to understand how to grasp the opportunity.

“Businesses need to prepare over the coming months and consider their offer and even possibly up their game, if they are to stand a chance of being an approved supplier - wherever this may be in the supply chain,” said Mr Pick.

It’s good advice - and it’s vital it’s heeded if the bonanza of jobs and contracts that will come from the Siemens investment is to be fully realised within the Humber region.

Full details of the conference and how to book delegate place are available via this link:

Offshore Wind: A Guide for Businesses

The new Hull school that aims to make young people ready for work

For far too long Hull has been labelled an educational backwater, but there’s no doubt that a whole raft of initiatives are transforming learning within the city.

The most obvious change can be seen in school buildings across Hull, as a result of a £400m Building Schools for the Future programme. Schools such as Archbishop Sentamu Academy in Preston Road and Sirius Academy in west Hull are more akin to silicon valley campuses than traditional secondaries. Those academies are also among several new-style schools seeking to drive up standards of attainment in a city which not long ago recorded the worst GCSE results in England.

And the initiatives keep coming. The latest is a studio school, pioneered by Hull College, one of only 12 in the UK and due to open in September at the college’s Queens Gardens site.

The studio school will be very different from traditional schools, or even the new academies. I heard about those differences during a presentation by the college’s Deputy Principal Gary Warke and Director of Young People’s Learning Lynne Richardson at the latest meeting of the One Hull Business Forum.

It was an appropriate audience, as the studio school is focused on developing young people to be ready for the world of work. Enterprise and employability are the key words, as the schools strives to address the often-heard criticism from businesses that school-leavers are not equipped with some of the basics - such as punctuality, professional appearance and communication skills - required of today’s workforce.

The studio school will take pupils aged 14-19 and be comparatively small, with a total of 300 pupils. The target is to enrol 120 in September - 60 aged 14 and 60 at 16.

The school day will run from 8am to 5pm and the emphasis throughout will be on practical work. Students will spend a significant proportion of the week in the workplace - those aged 14-16 will be on unpaid work placement for up to four hours a week, while the 16-19-year-olds will have up to two days paid employment.

The curriculum will focus on the core subjects of English, maths and science, alongside a choice of vocational qualifications. Education will be taken out of the usual classroom setting, with students learning primarily through project work.

The school will also employ what it calls “personal coaches” to support students and help to link them to employers, while the college says the new school’s disciplinary and reward systems will be based on those “commonly found within the workplace”.

And, in perhaps the most obvious difference from traditional schools, students will wear what is described as “business attire”, rather than uniforms.

I suspect much of the above will be warmly welcomed by employers, who often complain that young people lack the core skills, focus, attitude and, sometimes, sheer common sense to make a valuable contribution. Too often, a re-education process is required when young people join a business. The studio school aims to remove that process, by producing youngsters who are familiar with the expectations and demands of the real world of work.

The studio school will face many challenges, among them convincing sufficient parents to interrupt their child’s education by moving them from a traditional secondary, or academy, to the studio school at 14.

It also seems to me that the expectations for work placements and paid employment are ambitious, for both the students and employers. The studio school will certainly have to ensure that bringing students into their businesses is not unduly demanding for employers, in terms of supervision or health and safety requirements. The school will need to make it easy for employers to come on board and also demonstrate to them that their students can make a real contribution - that this isn’t old-style “work experience” under a new guise.

However, it is interesting to hear Hull College say they have the backing of more than 100 businesses already. P&O Ferries and Rollits are featured in the promotional literature.

The studio school is a certainly a brave and bold initiative, which deserves success. Employers will applaud Hull College’s faith in the concept if it delivers to them young people who have the inter-personal qualities, discipline, core skills and enterprising spirit to add value to their businesses.

It also adds another facet of innovation to the rapidly-improving education facilities and provision in Hull, as the city’s young people and, of course, their parents have access to greater options and opportunities than ever before.

Those improvements are now feeding through into raised attainment. As I write, newly-released statistics show Hull - once rooted to the bottom of the GCSEs league table - has climbed to sixth  from bottom. A long way to go, but progress nonetheless.

Of course, the studio school’s focus will not be purely on academic achievement, but on producing young people ripe for the workplace and, potentially, the entrepreneurs and wealth creators of the future. Academic ability and practical skills are both important - developing a better educated, more enterprising workforce will be vital to unlocking Hull’s economic potential.

·    Potential business supporters of the studio school are invited to attend a launch event at Queens Gardens on Thursday, 2nd February, from 4.30-5.30pm, with guest speaker David Frost CBE, Chair of the Studio Schools Trust and a former Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce. Attendance should be confirmed by e-mail to ebarker@hull-college.ac.uk or by phone on 01482 598817. This will be followed by an information event for parents and students from 6pm-7.30pm.

·     For more information about the studio school, contact Lyne Richardson at lrichardson@hull-college.ac.uk or 01482 381928. Further information on the studio schools concept can be found at www.studioschoolstrust.org

The Sewell Group - a local force for good

I’ve watched the progress of the Sewell Group for many years, but this was the first time I had really seen the business up close.

I was privileged to be asked to deliver the opening address at the 2012 Sewell Group Convention and give an external perspective on the business - how it has developed; what has underpinned its success; and where the future opportunities lie. Afterwards, I was an interested observer as managers from across the Sewell divisions put the directors through a question and answer session; were told of plans for developing the business; and listened to the 2012 business plan overview.

It all reinforced the opinion I had formed of Sewell from a distance over the years - an impressive, progressive business that involves its people in plotting its future direction and inspires them to make great things happen. No wonder it has been ranked as one of Britain’s best companies to work for in each of the past three years, out-performing many huge businesses with legions of people focused on people issues.

In considering my external perspective, I was keen to impress on the Sewell people how special their business is. I wanted to highlight that they do much more than contribute to a commercially successful company - they each play their part in a powerful force for good.

Many businesses talk about their Corporate Social Responsibility policies and how much they “give back”, but, in my experience, being a force for good is often claimed, but rarely, really true. In Sewell’s case it certainly is. The evidence is all over Hull in the state-of-the-art health centres and schools which have transformed the local built environment.

They’re not just buildings - they’re statements of confidence and intent, achieved by public-private sector partnerships united by a desire to give the local community facilities and services of which they can be proud.

Sewell is a diverse business spanning construction, investment, project development, facilities management and retail. With the exception of the latter, none of the activities are traditionally associated with excellence in customer service, but it seems to me that Sewell is an exception to the rule. In construction it has changed the conversation from building to function and budget, to building quality and legacy for communities and future generations.

And, while improving local communities, health provision and life chances, the business has developed what Managing Director Paul Sewell calls “trust-based relationships” with “delighted” customers. Quality and customer service have resulted in repeat business, enabling Sewell to grow at a rapid rate. It now employs 350 people - in itself a force for good - and prides itself on giving its staff careers, not just jobs.

So being a force for good and commercial success can go hand in hand. Indeed, during the Q&A Paul Sewell stressed: “Profit is not a dirty word. Only profitable companies can be a force for good, give back and give their people careers”.

Sewell has prospered over many years from investment in public sector facilities in Hull, principally the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme, transforming primary health centres, and Building Schools for the Future. But the times are changing. As I highlighted in my presentation, the political landscape is now very different, the public sector is under the cosh and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes, which Sewell pioneered, are under the microscope.

But the business is not unsettled by these challenges. While the pipeline of projects is very healthy going forward, Sewell has a dual focus on delivery today and planning for tomorrow. Director Paul Brooke has moved into a new role focused on business development, intrinsically linked to communications and the Sewell brand.

There will be new opportunities, but the business understands it should, as Paul Brooke says, “look from within first”, by focusing on its core competencies, capabilities and track record. Health will continue to present opportunities, particularly due to the needs of the ageing population. There will be others. Sewell is well placed, in the words of my presentation, to “reinforce its reputation as a private sector partner of choice for the State”.

Sewell is also looking at the expected huge wave of investment in renewable energy in the Humber region, with Siemens as the catalyst. Sewell aims to be a strategic partner and the company’s recently-opened Skills Academy positions the business to play a key role in closing the skills gap, so local people can seize the promised job opportunities. Once again, Sewell is a force for good, supporting investment, skills development and job creation.

The desire to be a force for good can also be seen in a relaunch for the Sewell Foundation, which will co-ordinate the company’s charitable activities and match-fund fund-raising efforts by individual employees.

Sewell Group has an ambitious vision - to be a world-class local company - and being local is key to its success. As a business with its roots in Hull, Sewell understands the city’s psyche. And, as people increasingly turn away from huge, faceless corporations, the power of local will be an even greater advantage. That can certainly favour the Sewell Retail forecourt & convenience stores business, although I suggested there was a case for doing more to sell local to customers and remind them that, by buying petrol, newspapers and other items from Sewell, they are supporting a local business investing in the local community.  

Sewell is fundamentally a family business and it felt like a family to me, as I watched Sewell managers flag up 2011’s highlights - the “moments of truth” - and the “oops” occasions when things didn’t go so well. There was real pride in their achievements, but no hint of complacency; plenty of honesty; and a sense of shared values and mission.

The economic climate may be depressed, but the Sewell Group and its people enter 2012 with a real belief that they can continue to produce great commercial results by doing great things for the local community.