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Aldiss named new City Head for Manchester and the North West

Sam Whitear
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McCann Manchester Managing Director, Richard Aldiss, has been appointed as the new IPA City Head for Manchester and the North West.

In his role, Richard will serve as a figurehead for the industry in the North West, championing the outstanding talent in the advertising community and providing a voice for IPA members in the area. He will also work closely with IPA Chair for England & Wales, Michelle Wright on wider industry issues, IPA initiatives and helping to position agencies to successfully rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commenting on the appointment, Patrick Mills, Director of Membership & Professional Development, IPA said: “I’m thrilled that Richard will be joining us as the new City Head for Manchester and the North West. Navigating the economic uncertainty and the impact on both business and individuals will be one of the most important goals for our industry this year, and Richard will play a vital role in helping us to serve our members in 2021 and beyond.”

Says Richard Aldiss, Managing Director, McCann Manchester: “Having spent 30 years in the industry, now feels the right time to be able to support and give something back to the agency community in Manchester and its surrounding region. In the wake of 2020 and the turbulence and uncertainty it presented, agencies both large and small will be looking for guidance and support over the coming 12 months and the IPA can play a key role here.

He continued: “As Simon Jones, hands over the baton I’m looking forward to building on the excellent work he has done particularly in creating more opportunities for diverse talent to enter our industry.

Richard succeeds Wavemaker Manchester’s Simon Jones who has served in the role since 2018.

Richard Aldiss biography:
Appointed Managing Director at McCann Manchester in 2017, Aldiss has been with McCann for 30 years. Joining the Manchester agency in 1997 as a media group head after an eight year stint at the network’s Birmingham office, he has held a number of leadership roles at the 380 strong agency including head of channel planning.

During his journey with McCann he has worked with clients in just about every conceivable sector. As MD he is board level lead across clients including Magnet Kitchens, Smyths Toys, Miller Homes, Key Retirement and Irish Ferries.

Having lived and worked in the North West for the majority of his life, Aldiss is very familiar with the creative landscape in Manchester and the wider region and passionate about the cosmopolitan city maintaining its position as a vibrant hub owning creative excellence.

Manchester China Forum’s second win at Greater China Awards

Sam Whitear
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On Friday 19th February, Manchester China Forum (MCF) was presented with the Recognition Award for the second time at the Greater China Awards, organised by the Department for International Trade North West. MCF becomes the first organisation to receive this award for a second time in the 16 year history of the event.

The Greater China Business Awards honour significant contributions to developing business links with Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, in addition to celebrating the Chinese New Year in the year of the Ox.
The Recognition Award celebrates organisations in North West of England that have made a significant contribution to developing business, innovating or building collaborative partnerships with companies based in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan.

Launched in 2013, the MCF is Greater Manchester’s special-purpose vehicle tasked with building strong, long-term, and coordinated links between GM and China. This recognition has largely been powered by their work in continuing to strengthen trading and commercial relationships with the Chinese markets, as highlighted in recent news with total exports passing the £10bn mark in the last six years. This also builds on the tremendous effort that MCF and organisations from Greater Manchester put in last year to ensure that more than 7,000 Chinese students arrived for their studies at universities in Manchester as well as 28 other Universities across the UK.

According to the figures released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s GDP grew by 6.5% in Q4, with an overall growth of 2.3% for 2020 highlighting the importance the Chinese market will play in driving future economic growth. With the country’s 400 million middle class expected to grow by a further 200-300 million over the next 3-4 years, this market which already accounts for over 50% of the world’s e-commerce market, is expected to be a major source of growth in trading exports for the UK over the coming years. In addition, China’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, hitting peak emissions before 2030, presents significant opportunities to collaborate around Greater Manchester’s own 2038 carbon neutrality ambitions. As we look forward to the UK’s hosting of COP26, enhancing collaboration around low-carbon technologies will play a critical role in unlocking opportunities in a decarbonisation market estimated to reach $15trn by 2050.

The event included Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for China John Edwards; Marian Sudbury, Director of UK Regions of the Department for International Trade as well as Paul Stowers, Head UK Regions, North West, Department for International Trade who presented the award:

“Despite the variety of global challenges that have emerged over the last year ranging from the US-China trade war, Brexit and now COVID-19; the region’s links with China continue to grow from strength to strength.
Much of this success can be attributed to this organisation’s consistent approach, taking a long-term view of developing relationships focusing on three priorities – government, business and people; ensuring that the relationships and strategies developed are holistic and can easily adapt to changing priorities.

This approach has ensured that the organisation was in an excellent position to work with partners on a comprehensive response to COVID-19, whilst still fulfilling its core role of developing strong economic links with China. It linked with airlines and Manchester airport, local Federations, Universities, the Chinese Consulate General, and local companies to provide donations of PPE – initially from the UK to China, and then as the progress of the pandemic moved – from China back to the UK. It helped to co-ordinate the exchange of expertise between professionals at the front-line of responding to the pandemic in China and the UK; and also worked with government, universities and airlines to establish the potential for charter flights for international student coming from China to the NW, once travel restrictions permit this.”

Rhys Whalley, Executive Director, MCF welcomed the Recognition Award as a reflection of the city-wide commitment to developing a collective approach to building long-term relationship with China and ensuring that Greater Manchester remains at the forefront of shaping an exciting Global Britain vision. He commented: “We’re humbled to be the first organisation to receive the Recognition Award for a second time at the 2021 Greater China Awards, organised by the Department for International Trade. We’re very grateful to the continued support and commitment of our Board Members and strategic partners across Greater Manchester. This has been an incredibly challenging year for all and one that we are indebted to all of our fantastic front-line workers that have worked tirelessly in tackling the pandemic. To have received this award off the back of such a difficult and challenging year feels all the more special and serves as further justification of our approach to maintaining a long-term strategy of engagement with one of the world’s most important and arguably most complex global relationships. This award is testament to Greater Manchester’s culture of collaboration and the positive impact this can have locally as well as further afield.”

David Percival MBE, Chairman, MCF, said:
“I am delighted to see that the Manchester China Forum has been rewarded for a second time with the DIT Recognition Award at the Greater China Awards. This is another fantastic achievement and one that highlights the incredible success that the organisations has had in advancing the city-region’s links with China. Greater Manchester is very much seen as a leader in driving forward regional engagement between the two nations.”

Full list of awards winners

Recognition Award
Manchester China Forum
Business Award – For companies that have links with Greater China for more than three years.
Winner – Wood.
Rising Star Award – For companies relatively new to the market, that have had links with the region for less than three years.
Winner – Lucas Xia of Easyuk International Ltd
Runner-up – Fresh Business Services
Education Links Award – For Universities, Higher Education Institutions and businesses offering training and education links to Greater China
Winner – RNCM
Runner-up – St Bees School
Highly Commended – NCUK Together

Manchester Innovation Activities Hub reveals first training collaboration to kick-start ambitious re-skilling programme

Sam Whitear
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Manchester Innovation Activities Hub (MIAH), has announced its first training collaboration with worldwide leader in IT, networking and cybersecurity solutions, Cisco, by becoming affiliated with its Cisco Networking Academy programme.

As a Cisco Academy, MIAH will provide industry standard training, hands on labs, and accreditation in areas including Cyber Security, Design Thinking, Automation and the Internet of Things through the lens of electric vehicles propulsion, batteries and energy storage technologies.

This is an important step to achieve its ambitions of rapidly upskilling, reskilling and retraining of more than 5,000 local residents over the next five years. MIAH alumni will be fast-tracked into hard-to-fill occupations that require specialist technical skills, to support the growth of Greater Manchester businesses, as part of Greater Manchester’s COVID recovery plan.

The hub, will target unemployed youth (Kickstart Scheme), low income residents as well as professionals who’ve recently lost their jobs. MIAH will prepare them for skilled employment within the low carbon, advanced manufacturing, tech and health innovation sectors.

Marilyn Comrie OBE, director of business development at The Blair Project, the organisation leading MIAH, explains: “Our collaboration with Cisco is the first step in supporting Greater Manchester to become a leader in the low carbon economy, through the design, development and manufacturing of power electronics, machines and drives.

“We are so excited to work with such a high-profile organisation to create job opportunities and provide training to people in these essential technologies. The work of MIAH and its partnership with leaders in technology and training will be essential in supporting the region’s recovery from COVID-19, which has severely impacted a number of sectors as well as Greater Manchester LEP’s vision for a greener and fairer Greater Manchester, as well as the drive to make Greater Manchester carbon neutral by 2038.”

Cisco Networking Academy is a global education program that empowers students with career possibilities in IT, cybersecurity, and more. The program is licensed free of charge to qualified learning institutions in 180 countries. Established in 1997, it is the world’s largest and longest-running corporate social responsibility education program, with 12.6M participants to date.

Nuno Guarda, head of corporate affairs, Cisco Networking Academy, UK & Ireland, said: “The Cisco Networking Academy aims to help its education partners harness the power of technology and education to provide career opportunities that transform the lives of learners, educators and communities. We’re proud to be working with such an inspiring organisation and expanding access to the programme in Manchester.

“We look forward to working closely with everyone involved in MIAH to empower students with technical knowledge in high-demand job areas, as well as the broader skills required for collaboration.”

Sean Fielding, GMCA lead for digital, education, skills, work and apprenticeships, said: “It is fantastic to see the hub and the Cisco Networking Academy coming together to educate, upskill and reskill residents across Greater Manchester. I have no doubt that this new highly-skilled workforce will be essential in helping the region achieve its 2038 target of being carbon neutral.”

Opening from a temporary home at the Greenheys Centre in May, MIAH will move to its permanent home at Bruntwood’s BASE development on Manchester Science Park in 2022. MIAH will utilise 15,000 sq ft in the new 90,000 sq ft building, which will be a hub for computer engineering, energy technology, light manufacturing and materials science businesses.

Red-Fern invests in a new destination for innovation, creativity, education and technology

Sam Whitear
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Red-Fern invests in a new destination for innovation, creativity, education and technology.

Previously based in Altham, the digital agency has relocated to a state-of-the-art facility in Burnley to further inspire their innovation, growth and digital partnerships.

Red-Fern are currently enjoying a period of fruitful growth. The forward-thinking digital agency continued to recruit and employ new team members throughout last year and are growing from strength to strength.

With an evolving team of 20 creative and digital specialists, they’ve decided that they need a destination that allows them to continue delivering world-class technology and marketing projects. They’ve invested in industry-leading premises in Burnley and are branding their new office as “an investment into a destination for innovation, education, creativity and partnerships.”

The destination itself contains a professionally-equipped audio and video recording studio, plus, an events space for the brand, industry and businesses to educate and innovate. Also, a large inspiring open-plan layout for the team to enjoy and deliver their work, and an education space for investment into apprenticeships.

One major driving force behind the move was the unrivalled value that Red-Fern can provide for their partners and the industry itself. Delighting their partners and creating long-term, trusted partnerships are at the core of everything that the digital agency does, and their new destination is no different.

Founder and Managing Director, Sean Redfearn said, “the decision to invest in a new destination for our brand and partners is exciting. While pretty much all businesses have been forced into unforeseen business decisions due to the pandemic, it’s still the right decision to invest in our brand and continue to drive creativity and technology for our partners.”

“We can’t wait to hit the ground running when we can get all the team back together in the new premises. The value that we’re able to provide for all the projects that we work on with such a magnificent set up is unrivalled. We’ve invested in the best so that we can continue to be an innovative digital agency and continue to grow.”

Despite the adversity that 2020 provided for businesses, Red-Fern managed to come through it stronger than ever and have continued to build on that this calendar year too. With the right team in place and amazing facilities that best position the business for success, they’re excited to see what the rest of 2021 and the future holds.

Prosper Ex partners with Absurd to develop new employee wellbeing platform for Australian businesses

Sam Whitear
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Manchester headquartered strategic design agency Absurd has gained another global client following its appointment as digital partner to Prosper Ex PTY LTD, a start-up organisation based in Queensland, Australia.

Absurd will be supporting Prosper Ex to bring an industry-first employee platform to market that will promote and engender wellbeing in workforces across Australia.

The platform is intended to give organisations the capability to easily reward employees with perks, as well as recognise efforts and gain valuable employee insights, with easy to implement functionality.

It is particularly aimed at the construction and mining industries, where employee wellbeing can be very much an afterthought or difficult to manage due to distributed workforces. Prosper Ex’s platform aims to address this by creating a seamless touchpoint bridging the gap between employees and their employers.

Tasked with service design and product development Absurd will launch an MVP using Umbraco 8 CMS, which will be built out using real-time insight and testing.

Oli Taylor, co-founder of Absurd, said: “This is a hugely exciting product with potential to make a significant impact to multiple industries in Australia. We’ve seen that construction and mining can be especially challenging for company-wide employee communications and management, with employees working remotely for long periods of time, away from family and support networks. Prosper EX aims to change this and to help organisations to bequeath more benefits to employees.

“The platform will also be extremely relevant for any businesses who continue to operate remote working teams even after the restrictions of the pandemic ease.

“Our aim is to provide an attractive, easy to use platform which enables employees to be rewarded whilst the companies gain invaluable feedback and insights to further increase happiness & productivity within their organisations.”

He added: “We’re well experienced in working with global clients that span the US and Europe, adding Australia to our world-wide reach is fantastic for us.”

Headquartered in Manchester, Absurd also has offices in London and the US and employs 15 staff.

Women led research team backed by Innovate UK to improve sustainability of inhalers

Sam Whitear
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An innovative project is underway with a women led consortium from Manchester based SMEs Dsposal and Reply, and global pharmaceutical company Chiesi. The team are researching ways to minimise or eliminate the use of plastic in pressurised metered dose inhalers by redesigning the ‘actuator’. Around 75 million inhalers are prescribed in the UK every year and they have been identified by both the UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee and the NHS in their drive to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint.

The project has won funding from the ‘Designing sustainable plastic solutions’ competition run by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, along with co-funding from Chiesi, a global pharmaceutical B Corp® certified company and leader in respiratory health.

“Inhalers are a vital, life-saving device for thousands of people but currently they are a ‘throwaway’ item. Research shows there is also quite a lot of stigma around inhaler use, especially among children and teenagers. Using our extensive human centred design experience to redesign the actuator so that it can be more environmentally friendly is the primary aim of this project, but we’re also keen to explore how we might be able to tackle the issue of stigma too,” said Rebecca Rae-Evans, Director at Reply.

“Winning this funding and support from Innovate UK and Chiesi is a huge opportunity for both us and Dsposal. It’s unusual for us to find ourselves on an almost all-woman project team, but it’s fantastic to buck the trend and be an example of women innovating and winning funding.”

Sophie Walker, COO and Co-Founder of Dsposal commented, “We’ve always taken gender balance seriously at Dsposal and wanted to be role models for both the waste and tech sector. It’s a joy to be working with such an incredible, passionate group of women. Our interdisciplinary team brings such a breadth of experience, which is vital as to design more sustainable products we need to take a systemic approach. We’re bringing our circular economy experience and looking at this with stakeholders from along the entire supply chain from the materials manufacturers right through to the waste management companies who deal with these items when they’re discarded. We’re also lucky to get support in the form of materials advice from the Sustainable Materials Innovation Hub at the Henry Royce Institute.”

Harriet Lewis, Head of Public Affairs at Chiesi UK added, “At Chiesi, we believe protecting patient health and the environment should not be a matter of compromise. To this end we have invested considerable time and resource in accelerating the development of lower carbon technologies as well as empowering patients to dispose of their inhalers in an environmentally safe manner. Initiating activity to scope alternatives to the current plastic use for all our inhalers is overdue and the start of an important journey for us and the wider pharmaceuticals sector. As a B Corp® certified company, we take our environmental responsibility very seriously and are committed to playing our part in reducing the environmental impact of inhalers. Being part of this research is a critical first step for us and aligns with our broader B Corp® commitments of using our business as a force for good. This initiative is further elevated by the fact that it has been driven – from conception to activation – by an all-female team. On a company level, women make up 54% of the workforce, something we are very proud to celebrate especially as we draw closer to International Women’s Day 2021.”

Manchester start-up Stream Sensing secures six-figure funding round from NPIF – Maven

Sam Whitear
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Manchester-based Stream Sensing Limited (Streaming Sensing), a specialist in advanced industrial rheology has secured a six-figure investment from NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).

Founded in 2020, Stream Sensing provides next generation flow property sensors used for the quality control of fluid products. Clients are expected to be manufacturers in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors including large blue-chip organisations.

The NPIF funding will allow the business to embark on the next stage of its growth journey, developing a new innovative generation of rheometers that use heat pulse technology to quickly and accurately measure the flow profile of liquid in a pipe. With greater investment into R&D, the company is looking to improve its industry leading technology to provide greater quality control whilst also working more efficiently and accurately, broadening is commercial appeal.

Traditionally, processing companies have used sampling solutions that measure flow properties during the manufacturing process. This often results in longer manufacturing lead times, poor quality control and supply chain inefficiencies. Stream Sensing’s solution is unique, in that it provides in-situ, real-time measurements that lighten the operational workload, creating a cost-savings through optimisation.

Stream Sensing’s technology has applications in multiple sectors and is now targeting new lucrative industries, such as specialty chemicals, pharma and oil and gas.

Backed by a management team of renowned leaders in electrical industrial tomography, Ken Primrose, CEO of Stream Sensing specialises in business planning for spinouts from universities.

Dean Cox, Investment Manager at Maven, said, “Stream Sensing’s management team have a strong reputation in their highly specialised sector and are excited to be supporting a business that has developed a proprietary technology that provides a unique quality control solution. During our diligence, several blue-chip organisations endorsed the team, the technology and the customer value proposition of Stream’s technology. Ken is a driven leader in his technical field with a compelling strategy and vision for the company and we look forward to working with him in helping to drive the business forward.”

Ken Primrose, CEO, of Stream Sensing, said “Our new steps in rheology instrumentation present advances in process efficiency, digital manufacturing and what is called the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. I am very excited at the opportunities opening up with the NPIF investment”

Grant Peggie, Director from British Business Bank, said: “It is one of NPIF’s focuses to ensure exciting, growing businesses like this are supported in their growth journey and investments such as this demonstrate the importance of access to financial support across the North.”

Leading North West law firm Napthens’ provided legal advice on the transaction,with partner Keith Melling and senior associate Joanne Cooper from the commercial division overseeing the deal.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.

Kingsland Drinks receive six-figure investment

Sam Whitear
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Kingsland Drinks has announced plans to boost its bag-in-box wine capabilities in 2021 with a six-figure investment in additional production line machinery that will reinforce its position as a full-service drinks company and leverage the booming bag-in-box sector.

The investment will increase the company’s capacity for packing bag-in-box wines by 50 per cent, totalling more than 28 million litres per year. Kingsland Drinks currently packs bag-in-box wines for several leading UK retailers and contract packs for a number of top brands.

The new line, at Kingsland Drinks’ site in Irlam, Salford, builds on the company’s existing bag-in-box infrastructure, which supplies 1.5L, 2.25L and 3L formats to some of the UK’s biggest retailers. It will be installed in two parts; a new filler will be fitted in April 2021, followed by the installation of a pick and place and end of line palletisation system. The line is expected to be fully operational by May 2021.

The UK is one of the fastest growing markets for bag-in-box wines, up over 25 percent in value and 21 per cent in volume terms since the start of the pandemic, with its freedom of consumption, longer life once opened, and value for money all compelling consumers to buy into the sector. Bag-in-box wine is also more efficient to transport versus its bottled counterpart, resulting in a lower carbon footprint when transporting around the UK. Additionally, both the cardboard outer and the inner bag are recyclable.

Ed Baker, managing director at Kingsland Drinks, says: “We’re proud of our ability to offer a full category service and have carefully expanded and upgraded operations in recent years to enhance our offering. Many of our suppliers are keen to venture into new wine formats and bag-in-box is certainly one that is being embraced by consumers, due to changes in lifestyle and the fact that at-home drinking occasions are set to be a dominant feature of socialising.

“The pandemic has shone a well-deserved light on this format and it can only gain momentum as the industry educates consumers on its benefits. Bag-in-box wine is here to stay, and our investment means we approach the years ahead with experience and world class capabilities.”

The investment is the latest in a considerable pipeline of developments for the company. It added a new canning line in 2020 with the capability to produce 80 million cans per year. The line already produces cans for new ready-to-drink brand Vin Crowd, which is now available in Co-op, Nisa and Costcutter.

In the last six years, Kingsland Drinks has installed a carbonation line, reinstated its onsite winery, introduced new high-speed bottling lines, expanded its NPD capabilities with a new laboratory focused on future-thinking and insights-driven product development, and upgraded its capacity to bottle spirits and package new and emerging formats.

The Student Model – The Business Model Solution of The Future

Sam Whitear
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COVID-19 has played a huge role in changing the way businesses, and individuals, operate across the globe, with many company owners opting to permanently walk away from their city center offices in favour of home working, and employees taking time off work due to furlough schemes.

Additionally, in order to save money, several businesses have also had to put a ‘pause’ on recruitment and growth plans due to an uncertain economic climate brought about by the pandemic.

However, there’s a new trend on the rise that’s allowing companies to increase their productivity without taking on the additional costs of new team members: student freelancers.

Business Electricity Prices have taken a deeper look into the accelerated growth of the freelancers market, and how students could be the solution, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How businesses can benefit from freelance resource

Some industries, particularly those impacted more significantly by the pandemic, have sadly needed to reduce their overall spend in order to give them the best chance of staying afloat. This has led to many businesses having to make staff members redundant, and putting a pause on recruitment. Whilst this may seem counter-productive to do so, it has led to a rise in demand for freelancers.

Although the use of freelancers has been steadily increasing for many years, it has seen short, accelerated periods of growth throughout 2020 and the beginning of 2021. Freelancers offer lots of benefits to businesses with ambitious growth aspirations and can be the best solution for dealing with short bursts of seasonality to a business’ operation.

In fact, recent Forbes research found that 90% of companies actually depend on freelancers to augment their professional workforce.

A new surge of student freelancers

Freelancers are fantastic for bridging the gap between large workloads and a lack of staff, but it’s important to remember that if you’re planning to rely on them for a significant number of projects, they can become quite expensive. Not to worry though, as there’s a new ‘pool’ of freelancers taking businesses by storm: students.

Due to the ongoing (and seemingly never-ending) pandemic, thousands of students have been left without their usual part time jobs, and many are also attending significantly fewer lectures. This means they have significantly more time on their hands to take on freelance roles, whilst working towards their degrees, and a need to pay their bills.

Hiring a freelancer student is a win for all parties. Businesses are able to become more productive on short-term projects without paying salaries, recruitment fees, or high freelancer rates, and students are gaining valuable experience before they enter the world of full-time employment. This, in turn, is putting an end to the vicious cycle many students face after university of ‘no-experience-equals-no-job-but-no-job-equals-no-experience’.

Even though there are currently no dedicated student freelancer sites, Save The Student strongly recommends using Upwork to source student freelancers as you’ll likely find some talented students offering their services at great business-friendly prices.

Will hiring a student freelancer work for my business?

Businesses may be skeptical at the quality of work coming from an inexperienced student. But it’s important to remember that students regularly produce highly academic essays and assignments to an incredible standard, while many creatives begin university with a strong portfolio. Not only that, but they’re also hungry for experience within their chosen field, don’t charge high-end freelancer fees, and will often work at a moment’s notice on any fast-turnaround projects.

From a business’ point of view, working with a student freelancer is a very low risk, high reward situation. Taking on freelancers is a great way to offer additional support to internal teams, and many companies think of them as a productivity tap that they can turn on when large projects or busier periods come along, and turn off when they aren’t required.

What does the freelancer market look like?

Large parts of business support functions can utilise freelancers. The rapid advancement and growing acceptance of remote working that’s been accelerated by COVID-19, means that companies are much more accepting of and prepared for employees and freelance contributors to work from any location.

Businesses looking for particular skills are the most likely to seek freelancer help to support their internal teams. For example, Money Super Market found that the most popular sectors for freelancing are Business support (22%), Design (20%) and Writing and Translation (17%).

Furthermore, it is students and graduates that are predominantly driving the growth of the freelancer market, with 87% of the UK’s top-performing graduates seeing freelancing as a highly attractive career option according to Econsultancy.

Pit-falls to Avoid

Taking a chance on a student freelancer, may mean a smaller body of work to examine. If you’ve chosen to use a student for their availability, be sure to vet their skills properly first. A good way of doing this, is to provide a paid piece of work as a test of their talent, which will help you decide on whether to use them for future projects.

As you may remember from your uni days, assignments are not like normal work. It can be a challenge to know how long it will take until you’re in the throws of writing. As a business, it is therefore important to thoroughly discuss availability with your student freelancer if you’re looking to hire them for a prolonged period and leave ample time each side of any assignments they may have to ensure your time-line remains on-track.

Students are expected to have a lot of experience before applying for any job these days, so nurturing talent is a big win for their future job prospects, for the economy and potentially for your own business as their skills develop.

Just try to be understanding that they may not have performed a task before. Taking the time to be patient and teach a talented individual how to perform a task will not only aid in their development, but hand you an employee eager to work for you so that they can continue their personal growth. This could result in the individual picking your project over another in the future and a loyal talented freelancer is nothing to be sniffed at.

The future of business and its relationship with freelancers

Although freelancers are independent in nature, making the most of the added resource means answering their questions, handling any issues that arise, providing them with all the information they need to fulfil their role, and monitoring their work. These are all things that need to be taken into consideration when opting to onboard freelancers, both students and long-standing professionals.

Quite often, leaders and managers will empower their teams to manage freelancer work and use them as and when needed to increase department output.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 2018 saw a 31% annual surge of freelancers in the UK according to Simply Business. The trend has only been accelerated further with increased redundancy during the pandemic and a much more positive attitude towards remote working by business leaders.

There’s a solid and growing place for student freelancers in modern business, especially during times of higher economic uncertainty, and this seems to be going hand in hand with today’s desirable flexible working.

Bolton receives £22.9m for transformational town centre plans

Sam Whitear
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Bolton Council has successfully been offered up to £22.9m of funding from central government’s Town Fund today (March 3) to help regenerate its town centre. This is in addition to the £1m accelerated funding already secured.

Bolton Town Investment Plan was only one of the 45 town deals announced as part of the budget and is also one of 101 towns who had been given the opportunity to secure funding from the government’s £3.6bn Towns Fund.

The Cheadle Square area of Bolton Town Centre which includes Bolton Market, Bolton Central Library, and Aquarium is now set to see major improvements thanks to the Towns Fund grant.

Bolton’s Council will also use the secured funds across four projects including an improvement to Bolton Market, which will involve refurbishing and upgrading the internal halls, and improving all entrances to the building.

The Wellsprings building will be redeveloped to create an innovation hub for growing and start-up businesses in the creative and digital sector.

A public realm project will create a greener town centre, creating improved footpaths and connections between key institutions improved, new pocket parks and new public spaces.

Finally a redevelopment of Bolton Central Library, Museum and Archive, will expand the Aquarium, modernise the libraries and introduce flexible workspaces for local businesses and community groups.

The next stage of the process will involve the council agreeing Heads of Terms with government and developing a full business case for each of the projects.

Costs are indicative and could change as plans develop. and there are strict criteria on how money from the government’s Towns Fund can be spent. It can only be used on Bolton town centre regeneration projects, and not used to offset budget savings or spent on other services.

Chair of Bolton’s Town Deal Board and Director at Agitare Business Consultancy, Belinda Beaver said: “I am overjoyed that Bolton’s Town Fund has been successful and the money we receive will make a great difference to our town centre. The success is a testimony to Bolton’s fantastic collaborative working with partners to provide upgraded facilities to businesses, residents and visitors alike.”

Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr David Greenhalgh, said: “We are delighted to hear that the government has supported Bolton’s Town Fund bid. This money will help us realise our vision and enable us to deliver transformative projects which are a key part of our ambitious plans.

These projects include the redevelopment of Wellspring into an innovative business hub, the refurbishment of Bolton Market, further work to our library and museum and a substantial investment to public realm in Cheadle Square and Ashburner Street which will enhance the environment and create new pocket parks and other public spaces.

These town fund projects result from extensive collaboration with residents, MP’s and private and public sector partners and will reinforce our collective ambition, vision and commitment to regenerating Bolton’s town centre.”

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