- dedicated desks are £211 / month – on par with the national median of £210;
- open workspaces are £158 / month – on par with the national median of £160;
- virtual offices are £49 / month – on par with the national median of £50;
- meeting rooms are £18 / hour – below the national median of £25.
Nottingham is 7th largest coworking market in UK
Nottingham’s total number of coworking spaces is 39 – the 7th largest coworking market in the UK, according to research from CoworkingCafe, specialists in coworking.
In Nottingham, median prices for:
New report calls on more Government funding to help East Midlands SME manufacturers make the digital skills transformation
Nearly three quarters (73%) of small to medium-sized manufacturers (SMEs) in the East Midlands are crying out for more Government funding to help them bridge the digital skills divide it was revealed today.
A new report produced by Oxford Innovation Advice has revealed that 90% of companies are looking to ‘digitally upskill’ their staff but are finding the biggest barriers to achieving this are cost and a lack of in-house knowledge.
59% of businesses questioned are planning to invest in digital technologies, meaning there is a massive opportunity for the new Labour administration to deliver more specialised support to help boost skills and unlock the potential of UK industry.
Based on responses from the survey, Oxford Innovation Advice has developed a five-point policy action plan that it plans to submit to Government to build on successful programmes, such as Made Smarter Digital Adoption.
The recommendations focus on providing basic level training and advice to manufacturing SMEs to convert critical analogue data capture processes into digital ones. This is a critical first step for companies and gives them the ability to analyse processes and identify efficiency improvements.
Training should also be tailored to include a strong problem-solving focus, which could feature mentoring and one-on-one practical support to help manufacturers trial solutions and digitalise processes.
Finally, Oxford Innovation Advice is urging Government to involve companies in the design of businesses support, whilst also ensuring that programmes are available nationally and connect SMEs to their peers to sustain their digital journey.
“65% of manufacturers in the East Midlands are predicting growth in the next six months and this is great news. However, as the report clearly shows, how many more could be increasing sales and creating jobs if they had more help to improve their digital skills?” explained Jane Galsworthy, Managing Director of Oxford Innovation Advice.
“The digital revolution is no longer the preserve of the larger companies, it’s here and needs to be embedded on the shopfloors, in the design hubs and in the offices of our smaller manufacturers.”
She continued: “What is clear is that SMEs need more Government funding to help make this happen, with two thirds admitting they would accelerate their journey if the right specialist support was in place.
“90% also said they want to upskill their staff, so the appetite is there – we just need to create the right business support environment to make it happen using a combination of
more financial grants and practical assistance that ensures firms can embrace digital technologies.”
Oxford Innovation Advice surveyed manufacturing SMEs during August for its Skills and Digital Adoption report, one of the largest compiled this year for manufacturers.
Other findings included:
· More than half of companies are looking to hire new employees with the necessary skills for growth
· SME leaders feel that the Industrial Internet of Things is the most important digital tool for their business, followed by big data/analytics and Enterprise Resource Planning systems
· 86% of firms want to embrace digital transformation to improve operational efficiency, with over half wanting to utilise it to reduce costs
· 46% of manufacturers believe time is the biggest barrier holding back their digital journey
· The top three training approaches preferred by small to medium-sized enterprises are peer-to-peer learning, workshops/seminars and mentoring.
Jane concluded: “Made Smarter Digital Adoption is a fantastic programme for helping SMEs who have already made headway in developing their digital capabilities. However, we feel that there is still a significant number of companies who need support to develop lower-level processes before they can start to apply Industry 4.0 technologies.”
Keepmoat announces new regional leadership team
Top 10 housebuilder Keepmoat has announced a new leadership structure at its East Midlands region, a key step in its strategic growth plan.
The Nottingham-based regional division has strengthened its senior leadership team, led by new Regional Managing Director, Adam Sharpe. Adam will be joined by Robin McGinn as the Land & Partnership Director, who will coordinate the land pipeline across the region.
Adam and Robin will steer the housebuilding landscape in the region and navigate to deliver more than 550 homes in 2025. The newly formed team boasts a wealth of experience in a range of disciplines, crucial to homebuilder’s continued success in the new build sector as it continues to deliver homes across Nottinghamshire, Derby and Leicester. Adam was formerly MD at Vistry, South West Midlands.
Commenting on his appointment, Adam said: “I am thrilled to have been appointed by such a well-established, national homebuilder. Over the past few years the East Midlands has seen significant successes and has grown to become one of Keepmoat’s flagship regions.”
CMP Legal Ranked In The Legal 500
CMP Legal, a leading niche commercial law firm that specialises in corporate, commercial, dispute resolution and employment law has been ranked in the prestigious Legal 500. The company is the only law firm based in Chesterfield to be recognised in the Corporate and Commercial: Elsewhere in East Midlands category.
For over three decades, the Legal 500 has been analysing the capabilities of law firms across the world, with a comprehensive research programme revised and updated every year to bring the most up-to-date vision of the global legal market. The Legal 500 assesses the strengths of law firms in over 150 jurisdictions. The rankings are based on a series of criteria, the Legal 500 highlight the practice area teams who are providing the most cutting edge and innovative advice to corporate counsel. The Legal 500 research is based on feedback from 300,000 clients worldwide, submissions from law firms and interviews with leading private practice lawyers, and a team of researchers who have unrivalled experience in the legal market.
CMP Legal said: “We are delighted to be ranked in the Legal 500. This is such a remarkable achievement and an incredible milestone for CMP Legal. We launched in 2021 and to receive such recognition in such a short period of time, and from the firm’s very first submission, is testament to the hard work and commitment from everyone in our team. It is fantastic to be ranked alongside such high-calibre, well-established and large national corporate law firms. We’re immensely proud of our achievement.”
Gifty launches Secret Santa—a gift exchange without the guesswork
For many HR professionals and managers, organising a successful office Secret Santa can be a stressful, time-consuming challenge—especially when balancing diverse teams, including new joiners, and trying to ensure everyone feels included.
To combat this, Gifty, a Nottingham-based startup, has announced the launch of its web-based Secret Santa generator. Designed specifically with businesses in mind, it simplifies the often-complicated process of organising office gift exchanges.
The mission is to turn what often feels like an obligation into a fun experience. Gifty understands the challenge business leaders face when trying to keep their colleagues engaged and connected, especially during the holiday season. The new Secret Santa generator is quick to set up, enabling managers and HR professionals to organise a memorable gift exchange with just a few clicks.
“We’ve developed Gifty’s Secret Santa feature to be both intuitive and friendly. It’s designed to enhance workplace culture by making it simple to connect through thoughtful gifts, without the usual stress of coordination,” says Ash Sobhani, founder of Gifty.
Key benefits of Gifty’s Secret Santa:
- Quick setup: Organise your Secret Santa event in minutes, eliminating complicated logistics.
- Gift recommendation: Sharing ideas for each other along with AI suggestions will help people in the team pick a great gift, no matter who they draw.
- Inclusive activity: Create gift exchanges that foster teamwork and ensure everyone, new joiners and long-term employees, feel valued and included.
- Strengthen workplace culture: Leverage Secret Santa to boost team spirit, inclusivity, and stronger interpersonal connections.
Derby-based Sort Legal has scooped two awards at the 21st annual ESTAS Award
The company has been recognised for delivering outstanding customer service after receiving the Silver Award in the Conveyancer category for the East Midlands and being named the Best in County for Derbyshire.
The awards were presented by Phil Spencer, the country’s favourite TV property expert at the Grosvenor House in London, in front of more than 1,000 of the UK’s leading property professionals.
The ESTAS honour the best, agents, conveyancers, and mortgage brokers in the UK. The awards are powered by The ESTAS’ own customer review platform which recognises the best conveyancers for customer service, based on ratings from home movers who have been through the whole moving experience with a conveyancer. This year’s results were calculated from over 300,000 customer review ratings.
Conveyancers were recognised in regions and counties around the UK. A National Grand Prix Award was also announced for the Best Conveyancer Office in the UK.
Phil Spencer, who has hosted The ESTAS every year since their inception in 2003, said:
“The ESTAS is a community of likeminded property professionals all focused on one mission – to deliver the best possible service they can time and time again to their clients. You’ve all been incredibly brave with your businesses and by joining our community you’ve declared your intentions to provide the highest standards of service, and you’re prepared to prove it.”
Rhodri Howells, Sort Legal’s Head of Legal Practice, said: “We are are incredibly proud to have been named the Best in Derbyshire and win the Silver Award for the East Midlands at this year’s ESTAS. It means so much to our team as we know it’s our customers who have judged our performance.”
Harrier Park, Hucknall, Nottingham to receive extensive investment by new site owners
Since the successful purchase of the 31-acre site at Harrier Park, Hucknall, Clowes Developments have completed ground remediation assessments and look to begin an extensive four-week clean-up project.
The site will be cleared in accordance with advice from WSP who are advising Clowes Developments on ecology at the site. The boundaries will also be fully secured as a health and safety measure whilst contractors, TanRo ramp up their presence on the site, once the site is tidied up, remedial ground works will begin on a 20-week programme, likely to start in the new year.
The business park has been fully serviced by its previous owners and has the benefit of planning permission for circa 500,000 sq ft of warehouse/industrial space across six buildings. These six buildings offer unit sizes from as little as circa 40,000ft² to 280,000ft², with all units being available to buy or rent.
The site benefits from an excellent location, just on the edge of Hucknall being within a 10-minute drive between junction 26 and 27 of the M1 Via the A611. East Midlands Airport, East Midlands Parkway Train Station and the cities of Derby and Nottingham are all accessible within a half an hour drive from the business park. Harrier Park also sits outside the Nottingham workplace parking levy.
The site, aptly named Harrier Park, has a wealth of industrial history and a legacy of innovative engineering. The land was formerly used as an aerodrome associated with the development of the famous Rolls-Royce Merlin engine during World War II followed by the world’s first successful vertical take-off in the 1950’s with technology
which in turn led to the Harrier ‘Jump Jet’ being developed. Hence the name, Harrier Park.
Now you are 50 and perhaps a little bit more… by James Pinchbeck, partner at Streets Chartered Accountants
James Pinchbeck, partner at Streets Chartered Accountants, considers the changes we face at work as we grow older.
It might be said that being in your 50s is now like being in your 40s and the 50s are the new 40s. However, when it comes to the work people do, and the jobs they have, there can be significant changes and challenges.
Perhaps the most obvious change is getting older and the challenges that present themselves in terms of health and the energy and ability to work. Certainly, those with a more physically demanding job can often find it more and more challenging.
More generally though as we get older, we can be more prone to illness and the overall ageing process. For women especially, going through and managing the menopause can and does have a significant impact on their ability to work. We may also face the need to support more elderly family members.
Older workers are also often, very wrongly, stereotyped as being less agile and resistant to change. Whilst in terms of more physically demanding work, agility may be an issue, the ability to learn and adopt new ideas and new skills certainly is not age limited. How many world leaders, business people and academics are well into their 70s and even beyond?
Burnout can also be a challenge for older workers, with work becoming or seeming monotonous, a chore and even a burden, as opposed to a rewarding activity, with a real sense of purpose and value.
As people approach retirement and perhaps more recently with the cost-of-living crisis, thoughts more often turn to, or are more focused on, managing or coping with financial strains and burdens as well as providing for the future.
Taking all this into account, what might those aged 50 and over, as well as employers, look to do to manage some of the challenges and to improve the lives of individuals.
Perhaps the starting point for many employers is simply recognising the situation and the needs of an aging workforce, and then looking how it can support and manage team members. Whilst there is unlikely to be a one size fits all solution, there are a number of things that might be considered including:
- The provision of flexible working to accommodate individual circumstances and needs, as well as to accommodate those with caring responsibilities
- A review of individuals’ roles and responsibilities, along with perhaps the potential to offer alternative roles that are more suited to any one individual
- More routine and structured assessments of skills, knowledge and competency and how any gaps can be addressed or provided for
- Consideration to mentoring for employees to support them both in and outside the workplace
- A review of working practices and environment, considering changes to accommodate employee needs
- Adopting a more obvious culture and positive mindset for understanding and supporting employees of all ages, but specifically the over 50s
E-commerce sales boost hack you NEED to know!
If you manage a website that sells products directly and wish you could generate more sales, you’re not alone. Lots of brand and e-commerce websites are in the same position – struggling to drive more traffic to the site, or convince enough of the existing website visitors to buy.
By embedding high quality product videos throughout your site, you can create a snowball effect sales boost – a positive feedback loop that not only converts many more visitors into customers, but also continually brings in more and more website traffic, greatly increasing the number of opportunities for sales conversions to occur.
The product videos, if they are high quality and persuasive, greatly boost the chance of a sales conversion. Plus, the very fact you have compelling product video embedded in your website is also a fantastic way to boost your Google search ranking (SEO) and win more organic traffic.
Google’s algorithm generally favours websites with high quality, relevant video embedded. That’s because the videos usually increase website visitor ‘dwell time’, i.e. they spend a longer time on your website before leaving, implying to Google that your website is a good fit for relevant searches. This gradually improves your search ranking over time, which leads to you receiving more organic website traffic.
This new traffic then watches your product videos as well, which increases their ‘dwell time’ – providing more evidence to Google that your website is highly relevant to certain search terms. This, in turn, then drives even more traffic to your site. It’s a positive feedback loop.
All these new website visitors are at a much greater chance of becoming customers, too, because the video itself – so long as it is to a professional standard that inspires customer confidence – will persuade many more people to buy.
This is what we mean by the snowball effect sales boost that high-quality product videos create. They not only greatly improve the chances of a sales conversion, but also – thanks to their SEO benefits – they continually build momentum in terms of creating more and more opportunities for that sales conversion to happen.
The snowball can keep getting bigger and bigger, to the point where if you sell products through your website, it becomes a no-brainer to embed professionally-crafted videos throughout your product listings – automatically increasing revenue with this simple action.
Specialist product video production companies can deliver the professionalism required, while also being able to demonstrate product features and functionality in a clearer and more compelling way as compared to showing only static images or making your own low-budget videos. This results in your potential customer having a lot more confidence and being much more likely to complete a purchase.
For more information visit www.glowfrogvideo.com/product
Specialist product video production companies can deliver the professionalism required, while also being able to demonstrate product features and functionality in a clearer and more compelling way as compared to showing only static images or making your own low-budget videos. This results in your potential customer having a lot more confidence and being much more likely to complete a purchase.
For more information visit www.glowfrogvideo.com/product Shakespeare Martineau announces East Midlands promotions
National law firm for life and business Shakespeare Martineau has announced 18 promotions across a variety of teams and locations, including eight in Nottingham, Leicester and Lincoln.
Effective November 2024, Nottingham-based Hannah Awcock and Rebecca Jones-Fox and Leicester-based Emma Ali and Alex Ryan have all been promoted to legal director.
Promoted to associate are Charley McEvoy in Leicester; Natalie Thorpe and Josh Morley in Nottingham; and Calum Hanrahan in Lincoln.
Legal director Hannah Awcock advises on all aspects of commercial property transactions, and specialises in development finance for banks and other funders. She has particular expertise in dealing with unregistered land.
Also in the commercial property team, Emma Ali is involved in the acquisition and disposal of land and property, the grant and renewal of commercial leases, residential lease extensions, and other property matters. Emma also advises housing associations on property law matters.
Rebecca Jones-Fox works in the real estate and energy team with a focus on high volume transactions for utilities clients. Rebecca has experience working with the country’s largest utility network operators.
Alex, who is in the dispute resolution team, deals with a wide variety of complex and high value disputes, often in the High Court, including those relating to breach of contract as well as corporate disputes, including breach of warranty and shareholder disputes. He also handles healthcare disputes, particularly involving the CQC, and contentious procurement matters.
Promoted to associate, Charley McEvoy works in the corporate team; Natalie Thorpe is dispute resolution expert; and Josh Morley is a legal planner. Calum Hanrahan specialises in immigration.
Victoria Tester, managing director at Shakespeare Martineau, said: “I am thrilled to see so many of our existing and emerging leaders promoted across such a broad range of teams and office hubs.
“Developing home-grown talent is hugely important; we know that our investments in training and coaching pay back dividends in the quality of service our people provide to our clients and in the way they pay it forward in supporting their colleagues who are just starting their careers with us.
“Congratulations to all who have taken this significant step in their careers.”
