Business

Chesterfield law firm retains ‘Leading Firm’ status in the UK Legal 500

6th October 2020

Banner Jones’ Family Law and Personal Injury teams have received a Tier 2 ranking in this year’s Legal 500, which marks the 8^th year in a row that the firm has received the prestigious acknowledgement of its services.

The Legal 500 assesses the strengths of law firms across the world, and today’s announcement again showcases the continued great work of Banner Jones over the last 12 months.

The latest 2021 guide states that the firm’s family law team ‘are all extremely competent, always well prepared, very skilled advocates’ whilst the Personal Injury team were praised for being ‘happy to think outside the box’ and for how they ‘value the client as an individual’.

In addition, six of the firm’s solicitors have been listed by Legal 500 as a ‘Recommended Lawyer’ this includes Head of Family Law Kelly Parks, Head of Personal Injury and Chief Executive Simon Wright, Head of Care Vince Beckworth, Personal Injury Solicitor Robert

Banner, Family Law Solicitor Shetal Gudgeon and Care Proceedings Consultant Solicitor Peter Jones.

Sarah Sadler a chartered Legal Executive in the firm’s Personal Injury team was also recognised for her efficiency and excellent communication skills.

Kelly Parks commented: “The continued hard work of both our family and care teams mean once again we have maintained this prestigious acknowledgment for our work in supporting domestic violence abuse cases, divorce settlements and childcare arrangements.

“I’m am incredibly grateful for the commitment and robust offering which our team continues to match on a year by year basis.”

Simon Wright said: “At Banner Jones we understand that many of our clients have experienced significant trauma and it is our job to ensure that when making a Personal Injury claim the process is as smooth and timely as possible.

“I would like to thank the team for once again proving we are leading specialists within the Personal Injury realm.”

Banner Jones Solicitors is an award-winning law firm with offices in Chesterfield, Sheffield, Mansfield, Dronfield and Nottingham.

Banner Jones Solicitors supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 180 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Home

University encourages businesses to access skills support

6th October 2020

The University of Derby is encouraging local organisations to sign up for the final intake of an Advanced Skills Programme and access the fully funded support currently available. Courses will run until the end of November, but numbers are limited so it’s important to sign up now to avoid disappointment.

In times of uncertainty, it’s important for businesses to adapt and change. Learning has become even more important recently, helping teams adapt to new ways of working and developing the skills needed to support their success.

The University recognises that training used to help a team become more agile, is best delivered in the same way. The Advanced Skills Programme offers bite-sized online learning that is easy to attend, without any cost to businesses. Courses are relevant to the current climate, with topics such as Leading in Challenging Times, Problem Solving and Workplace Wellness.

The Advanced Skills Programme is part of the European Social Fund (ESF) High Level Skills programme. The University of Derby is part of a consortium of higher and further education providers across the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire (D2N2) area, delivering the programme. Courses are offered to small and medium sized organisations in the D2N2 area and are fully funded by the ESF.

For organisations with eight or more employees interested in one of the courses, there is also an opportunity for bespoke training. Aaron Dicks, Managing Director of Impression decided the Strategic Marketing in a Digital Age course would be ideal for his team:

“This was a great opportunity for our strategy to be delivered by someone with an outside perspective, who knew how to deliver the content in a way that would keep our staff engaged. It was really exciting to see our strategy brought to life.”

For more information on how to participate, visit The University of Derby Advanced Skills Programme.

The University of Derby supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 180 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Home

How local companies can benefit from Waterside development

6th October 2020

Local companies are being invited to take part in a virtual ‘Contact the Buyer’ event, to find out how to tender for work connected to the ongoing regeneration of Chesterfield.

Construction of the seven-storey office building in Basin Square, part of the £340million Chesterfield Waterside scheme is due to commence on 19 October 2020. The building will provide circa 35,000ft² of Grade A accommodation. Britcon, the main contractors would like to speak to local companies to form part of their supply chain on this project.

As part of its commitment to supporting the local economy Chesterfield Borough Council, as the planning authority, includes local labour clauses within developments of this kind to ensure developers use local suppliers, have apprenticeships and allocate as many jobs as possible to local people.

To maximise the opportunities for local companies, main contractors Britcon are working with Chesterfield Borough Council to encourage local companies to ‘contact the buyer’ to find out about a range of sub-contractor packages available during the project.

Opportunities include:

Precast Stairs
Blinds
Brickwork
Wall Tiling
Concrete Floor slab
Metalwork
Single Ply Roof
Flooring/ Floor Coverings
Screeding
Partitions
Suspended Ceiling
Intumescent Paint
Metsec SFS
Landscaping
Mansafe
Decorating
Road Marking
Roller Shutter & Steel Door
Scaffold/ Edge Protection
CCTV/ Jetting
Glazed Partitions
Steps/ Handrails
External Zinc Cladding at 6^th Floor

Councillor Terry Gilby, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for economic growth, said: “There is more than £1 billion of investment currently underway in Chesterfield and one of the key priorities of the council is that Chesterfield residents directly benefit from this by getting new jobs, training, business and skills opportunities.

“Britcon has worked closely with the council to ensure that our borough benefits as much as possible from the opportunities that building this new development will bring.

“I would encourage all local businesses to attend the Contact the Buyer and see what opportunities are available for them and their workforces.”

Nick Shephard, Managing Director of Britcon said “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the council and will work with them to maximize employment opportunities for local people”

The office development at Chesterfield Waterside has been supported with a £2.7million grant from the Sheffield City Region Infrastructure Fund (SCRIF).

As a virtual event local companies are being invited to get in touch to express an intertest in any of the opportunities listed with Britcon by contacting Emily Williams via email on emily.williams@chesterfield.gov.uk with CBC – Waterside Office Accommodation as the subject line of the email. Please ensure you send your expression of interest by Monday 2 November and include the following details:

Business Name:
Trade(s):
Address:
Contact Information (Phone / Email):

To find out more about the Contact the Buyer event please contact Emily Williams on (01246) 959717 or email emily.williams@chesterfield.gov.uk

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Development, Home

Celebrating 10 Years of Destination Chesterfield

5th October 2020

As we enter the final quarter of 2020 I, like many of you I suspect, am feeling shell-shocked at the issues this year has (so far) thrown at us all.

Despite everything, it is tremendously encouraging to see how businesses have adapted in the face of adversity. This isn’t the first time that Chesterfield has faced challenges and it certainly won’t be the last, but it’s how you tackle the situation that counts.

This month, 10 years ago, when Britain was in the grip of a recession, Destination Chesterfield was established.

While other towns and cities battened down the hatches and rode out the financial crisis, Chesterfield didn’t. The town put itself out there and declared itself a destination that was open and ready to do business. This forward-thinking and bold approach will result in the delivery of more than £1 billion of investment to the borough in the next few years.

Despite the world being in a state of flux right now, I think this is a good opportunity to remind ourselves that Chesterfield has not stood still in the months that have passed since lockdown began in March.

Construction of the new Enterprise Centre on the Donut carpark is now underway, it was announced that PEAK is to be the home of UK’s first fully serviced national park gateway, Avant Homes opened the new showhomes at Waterside Quarter, and thousands of children across the borough have been home schooled.

Did you hear the collective sigh of relief of parents across the country when the children returned to school in September? I don’t know about you, but I feel that the country can truly get back to business now that the schools have re-opened.

And as it did 10 years ago, Chesterfield Borough Council has put in place a plan to ensure that the town thrives once more. We have done it before and the people of Chesterfield can ensure that we will do it again – I for one have every confidence that the plan can be delivered.

Posted in Blog, Business, Destination Chesterfield, Development

Educational support for in need Derbyshire pupils to continue

5th October 2020

A flagship programme to help young people in need engage fully with their education has been extended in schools across the county.

‘Raising Aspirations’ is delivered by Derbyshire Education Business Partnership (DEBP) and supports young people from years 6 to 13 who face multiple barriers in education.

The new contract will be managed by Bolsover Partnership on behalf of Derbyshire County Council for a further two academic years 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022.

The programme provides intensive support to address the needs of each individual student so they can reach their full potential.

An employability worker supports each learner and small groups of learners to identify interests, goals and experiences that will help them to raise their aspirations.

Since 2015 the programme has reached in excess of 7,500 learners, with all Year 11 targeted participants moving onto positive Post-16 destinations in education, employment and training.

In addition, the Year 8 building resilience ‘Shine’ initiative delivered a social return on investment of £11.40 for every £1.00 spent in the academic year 2019 to 2020.

Raising Aspirations will be delivered in 2020 to 2021 across Derbyshire in partnership with:

8 mainstream secondary schools
5 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) schools
2 support centres
5 primary schools

Clare Talati, Managing Director of DEBP, said: “The ‘Raising Aspirations’ initiative has never had a one size fits all approach, it remains consistent in its aims and objectives, but is delivered in a vibrant, responsive and bespoke way, recognising the unique needs of the children, young people, schools and communities at its centre.

“A core element of the initiative is putting the taught curriculum into context and our amazing network of employer volunteers provide meaningful encounters and world of work experiences that assist young people to identify their skills and goals; motivating them to engage more fully with education so that they too can have a successful future, one that is not dependent on the long term support of services.

“The DEBP team are excited to continue this partnership and broaden the access to the programme so that we can support more children and young people to be the best that they can be.”

Derbyshire Education Business Partnership supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 180 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Apprentice Town, Business, Home

Largest intake of new starters ever for Chesterfield accountancy firm

5th October 2020

BHP Accountants, a leading accountancy firm in Derbyshire and Yorkshire, has welcomed 35 new starters this summer, making it the largest intake ever for BHP.

BHP has appointed 20 graduates, 11 trainees and four one-year placements. Four of the 35 new starters have already started with BHP, whilst the remaining 31 will begin their new roles between September 2020 and January 2021.

Boosting its teams across Chesterfield, Sheffield, Leeds, York and Cleckheaton , the 35 new starters will be joining all departments of the business including Tax, Finance, Corporate Finance, Audit and Financial Planning.

Lisa Leighton, Joint Managing Partner at BHP, said: “Despite the challenges that we have faced throughout 2020, we are committed to the future of the firm and we are delighted to be welcoming 35 new starters this year – the largest intake we have ever had.

“By bolstering the teams at BHP with graduates, trainees and placement students we know that we are increasing our offering to our clients even further with a wide mixture of skills, expertise and personality. We are looking forward to watching our new starters grow into their brand-new roles and prosper here at BHP.”

Louise Allen, Head of HR at BHP, added: “At BHP we give our staff members the tools to succeed through training, working and studying. Our new starters will be given the opportunity to thrive as individuals and we are excited to watch them flourish in their new careers.”

BHP was recently recognised by the Sunday Times in their 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the second year running, ranking number 84 on the 2020 list. Marking its 20^th year, the hard-fought and nationally celebrated list recognises the very best in employee engagement around the country.

It was recently announced that BHP had secured space at the new office development at Chesterfield Waterside which is due to commence on site this October.

BHP supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 180 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Home

Chesterfield estate agent opens second office in Chesterfield

29th September 2020

Award-winning, local estate agent, Dales & Peaks has continued its growth plan by opening a second branch in Chesterfield.

Based in one of the modern leisure units at 131, Chatsworth Road, the new office has a prime high street location alongside popular boutique shops and independent restaurants, including Nonnas and 360 Wellbeing.

Sales Director, Tom Currey said: “As an agent consistently known for breaking the mold and creating marketing for our client’s properties to help them ‘stand out from the crowd,’ we decided against placing the new shop in the town centre, and instead opted for Chesterfield’s cosmopolitan suburb of Brampton on Chatsworth Road.

“Internally the new shop has been fitted out in the style of an upmarket bar or grand lounge and the windows are fitted with screens designed to showcase properties in a unique way – with 3D tours, slideshows of properties and a huge 65 inch screen to show off featured properties, right in the window on Chatsworth Road. It’s all very modern and very cool!”

Established in 2006, the family business already has an office at Old Brick Works Lane in Chesterfield and in Matlock, with further plans for growth in the pipeline. The business employs 15 staff members, with the view to growing this further in 2021.

Dales and Peaks supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 180 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Destination Chesterfield, Home

Chesterfield Borough Council supporting local businesses throughout the Covid-19 pandemic

29th September 2020

Chesterfield Borough Council has been working hard to ensure that local businesses have received the support they need throughout the pandemic.

The council has paid out £26,105,000 in small business grants to 2231 Chesterfield businesses.

An additional £1,302,250 has also been shared with 145 businesses via the Local Discretionary Grants Fund scheme. The deadline for applications for the grants has now closed.

The council’s Economic Development team have also provided expert advice and support to over 300 local businesses and – as a landlord to over 400 commercial tenants – the council has amended rental terms, including rent free periods for some and rent deferral arrangements for others.

Councillor Tricia Gilby, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council, said: “We understand that times are exceptionally tough for business owners, so it’s important that we are here to support them in whatever way we can.”

“Whilst there remains a high level of uncertainty about what the future holds, Chesterfield Borough Council has adopted an ambitious plan to support and rebuild Chesterfield’s economy in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“The Chesterfield Economic Recovery Plan provides a comprehensive roadmap for ensuring that Chesterfield continues to be a thriving borough by supporting the town’s businesses to bounce back and helping restore business and consumer confidence.”

As lockdown restrictions started to ease, the council worked closely with retailers, market traders and licensees to safely and successfully re-open Chesterfield town centre.

The council has been delighted to see thousands of people return to the high street since 1 June and is pleased to report that retail occupancy rates are close to returning to the levels seen back in March.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Featured, Home

Further growth for Banner Jones’ teams following new appointments

29th September 2020

Banner Jones Solicitors has announced the further expansion of its teams with the appointment of Rachel Read-Hill, Family Law Solicitor and Barrister Jasmine Kumar, who joins Banner Jones in an In-House Counsel role.

Rachel joins the firm’s Family Law team following an increase in demand for its family law services during the coronavirus pandemic.

With nine years’ experience, she boasts extensive knowledge in a wide range of family law matters such as divorce, financial arrangements, children disputes, and cohabitation issues.

Commenting on Rachel’s appointment, Head of Family Law Kelly Parks (pictured) said, “The last few months have been a difficult time for everyone, and particularly for families and couples who were placed under significant strain due to the lockdown, school closures, and added financial pressure.”

“We have worked continuously throughout the lockdown period to help clients in need, and in doing so, we have adapted to a new virtual way of working. Clients generally prefer the phone and video appointments that we now offer and so I’m now looking forward to working collaboratively with Rachel to help widen our client reach through continued agile working.”

The firm has also welcomed Barrister Jasmine Kumar to the award-winning Care Proceedings team. Jasmine will work with the team who deal with all issues surrounding the safeguarding of children within the social care system.

Vince Beckworth, Head of Care: “Jasmine’s move to Banner Jones to develop her career in the field of Children Law and Child Protection allows us to build upon our commitment to a strong advocacy team.”

“Jasmine has enjoyed a successful career as an advocate in both criminal and regulatory law, and she is now looking to use her forensic skills to represent parents and families facing proceedings brought by Local Authorities and Social Care.”

“Every child’s welfare is the driving force of the Banner Jones’ Care Proceedings team, which is why we have made it an absolute priority that families have been able to access advice from our expert team during the pandemic.”

These are the latest in a string of ‘strategic appointments’ for Banner Jones amidst continued growth for the firm which offers a wide spectrum of legal advice for businesses and individuals.

Banner Jones Solicitors supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 180 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

Jasmine Kumar and Rachel Read-Hill

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Destination Chesterfield, Featured, Home

Chesterfield food producer among the Great Taste winners of 2020

29th September 2020

A food producer based in Chesterfield, The Crooked Pickle Co, has won Great Taste awards for two of its most popular products.

The Korean Pickled Garlic was awarded a 1-star Great Taste award, which means judges dubbed it a food that delivers fantastic flavour, and the Bread & Butter Pickles achieved a 2-star Great Taste award, which means judges dubbed it above and beyond delicious.

Judged by 144 of the most discerning palates, Great Taste is the most coveted of all food and drink awards. As well as a badge of honour, the unmistakable black and gold Great Taste label is a signpost to an outstanding product.

There were 12,777 entries from 106 different countries into Great Taste this year and of those products, 205 have been awarded a 3-star, 1,294 received a 2-star and 3,818 were awarded a 1-star accolade.

This year’s winners have been found through a combination of remote judging and socially distanced judging sessions, after the lockdown began just one week into the schedule. This necessitated a swift and comprehensive reinvention of the Great Taste process, all in time to provide a much-needed boost for food and drink producers during the all-important Christmas period.

Recognised as a stamp of excellence among consumers and retailers alike, Great Taste values taste above all else, with no regard for branding and packaging. Whether it is cake, coffee, kippers or kombucha being judged, all products are removed from their wrapper, jar, box or bottle before being tasted. The judges then savour, confer and re-taste to decide which products are worthy of a 1-, 2- or 3-star award.

The panel of judges this year included; cook, writer and champion of sustainable food, Melissa Hemsley, cook, writer, stylist and voice of modern vegetarian cooking, Anna Jones, celebrated Spanish chef, José Pizarro, Kavi Thakrar from Dishoom, food writer and cook, Xanthe Clay, and baker and author, Martha Collison, as well as food buyers from Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Waitrose. These esteemed palates have together tasted and re-judged the 3-star winners to finally agree on the Golden Fork Trophy recipients and the Great Taste 2020 Supreme Champion.

The Crooked Pickle Co were also finalists in last year’s Chesterfield Food & Drink Awards under the Food Producer of the Year category.

Felix Mendelsohn, founder and owner of The Crooked Pickle Co. explains: “Having a keen interest in all things food since as long as I can remember, being awarded for both my Bread & Butter Pickles and the Korean Pickled Garlic is pretty awesome. I just wanted to share my love of these wonderful pickles and now I’m an award winner. Time to order new labels complete with our new awards logo I think!”

“I’ll be celebrating with my wonderful family at the weekend, enjoying a few ice cold beers and maybe some home made burgers topped of course with our now famous pickles. Heaven!”

Great Taste 2020 will reach its exciting finale in late October, when the Golden Fork trophy winners and the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2020 are announced at the virtual Great Taste Golden Fork awards event.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Chesterfield Food and Drink Awards, Chesterfield Retail Awards, Featured, Home, Made in Chesterfield

Robinson Packaging CEO highlighted in the ‘Women to Watch’ 2020

28th September 2020

Dr Helene Roberts, Chief Executive of Robinson PLC – the custom manufacturer of plastic and paperboard packaging headquartered in Chesterfield, has been named in a national report as a ‘woman to watch’.

The Women to Watch 2020 supplement is produced by Cranfield University’s School of Management Gender, Leadership, and Inclusion Centre. Its aim is to highlight the impressive talent pool of female business leaders and board members of the future. The Women to Watch 2020 is launched alongside the Female FTSE Board Report, an annual analysis of women on boards.

Dr Patricia Pryce, Director, Beauwest Consultancy Ltd; Visiting Fellow, Cranfield School of Management says: “This year we have spotlighted 100 leading female professionals who are ideally suited for consideration as non-executive directors (NEDs) on the boards of FTSE350 companies, now or in the near future.”

“Over the last 20 years we have seen significant improvements in gender representation in the workplace, particularly at more senior levels and in many traditionally male-dominated industries – gender has been on the agenda! Our hope is that the impact of COVID-19 does not cause this progression to falter or regress. As businesses re-emerge after lockdown and organise themselves for a different kind of future, the business imperative for realising women’s potential (and that of other underrepresented groups) in the workplace remains.”

Dr Helene Roberts is delighted to be on the ‘Women to Watch’ list 2020: “I am very proud to be leading the team at Robinson in what is a challenging but exciting time to be in both plastic and paper board packaging. Robinson is a well-established business, built on strong social and environmental principles and working with key international brands. This provides a great foundation on which to take a holistic and all-encompassing approach to sustainability that will form the backbone of our growth going forward in both the UK and Europe.

“We are proud to be an inclusive employer and growing in diversity. Being a woman has never been a career issue for me and we make sure we work closely with our teams to ensure everyone is empowered to prosper and grow in their chosen field. I have to thank the Robinson board for appointing their first female CEO.”

Helene has extensive knowledge of sustainable materials technology, global sales, marketing and innovation, and people leadership. She has a degree in Materials Engineering and a PhD in Polymer Engineering.

Helene’s career started with M&S, initially as a materials technologist based in Hong Kong before spending seven years as food and drink Head of Packaging. She then spent two years with Sealed Air Corporation as European Executive Retail Director followed by three years at Benson Box, initially as Group Marketing Director before taking on the role of European Director of Marketing, Innovation and Design for Graphic Packaging International.

Helene was most recently Managing Director at Klockner Pentaplast, responsible for the UK, Ireland, and Australian business across four sites, a position she took over after a period as Director of Global Marketing and Innovation. Her key achievements have been leading and developing the business’ sustainable strategy, overseeing structural change to deliver improved results from all areas in the company.

When asked for her advice on what women should do when starting their careers Helene said, “spend time listening and talking to thought leaders in your business and your industry and always reach out and network.”

Robinson PLC supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 180 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Celebrate Chesterfield, Featured, Home, Made in Chesterfield