Creatrix- A look ahead in 2017
In Bath, 2017 is already shaping up to be an interesting year and one business in the city is continuing to work alongside developers and key stakeholders as important decisions are made.
Creatrix PR has been working with businesses throughout the South West for 17 years.
A specialist in the property development sector, Creatrix has a range of high profile clients on its books including Bath Rugby, Crest Nicholson, Curo, HPH Commercial Property and Iesis Group.
2017 will see Bath Rugby working towards their long-held ambition to create new facilities at The Rec. Creatrix PR will be helping the club to engage with the community on their plans later in the year.
As one of the largest urban regeneration projects in the South West, Crest Nicholson’ s Bath Riverside development, 2017 will see the first residents move into its impressive landmark building Royal View adjacent to the restored Victoria Bridge. This will add to the 600
Crest Nicholson’ s Bath Riverside development homes already completed on site and bring more much-needed housing to the city centre.
The Creatrix PR team has also assisted Curo in turning plans for a new £ 10million community hub project in to a reality at the former Foxhill MoD site as well as helping Firmstone Developments deliver 260 new homes at the former MoD site at Warminster Road.
Curo’ s new community hub will include a new 210 place primary school, nursery, community café, meeting rooms, enterprise area and a new public square. Building work is set to start in March and the first pupils will start school in September 2018.
Creatrix assists its clients by creating comprehensive communications strategies to encompass political liaison,
SMALL BUSINESS FOCUS
Notes from the back room...
There is a growing desire to see education become more accurately reflective of the real needs within the business world. It has already been established that education and training needs to be more flexible and more vocationally focused. But although it is quite straightforward to adapt training to specific careers in hair and beauty, catering and hospitality, electrical and plumbing services, how do we readily adapt training to better fit general employability?
The business world is becoming more adept at identifying the skills needed for job roles, partly due to their ability to break down roles with more accurate goals and objectives, and this has resulted in much
more importance being placed on employability. Understanding the work environment, team goals and strategic problem solving can mean the difference between being offered a role and reliving that sinking feeling time and again as you go through the soul-destroying hunt for a job. So how can the business community help improve or create training for‘ office based’ roles? By being more honest about what they are really looking for in their recruitment process? That is certainly part of it, but it’ s also about engaging with our local education providers, by talking to them about what skills our school and college leavers are missing, about how they can help to identify the gaps in their learning and testing those changes. stakeholder engagement, PR, marketing, digital and social media.
Company director Gary Squires said,“ 2017 will be a really important year for Bath and the wider region. The city itself has seen some big changes over the past few years, and some of the development schemes coming forward have the potential to bring positive change to the city.
“ There are also national and regional influences to monitor. Last month the Government unveiled their Housing White Paper and a new draft of the emerging West of England Joint Spatial Plan and Joint Transport Study is expected by the summer. 2017 will also see the election for the regions first Metro Mayor and it is clear that all of these factors will have a big effect on future development in the city and across the entire region.” Creatrix will be keeping a close eye on all these national and regional issues and how they will impact development going forward, all of which will be reported in the company’ s blog which you can access via their website.
For more info: www. creatrixpr. co. uk
@ CreatrixPR
So the next time, your business is approached by one of our educational establishments requesting your help, please respond and become part of the solution.
Anji Henderson
Chair of Small Business Focus
Next Small Business Focus Breakfast Dates: 30 / 03 / 2017 and 27 / 04 / 2017, 8-10am, Boston Tea Party, Alfred Street, Bath. Visit the SBF website to book.
For more info: www. smallbusinessfocus. co. ik
chair @ smallbusinessfocus. o. uk
Ben Franks: Living the dream?
People tell me that I have the best job in the world. While I currently find it a little challenging to agree – with my nose deep into a third book on the science of sherry – I must admit I cannot complain.
For a living, it’ s my job to find new and exciting wines for us to share with you all through Novel Wines, our brand-new retailer that aspires to be Britain’ s most curious wine shop.
It’ s somewhat hard to believe that only three years ago, I was a student running a non-profit online magazine with an ambition to become a writer for a living. I was naïve, perhaps a little too inclined to rush into things, and completely unaware of how to sell – and as most business people are aware,‘ if you can’ t sell then you don’ t have a business’.
I still remember spending a week of my second year at Uni at the local Bath Chronicle. I was writing a piece on‘ giant rats’, a dramatic article on the rising number of rodent complaints in Bath, when I stumbled across Angela MacAusland’ s guest column for the Federation of Small Businesses. Her article was on student entrepreneurs and, instinctively motivated, I wrote my own column in reply.
That was the start of my time with the Federation of Small Businesses. Angela asked me to be their first ever Student Ambassador and I agreed. It was the beginning of a journey that would see me grow in confidence, completely change my business outlook and remodify my aims to achieve that one dream I’ ve always had: to write full time. Today I am Secretary on the FSB’ s committee.
While people tell me I have the dream career because I try wine all day, I know I have my dream career because I get to discover and unravel amazing stories from across the globe and write about them. I’ ve written about Japan’ s pioneering female winemaker Ayana Misawa, to a small family run vineyard called Oatley in south Somerset, and spoken to winemakers from Hungary, Croatia, Champagne and beyond.
The point is if you have a dream and you truly want to achieve it you’ ll do it.
Ben Franks
Wine Specialist and Secretary at FSB Bath & Wiltshire branch.
For more info: www. fsb. org. uk / 119 www. benfrankswine. com
@ FSB _ Bath
6 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017