Four firms in the Bradford district are amongst 205 businesses across the country to be recognised for winning a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Bradford-based housing association Incommunities was honoured in the promoting opportunity through social mobility category.  The company’s employability team was recognised for its work with local residents providing skills development, training and career opportunities for jobseekers in the Bradford district.

Julie Stanworth, employability manager at Incommunities, said: “The team creates opportunities for social mobility by helping provide people with the skills, knowledge and qualifications they need to gain sustainable employment or upskill to a new role.  I am proud the team’s efforts in supporting local residents have been recognised by this prestigious award.”

Brighouse-based Lattitude7 was also recognised for its excellence in promoting opportunity through social mobility.  Lattitude7 was set up in 2010 and provides training in personal development, teamwork, leadership and business improvement.  A large part of their work is focused on helping disadvantaged individuals and groups.  Founder and owner of Lattitude7, Dr Martin Haigh MBE, said: “It is an absolute honour for our business to be recognised with a Queen’s Award.  We have worked hard to support the disadvantaged, especially in the Calderdale community, and it is especially pleasing to see young people gain the confidence and skills to enter the world of work.”

Silsden-based EthOss Regeneration Ltd was honoured in the international trade category.  EthOss was set up in 2013 by Dr Peter Fairbairn and Dr Paul Harrison, who created the innovative EthOss® – a synthetic biomaterial used during dental implant surgery to encourage new bone to grow and support the implant.  Dr Harrison, Managing director of EthOss said: “We’re incredibly proud to have been recognised with the prestigious Queen’s Award in international trade.  The continued hard work of our team has seen us continue to grow year on year, and we’re extremely honoured that this has been celebrated with such a renowned award.”

Family-run Batley-based furniture manufacturer and retailer HSL was honoured in the innovation category.  HSL was recognised for its patented innovative frame design, which allows the attachment of a wooden knuckle (armchair handle) using a different technique to the methodology used historically by other furniture manufacturers.  William Burrows, HSL chairman, said : “I am delighted and hugely proud, as is my mother who founded HSL with my father 53 years ago, to win a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.  It not only reflects the skill, passion and commitment of our team, but is a testimony to our craftsmen and women.”

NON-ESSENTIAL businesses in Bradford are “very excited” ahead of being able to potentially re-open next month, but safety remains a “priority” as the fight against Covid continues. Under Step 2 of the Government’s roadmap, non-essential shops will be able to re-open on 12 April, while hospitality venues will also be allowed to serve people outdoors.

After a tough 12 months, Dr Trevor Higgins, Chief Executive of Bradford Breakthrough, has tipped Bradford’s local economy to make a “speedy recovery”. “I think the important thing is that we have a road out of lockdown. Businesses need certainty and to be able to plan for the future”, he said.

“After businesses re-opened after the first lockdown, footfall in Bradford city centre increased much quicker than in other UK cities – I think that will happen again. In the Roaring Twenties, after the First World War, people were enjoying themselves and spending money. There’s a lot of pent-up demand for people to go out and spend now, too. Bradford is very well-positioned to bounce back, as it has a Business Improvement District in the city centre. I think the city centre will make a speedy recovery. The building of new markets, the Odeon moving forward step-by-step and developments around City Park are all very positive, too. Bradford is a very entrepreneurial city – every time a business fails, it’s very sad, when people have put their lives and souls into it. But then, somebody else steps in and fills that gap. So, I’m very optimistic about Bradford’s future.”

Catherine Riley, Manager at the Kirkgate Centre, added that 12 April could be a “step towards normality”. “We will be very excited to welcome people back, but we’ll be doing it in a safety-conscious way. We’ll be abiding by the rules, but it’s difficult to imagine how our re-opening will look just yet, as so much is changing so quickly”, she said. “A lot of staff have sadly taken a hit to their income. It will be great to get them back to a position where they can support their families better. It’s been hard for our tennants, but we hope we can soon see some life and vibrancy back in Bradford. I’d also encourage people to get vaccinated – a lot of our staff, including myself, got the vaccine at Jacob’s Well, and everybody there was amazing.”

Ian Ward, General Manager at The Broadway, also said: “This phase of national restrictions has been a difficult period for all retailers, but what has been uplifting is the consumer appetite for things to return to normal. The public miss and want their local high street back. We hope the re-opening of The Broadway will mark the return of some normality, by allowing people to come into Bradford and experience what our great city has to offer.

“Working to current Government guidance, The Broadway and its retailers will re-open on 12 April. Trading hours are Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm. All Covid-secure measures we have been operating under since early last year will continue, to keep both shoppers and staff safe. The team at The Broadway is working incredibly hard to ensure we can deliver a safe and enjoyable customer experience in April, and we’re delighted to be doing all we can to support our retailers at the centre and the local economy in Bradford.”

Mark Cartwright, West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce’s Policy and Representation Executive, added: “Businesses will, of course, be looking forward to re-opening again. It’s been a very difficult 12 months, and very damaging to the economy. Also, working from home, despite the technological advancements over recent years, is still very different to being in the same building as your colleagues. We all need that interaction – it is good for morale and well-being. It is still important that we maintain social distancing, and businesses have invested in order to keep staff and customers as safe as they can possibly be. Some sectors have been hit more than others, obviously – with retail and hospitality being the obvious areas worst affected. The Government support, ably administered by Bradford Council, has been crucial to keeping some of our businesses afloat, and we now need to get them all back up-to-speed as quickly as possible, in order to get the economy going again – strictly within Covid-related guidelines, of course.

Bradford BID has teamed up with the Telegraph & Argus to launch a campaign to help city centre businesses prepare for the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in the weeks and months ahead.

And the city’s Business Improvement District is calling on owners to “get their ducks in a row” and be ready for when non-essential shops and others are able to open again. In partnership with the T&A, it has pledged to do all it can to promote their efforts and encourage people to return to the city centre but, it says, businesses need to get in touch as soon as possible to let them know what their plans are.

BUSINESSES in the Bradford district are being given the chance to showcase themselves in a short video. The Telegraph & Argus, Bradford Means Business and LOCALiQ all want local businesses to send in a video.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/home-town-bradford-yorkshire-uk-travel-arts-culture-b1797098.html

Bradford 2025 City of Culture bid will be a ‘game changer’ according to University chiefs

BRADFORD Business Improvement District (BID) has become one of the first in the country to achieve prestigious recognition for its high standards – despite being only two years old.

To date, only 10 BIDs – out of more than 330 nationwide – have been awarded The BID Foundation’s kitemark, which has been developed in consultation with BIDs, levy-payer groups and policy-makers, including the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to provide a benchmark for quality and governance.

Jonny Noble, Bradford BID manager, said: “We’re incredibly proud to be awarded this recognition, especially as we’ve only been in operation for two years. The first seven BIDs to achieve it were well-established organisations that took part in an initial pilot so, in effect, Bradford is one of the first three to have got there under our own steam. So we’re enormously pleased that all that hard work has been recognised and the industry itself has rated our achievements to date so highly.”

The BID Foundation’s Industry Standards were launched in December 2020 to help increase the transparency, accountability and professionalism of the industry and are designed to drive and embed best practice across the sector. They include 11 tests for BIDs, ranging from how easy the BID is to contact and to access information from, to important measures to ensure they are public and transparent.

The Standards cover key aspects of a BID’s structure and operations including its business plan, governance and reporting, directors and personal interests, and detail on ballot results. They have been introduced as a result of recommendations made following recent research into the BID sector and its development in the UK.

To win accreditation, BIDs must pass a rigorous assessment process, completed independently by the Institute of Place Management (IPM). Following submission of evidence from BIDs, an audit is completed to ensure a BID’s online presence and information on its structures and processes meet the Industry Standards. The process normally involves feedback and suggested revisions in order to become compliant with the standards, with further audits undertaken on additional evidence provided by each BID. The kitemark is awarded for a 12-month period, with compliance reviewed after this time to ensure continuing transparency and quality in the sector.

Bradford BID chairman Ian Ward, who is also general manager of The Broadway shopping centre, said winning the accreditation at such an early stage, and with the pandemic going on throughout half of the BID’s existence, was a “remarkable accomplishment.”

Mr Ward said: “It’s a fantastic achievement by Jonny Noble and his small-but-perfectly-formed team. They have worked extremely hard to achieve this, both before and during lockdown, and it’s a real testament to their determination to do the right thing for Bradford and it’s often hard-pressed businesses. We are also blessed with an enormously supportive and engaged operating board, who play a really active role in overseeing the running of the BID and ensuring that we maintain high standards at all times. We have very high attendance at all our monthly board meetings – far more so than with other BIDs I have worked with – and it really shows in the quality of our work and the ideas and imagination invested in everything we have achieved to date. It’s still early days for Bradford BID and, even though our third year has begun in difficult circumstances with the national lockdown, I am very confident that this accreditation will put an extra spring in our step and the city centre will reap the benefits when the restrictions are eased and we can all start getting properly back on our feet.”

A BRADFORD school’s rugby union teams are taking on their very own unique 8,000 mile trek.

Bradford Grammar School are big on the sport, with former Bulls and Bradford Salem man Glenn Morrison among the coaching staff there. And with a senior tour to South Africa on the horizon once Covid restrictions are over, the school thought they’d get there early…sort of.

YORKSHIRE Building Society has been crowned High Street Provider of the Year for both mortgages and savings, after consumers at the 2021 Moneyfacts Consumer Awards.

The Bradford-based mutual took the top awards in the two categories at the annual event, which aims to give the UK’s millions of customers a chance to reflect how they feel about the range of products available to them.

Award winners were chosen based on customer feedback from more than 130,000 consumers.  The society was also highly commended in the First Time Mortgage Buyers’ Choice award and commended in the ISA Provider of the Year category.

Chris Irwin, director of mortgages at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “Our purpose has always been to help people build financial resilience and to own their own home – these two awards demonstrate we continue to do that, successfully, more than 150 years after we started.” 

BUSINESS owners have been warned the economy will “get worse before it gets better” in a gloomy forecast by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Rishi Sunak made the grim statement during a speech in the House of Commons yesterday outlining his economic plan for the coming weeks.  He said he can’t protect every job and business; in Bradford 1,300 businesses are at risk of going bust and 12,000 workers could be out of jobs, research last month warned.  He said: “Even with the significant economic support we’ve provided, over 800,000 people have lost their job since February. And while the new national restrictions are necessary to control the spread of the virus, they will have a further significant economic impact. We should expect the economy to get worse before it gets better. Sadly, we have not and will not be able to save every job and every business. But I am confident that our economic plan is supporting the finances of millions of people and businesses.

THE long-standing chief executive of social housing provider Incommunities is to retire at the end of the month, after nearly two decades at its helm. 

Geraldine Howley has served the social housing sector for more than 40 years, starting her career as a temporary housing receptionist with Bradford Council in the late 1970s, when she was based at Jacob’s Well. It was a career she fell into by chance after initially providing maternity cover, but it marked the start of a lengthy journey which would see her take on a number of high-profile roles in the district and receive an OBE in 2017 for services to housing, young people and the local community. She said: “I just loved the people side, the fact that you could help people and try and make a difference to people’s lives by helping them into decent quality housing. I just loved everything about it.” Geraldine worked her way up to becoming a housing officer, which at the time was very much a ‘man’s world’ and what she described as a “baptism of fire”.