World’s largest arts festival brings in record month for business

EDINBURGH based event and hospitality venue is thriving as it records its most successful business period to date after hitting record numbers during the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival.

Surgeons Quarter (SQ), one of Edinburgh’s largest Fringe performing spaces, boasted a record 250,000 visitors to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s (RCSEd) campus and increased occupancy to an impressive 99.5% at its on-site, Ten Hill Place Hotel across the month of August.

As the commercial arm of RCSEd, SQ worked closely with renowned festival producers theSpaceUK to host 248 productions across its 11 on site Fringe venues.

Scott Mitchell, Managing Director of SQ said: “The buzz in Edinburgh during the Fringe this year was incredible. To see our venues, and Edinburgh, transform into a hive of creativity and culture was very special.

“Each year we continue to grow and we’re incredibly proud of what we have achieved this year with record numbers coming in.

“Working with such a talented organisation such as theSpaceUK again this year has been extremely rewarding and we’re delighted with how well received each show was at this year’s Fringe.

“This year we have been able to host nearly 250 shows, with 120,000 audience members, which is just incredible. While the numbers are astounding, it is only testament to the quality of entertainment and service of those who performed and worked with us this year.”

Celebrating its 14th year as one of the largest Fringe venues, SQ operated five festival bars, and transformed its Courtyard Bar and Hill Square Gardens into a fiesta of flavour with Mexican street food created by SQ’s Executive Chef Dominik Kawalec.

This year’s line-up included shows from across the globe with musical performances, operas, drama and theatre shows as well as comedy and spoken word.

Scott continued: “None of this would have been possible without our fantastic, dedicated team, who worked incredibly hard to deliver top service across our venues throughout such a busy period.
“Whilst delighted with our increased footfall a key point of action for next year is to find a solution to either the increased recycling or use of re-usable products in an outdoor environment to adhere to our licencing conditions and sustainability agenda.

“I’d like to extend my thanks to not only those who worked with us, but to those who visited our venues and helped create a truly unique atmosphere in a Fringe that will live long in the memory.”

The 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe welcomed worldwide audiences, selling nearly 2.5 million tickets across 288 venues.

SQ will now turn its focus to the upcoming festive season, hosting 80s themed party nights throughout December offering a three-course meal, festive cocktail and wine for £60pp, and private parties from £65pp.

Surgeons Quarter promotes, sells and manages all commercial activities held within the RCSEd campus. It includes facilities for conferences, meetings, private events, parties, weddings and its own four-star hotel Ten Hill Place as well as Café 1505 and SQ Travel.

Profits from the Surgeons Quarter portfolio go towards the advancement of surgery and the improvement of patient outcomes worldwide.

More information about Surgeons Quarter can be found here.

Reacting to the latest Office for National Statistics data on GDP, David Bharier, Head of Research at the BCC, said:  

  

“With GDP growing by 0.3% in the three months to August, and by 0.2% on a monthly basis, the UK economy is holding up but remains in a precarious state. The production sector in particular has seen worrying data revisions showing stark monthly falls in growth. 

 

“Our research is clear about the issues UK firms are facing – three years of economic shocks, high inflation and interest rates, skills shortages, and trade barriers with the European Union. Consequently, most SMEs report no increase in their investment plans. 

 

“Businesses need to see a strategic vision for the long-term framework for investment in the UK. Recent policy announcements around projects, such as HS2, will have generated more uncertainty for businesses searching for stability.” 

From left: Phil French, Channel Account Director, Expo.e and Graeme Gordon, CEO, IFB Ltd.

Connectivity, cyber security and IT Service provider IFB, has recently been awarded a 300k contract to deliver and support a full fibre network and high-capacity hardware to nearly 50 key Aberdeen City Council (ACC) education locations.

The agreement – in partnership with leading Cloud, IT, and network services provider EXPO.e – means ACC now have access to multi-gigabit speeds between key locations allowing them to future proof the delivery of critical services across schools and educational resources across the city.

IFB CEO Graeme Gordon said – “We are delighted to have been selected by EXPO.e to design, deliver and support them with this key upgrade for Aberdeen City Council. This will mean faster, more reliable, and more secure connections across many locations and schools which increasingly rely on digital connectivity everyday as part of core teaching and education.”

Graeme continued – “IFB’s selection for this project demonstrates that collaboration between the public sector, enterprise scale organisations like EXPO.e, and indigenous SME’s like IFB not only delivers creative solutions to problems, but innovations in how these can be procured and delivered, maximising the resulting economic benefit to a city or region.”

IFB and EXPO.e’s solution effectively delivers almost limitless bandwidth between key locations by providing new dedicated fibre connections. The design connects the education sites back to two key council data centres, providing a highly resilient network. IFB and EXPO.e are responsible for the new fibre delivery and support, along with the supply, configuration and support of the hardware and devices required across all locations, including the data centres themselves.

EXPO.e Head of Channel (Liam Montague) said – “Working in partnership with IFB on the ACC project has been fantastic. There is huge potential in this region for both IFB and EXPO.e, which is exemplified by this key win. Collaborative engagement throughout the whole process has provided us with a strong foundation to build on in the years ahead, having established a strong working relationship between all parties involved – EXPO.e, IFB, and ACC. We anticipate the success of this partnership will provide the model for future projects of a similar nature across the region, helping further optimise the delivery of critical services for citizens.”

ACC’s Steve Robertson commented – “Delivering and supporting the best digital educational resources and capabilities across Aberdeen City for our schools is a key part of our hybrid learning strategy for the Council. This means schools, teachers and pupils will be able to use the internet without the risk of interruptions, even if multiple classes are using it at the same time. Teaching won’t be hindered by limited connectivity resulting in devices not connecting to the internet, videos buffering or by the lack of access to online resources.

“Pupils will benefit from being able to securely connect with others anywhere. Locally and globally, in to learn from one another, with access to an ever-growing library of online tools designed to make lessons more fun and engaging.

“We are delighted to have worked with the team at EXPO.e on this important project and also as part of this been supported by a local Service Provider, IFB, showing a real engagement between the Council and business to help with digital transformation and adoption across the city.”

IFB are an Aberdeen Head Quartered IT Services provider with over 28 years experience in delivering in demand business IT services across Energy, Public, Business Services and the Third Sector. IFB specialises in designing and delivering connectivity and networks solutions along with cyber security services.

SSE today unveils a £15m support fund targeted at businesses struggling with their energy bills.

SSE, which sold its GB household energy business to OVO Energy in 2020, is making the fund available to a range of business customers supplied by its non-domestic energy provider, SSE Energy Solutions.

Customers on longer-term fixed contracts that signed up between 1 August and 31 December 2022 will be eligible for the support, reflecting the fact that wholesale energy prices hit record highs during the second half of 2022.

While some businesses continue to receive government bill support through the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS), the level of support that most businesses receive this winter will likely be lower than last winter.

This fund is a continuation of the support SSE Energy Solutions has provided to customers throughout the pandemic and the energy price crisis. This support has included the extension of payment term options for struggling customers and shielding some customers from more than £10m of non-commodity industry charges.

Nikki Flanders, Managing Director of SSE’s customer businesses (GB&IRL), said: “With government energy support winding down, we believe this is the right time to step up our customer support by providing a dedicated fund.

“Despite the fact that wholesale energy prices have fallen considerably from last year’s highs, they still remain double the historic norm, which we understand is challenging for many businesses.

“Combined with the existing support for our customers, this represents the most comprehensive package of financial assistance to help businesses with their energy bills anywhere in the GB non-domestic market.”*

Details of the scheme

Direct recipients of money from the fund will include:

• Around 20,000 customers on fixed-term energy contracts agreed between 1 August and 31 December 2022. These customers will be credited with £500 to their account or 25% of their estimated annual bill, whichever is lower.
• Around 8,000 businesses with registered charitable status will receive a £500 credit to their account.
• Domestic-like premises on non-domestic contracts or businesses in buildings with a shared residential purpose, such as a pub with a flat above, that are in debt. These customers will be credited with £500 to their account or 25% of their estimated annual bill, whichever is lower.

SSE will automatically apply support to the bills of eligible customers from 1 October 2023 and 31 March 2024 and write to them directly.

In an effort to encourage businesses to take simple steps to help improve their energy efficiency and lower their costs, SSE is also asking its customers that do not have smart meters to book an installation.

Smart meters are an important part of a business’ toolkit in monitoring, managing and ultimately reducing or shifting energy consumption to reduce costs and emissions.

*Based on the £15m fund and shielding some customers from £10m of non-commodity costs

About SSE Energy Solutions

SSE Energy Solutions is a non-domestic energy supplier, which provides gas and electricity to businesses of all sizes across Great Britain, supplying around 420,000 separate metering points. The business also provides distributed energy infrastructure such as private networks, behind-the-meter generation, heat networks and EV charging, and related digital services needed to help businesses and public sector customers transition to a low-carbon future.

The business is part of SSE plc, the FTSE-30 company headquartered in Perth, Scotland and with interests across the UK and Ireland, Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. We are a leading generator of renewable electricity and one of the largest electricity network companies in the UK. We develop, own and operate low carbon infrastructure to support the low-carbon transition. This includes onshore and offshore wind, hydro power, electricity transmission and distribution grids, and efficient gas-fired generation, where we are at the leading edge of decarbonisation with developments in carbon capture and storage and hydrogen. We also provide energy products and services for businesses.

In November 2021, SSE announced a fully funded, £12.5bn Net Zero Acceleration Programme, which will see us expand on our ambition to be the UK’s clean energy champion, In May 2023 this plan was updated with a fully funded £18bn five-year investment plan to 2027. Our investment could total up to £40bn across the decade to 2031/32.

Thousands of Edinburgh homes and businesses can upgrade to new network

Eight Lothian locations dominate a list of the 20 places with the best ultrafast broadband coverage in Scotland, unveiled by Openreach today.

Across Edinburgh and the Lothians, 268,000 homes and businesses are among one million that can now access ultrafast broadband on Openreach’s Scottish network.

Tranent in East Lothian has the second highest coverage in the whole of Scotland, with more than nine out of 10 properties able to upgrade to ultrafast broadband.

The West Lothian village of Fauldhouse is third, with Whitburn, Corstorphine and South Queensferry close behind. Penicuik, Broxburn and West Calder all make the top 20.

Openreach has invested more than £80 million¹ in the new Lothian network so far, and is also working with the Scottish and UK Governments, through the Reaching 100% (R100) programme and voucher schemes, to upgrade some of its hardest-to-reach places.

People can visit openreach.co.uk/ultrafastfullfibre to register for updates and check their postcode to see if and when services are available from their chosen provider.

Robert Thorburn, Openreach Partnership Director for Scotland, said: “Our engineers and build partners have done an amazing job helping us bring the new full fibre network to one million homes and businesses across Scotland.

“Bringing fibre broadband to places like Kirkliston, Leith and  Livingston allows local people to enjoy all the benefits of ultrafast speeds now – and will meet their data demands decades into the future.

“The historic, internationally renowned city of Edinburgh wasn’t designed with fibre in mind, so we’ve had to be inventive and innovative in our approach.

“Around half the properties we’ve upgraded so far are tenements and flats, including social housing which supports some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.”

He added: “We’ve more to do, and we’re working closely with all the Lothians local authorities to overcome challenges and reach as many homes and businesses as possible.”

The Scottish Government’s Innovation Minister Richard Lochhead said: “This is an important milestone in the drive to ensure more homes and businesses across Scotland benefit from full fibre broadband, improving vital connectivity.

“We are working with Openreach to roll-out future-proofed digital infrastructure to our rural towns and villages and this Reaching 100% build, alongside Openreach’s commercial network, will underpin economic growth and enhance communities across Scotland for decades to come.”

UK Government Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure Sir John Whittingdale said: “Thanks to UK government investment, thousands of rural homes, businesses and public buildings across Scotland now have access to first class broadband fit for the future.

“Over three quarters of premises across the UK can now access these faster speeds and with more collaboration with network builders like Openreach at a local and national level, we will see even more rural towns and villages staking their claim to this next-generation connectivity.”

The Openreach network offers the widest choice of providers, such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen, which means people have lots of choice and can shop for the best deals.

You can find out more about the benefits of an upgrade to Full Fibre broadband on the Openreach website.

 

 

Edinburgh accountancy firm Scholes Chartered Accountants received some welcome recognition at the recent Accounting Excellence Awards in London, winning the ‘Mid-tier Firm of the Year’ award.

Ivan Houston, Director commented “We’re all really pleased for Scholes CA to be recognised in this way, in a very competitive category. The whole team works really hard to support our clients and this independent acknowledgement of everybody’s efforts is very welcome and much appreciated”

Ivan’s colleague Karen Scholes added “It’s great to see how all the finalists really demonstrated such innovation and dynamism. 2023 is a great time to work in a profession, which is undergoing so much transformation right now. We congratulate all the other finalists on their accomplishments.”

Edinburgh based leading sustainable clothing brand, Unfolded, is hosting the first ever Unfolded and Friends pop up event at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh on Sunday 15th October. The free event is open to all and runs from 11am-4pm at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Hall (entrance from The Royal Mile via Cowgatehead). Alongside Unfolded will be other fantastic sustainable Scottish brands including Seilich Botanicals, Voxblock, Natural Sparkle and Scents of the Wild.

In the past 18 months Unfolded has grown to a community of over 100k+ women across the UK, turned down three Dragons on Dragons Den and attracted wide acclaim for their affordable approach to sustainable fashion from media such as This Morning, Lorraine and Glamour magazine.

The event gives shoppers the chance to preview, try and buy the brand new Unfolded collection, shop the brands first ever discounted sample sale, enjoy a free drink, meet the founders and discover a range of other fabulous Scottish sustainable focused brands.

Hosted within Virgin Hotels Edinburgh’s beautifully restored Greyfriars Hall, a Gothic church with vaulted ceilings, it’s the perfect spot to experience a piece of classic Edinburgh while perusing the very best sustainable products Scotland has to offer.

Unfolded is a local business well on its way to achieving a big mission – to change the way people shop and make the fashion industry more sustainable.

Did you know that 30% of new clothes made this year will never be sold – that’s estimated to be a staggering 26 billion items of new clothing that is destined to go straight to landfill?

Unfolded is challenging the industry by creating clothes without the waste and using the savings to create positive impact in the world. They do this by:

• Designing clothes in collaboration with Unfolded shoppers to ensure the only clothes created are ones that people actually want to buy
• Production doesn’t start till orders start being placed, allowing us to match supply and demand
• Clothes are delivered direct from our factories to our customers within 4-6 weeks – removing logistics wastage

Making clothes in this way actually delivers cost savings and these are used to:

• Offer sustainable yet affordable clothes
• Pay garment workers better wages
• Create long term change by funding children in India to learn to read and write (our clothes are manufactured in India).

Since launch eighteen months ago, Unfolded has already supported over 5,000 children in education.

Cally Russell, co-founder of Unfolded explains more, “Unfolded is all about community and creating positive change by working together. This is why we decided to host Unfolded and Friends and can’t wait to meet people in person at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh on Sunday. Over the past 18 months our collaborative approach to sustainable fashion has started to change this industry and we look forward to more Edinburgh locals discovering there is another way to shop this weekend”.

Mafalda Albuquerque, General Manager, Virgin Hotels Edinburgh said: “Virgin Hotels Edinburgh is a strong supporter of small, Scottish businesses. Our very own Curiosity Shop, delivered in partnership with Virgin Startup, features local sustainable brands and is extremely popular with our guests and so we know there will be huge excitement for the Unfolded and Friends market.

“We look forward to welcoming Unfolded into Greyfriars Hall to give guests and locals the chance to browse its incredible collection of sustainable products. In keeping with chic Virgin style, the pieces aren’t just fabulous but good for the planet too.”

After Edinburgh, the popup market tour will be heading to Oxford Street in London and then Manchester before the end of the year.

Find out more about the Unfolded and Friends Pop Up Event here https://thisisunfolded.com/blogs/unfold/unfolded-friends-event-edinburgh

• Nearly three quarters of firms attempting to recruit have faced difficulties (73%)
• Hospitality firms remain the most likely to report challenges in hiring staff (79%)
• 66% of companies say labour costs are a financial pressure
• 61% of companies have attempted to recruit in the quarter

The latest Quarterly Recruitment Outlook (QRO), a survey of nearly 5,000 UK firms of all sectors and sizes, by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Insights Unit, reveals that many firms are still facing problems hiring staff. 

The third quarter results for 2023, show a continuing decline in the percentage of companies facing hiring difficulties. The figure has dropped 9 percentage points from the historical high of 82% in Q4 2022. The figure has now fallen in each quarter of 2023 – but remains above 70%. 

Attempted recruitment in Q3 was virtually unchanged from the previous quarter, with 61% of firms looking to find staff (60% in Q2).

Recruitment difficulties are being felt across the economy, but the hospitality sector continues to suffer the most, with 79% of firms reporting hiring challenges in Q3 (compared to 86% in Q2). This is closely followed by both construction & manufacturing on 78% (down from 86% and 81% respectively in Q2). 72% of retail businesses said they had experienced recruitment issues.

Of the hospitality firms reporting problems, 58% faced difficulties in finding semi/unskilled workers, 41% skilled manual/technical staff. In the construction and engineering sector, 78% faced problems getting skilled manual/technical workers, but just 21% for semi/unskilled.

As businesses continue to face a series of economic headwinds, most are still reporting no increase to investment in workplace training. Just over a quarter of firms reported an increase in staff training (27%, the same as Q2), with 13% reporting a drop (14% in Q2).

Labour costs are cited by the most firms as a source of cost pressure, with 66% citing this (compared to 63% in Q2 and 67% in Q1). 59% of firms say they’re concerned about energy costs.

Responding to the findings, Jane Gratton, Deputy Director Public Policy at the BCC said: 

“The scale of the recruitment crisis remains huge, despite a welcome fall in the number of firms reporting hiring problems.

“Employers are offering more flexible working wherever possible but are still struggling to hire and retain the right staff to help get them through these challenging economic times. The picture in the hospitality and manufacturing sectors is particularly worrying.

“We have just under a million job vacancies in the economy, and skills shortages are damaging businesses’ ability to operate profitably – as well as impacting the wellbeing and morale of remaining staff.

“Businesses and the government need to work together to resolve this problem.  Bringing more people back into the workforce, with rapid retraining programmes and comprehensive support, will help. While many employers remain sharply focused on investment in training, most businesses need more help to get the workforce skills they need. Positive interventions in the tax and skills system would be welcome, to boost investment in workplace training and development.

“It’s high time the government listened to employers and brought in the urgent reforms to the apprenticeship levy that will allow more people to get the training they need. We also need long-term commitment to Local Skills Improvement Plans that are bringing together employers and providers to plan for skills needs.

“And where businesses have tried everything possible to recruit people locally, a flexible and affordable immigration system must be there to support them.  The Shortage Occupation List does not reflect the reality businesses experience on the ground. Last week, the Migration Advisory Committee underlined concerns that the list is not an effective tool to address labour shortages. An alternative must be developed urgently and in consultation with business.

“Our economic forecasts suggest the coming couple of years are going to be tough for everyone. Solving the recruitment crisis will be key to getting the economy growing again.”

As a further commitment to its employee proposition, ‘Bright Careers. Realised.’ Muckle Media has accredited with The 4 Day Week Campaign and secured gold status. The agency now operates a four-day week, with the team working either Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday, for full time pay.

Muckle Media trialled a four-day week during the summer, with the introduction of weekly team wellbeing days, and measured productivity and team happiness. Productivity, which is measured as the percentage of team time attributed to billable work, increased eight percentage points during the trial, despite the trial falling during the summer when the most annual leave is taken. Happiness, measured by employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) increased from 23 in June to 53 in October, on a scale of -100 to 100, with over 50 classed as excellent.

The agency has also introduced further benefits this year, with eight weeks of holiday and enhanced maternity package including a month’s wages pre-baby to help with buying baby equipment.

Muckle Media Founder, Nathalie Agnew, said,

“We are continuously looking for ways to ensure our team have a good work/life balance and are able to deliver exceptional results, without undue stress and pressure. As a B-Corp we are committed to finding ways to support our team wherever possible. We appreciate the environment we work in is fast moving, so we will always have appropriate support available to clients, particularly in a crisis or when a fast turnaround opportunity arises.”

Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said:

“The four-day week with no loss of pay improves productivity, and is a win-win for both workers and employers. Workers are desperate for a better work-life balance after the Covid pandemic and now is the perfect time for companies to implement a four-day week. Organisations should adopt the four-day week as a way of retaining staff, attracting new talent and embracing the future of work.”

You can find out more about the 4-day week campaign here: https://www.4dayweek.co.uk/