On my first day at Unsworth Sugden, Director of PR, Hannah
Elwell asked me what I understood about public relations.  After my long answer she stated “a simple way
to put that across is building a company’s reputation”, which was a much easier
answer!  After working a week with the PR
team I realised their job is not quite as simple as the definition!

After researching a selection of their clients, looking at a
number of press releases and how they are created I have easily gained more
interest in the field then when I began.  

In my one week placement I did a number of jobs to help the
team out, this included creating website blogs, presentations and even sharing
my own thoughts on social networking. 

I realised a lot of effort is put into representing clients
and creating press releases, nevertheless the outcome is always pleasing and it
is true to say that no two days are ever the same.

I am very thankful to everyone making me feel a part of the
team and my interest in Public Relations has certainly grown.

The East Midlands division of Barratt Homes has acquired the former Chesterfield Football Stadium called Saltergate. The new site is 4.55 acres in size and will provide some 68 new homes. With the help of our PR team’s promotion skills, news of the plan to transform this former football club into an aspiring new residential development hit the local media fast. Holly Sawford, Land Buyer at Barratt East Midlands, comments “We are very excited about this new opportunity. It will be a flagship development due to its close proximity to Chesterfield town centre and a great addition to the Barratt East Midlands portfolio”.

We sent our photographer to capture the land team at the stadium pre development. Below is one of the great photographs captured on the day.

The PR team helped publicise a school site safety visit at client Lovell Partnership’s Lincoln Gardens development in Doncaster.  The event was followed at Lovell’s after a recent praise by the considerate constructor scheme in which it was praised in its efforts to maximise safety in Doncaster with a ‘Performance beyond Compliance’ certificate.

Local Year one pupils from Barnburgh Primary school were given a lesson on safety, when house builder Lovell discussed and demonstrated the dangers posed by Doncaster’s building sites. Dressed in high visibility vests and hard hats there where 30 very enthusiastic five to six year olds on the tour of the latest Doncaster development. The tour was led by site manager Rob Kerr and the regional health and safety advisor, Matt Jarvis. Who also stated “The reason we encourage schools to participate in these activities is to ensure children are educated properly on the dangers pose by building sites, to keep them safe and show them exactly why they should stay away from building sites.”

The students were accompanied by teacher Mrs Rosie Crawford who was very happy with the concept of a site safety tour.  She commented: “They children were all keen to get involved with asking questions and learning about building site safety, so it was a really educational day out and great to see them all in their hard hats and high visibility vests”.

Our photographer Steve Baker did a great job at capturing the event.  Take a look at the pictures below

The PR team ended the week on a high today, with a successful media event at the former Shrewsbury Town FC ground – Gay Meadow - which is now being transformed into a bespoke new housing development by client David Wilson Mercia.

Now named Riverside Meadow the team has been planning a month of launch events at the scheme, aimed at both the media and potential customers.

Today’s event saw local online, press and broadcast media visit the site for one to one tours and interviews with key personnel at David Wilson Homes.

The planning paid off with a great result in the Shropshire Star and on BBC Radio Shropshire, in fact the story was so well received the paper used it as its front page lead and the radio selected it as its headline news bulletin throughout the afternoon show.

This month, teachers and pupils at Busill Jones Primary School in Bloxwich were snapped by Toby Savage looking excited to receive a generous donation from client, Barratt West Midlands. Barratt donated an iPad along with iTunes vouchers to the school, for them to purchase and use Makaton software, as the school has a number of children with special educational needs. The iPad and Makaton software aids children with learning difficulties in the classroom, enabling them to get involved with lessons and learn alongside the rest of their class.

"Computer says no" - the response that many mortgage applicants often receive

In the robotic world of finance where sometimes mortgage applications can be made by a computer, client the Earl Shilton Building Society understands the importance of being treated like an individual and prefers to take the human perspective with its customers.

Indeed recently Audrey Green, Business Development Director at the Society commented, “Here at the Earl Shilton we strongly believe that every mortgage application is different and should be dealt with individually, rather than a computer declining it simply because it doesn’t meet strict criteria. Therefore our friendly mortgage team is on hand to talk to customers face to face and provides a human perspective on their requirements.”

One such case was Claire Lenthall, a first-time buyer from Leicester who has been able to get onto the property ladder thanks to the Earl Shilton. Disillusioned with the high street mortgage lenders, Claire instead opted for a mortgage product from the local building society and was full of praise for their service. You can read more about her experiences in THIS ARTICLE, featured in the Leicester Mercury property supplement this weekend.

Claire - full of praise for the Earl Shilton Building Society

Having the chance to tackle a national first is an exciting prospect for the PR team and one which we’re really excited about working on.

From a grassroots project to a landmark community-owned co-operative, Woolhope Woodheat is paving the way in carbon reduction thanks to a £60,000 Government grant, cash pledged from the local people it was founded by and support from the not-for-profit organisation Sharenergy.

Woolhope Woodheat will be using the cash for a Big Society-style project, which will install woodchip boilers in local schools, organisations and businesses to help them swap their fossil fuel dependence for a greener alternative.

As the first project of its kind in the country, Woolhope Woodheat is already becoming quite a talking point and after tackling the media local to the Herefordshire-based scheme, achieving coverage in the Hereford Times, which you can read HERE, and a four-minute clip on BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester, we’re going national.

bbc-radio-hereford-worcester-190112-0606

The story has already been picked up by BioEnergy News and we’re confident we’ll be bringing you more updates on this on-going PR project soon.

If you want your show home opening to go with a bang, inviting a special guest is a guaranteed way to get people talking.

As redevelopment specialists Urban Rhythm – owned by client Hazelton Homes – geared up to unveil their latest show home at the Wheatsheaf Works in Leicester last weekend, Unsworth Sugden were enlisted to shout about it.

Revealing the first phase of an exciting £20 million redevelopment project needs a special something, so none other than Sir Peter Soulsby was invited to come along to perform the exciting ribbon cutting duties, much to our delight.

After successfully liaising with the mayor’s office, we had a nice quote from Sir Peter himself to include in our press release, which attracted interest from the Leicester Mercury and Insider Media.

Sir Peter said: “The Wheatsheaf Works is one of Leicester’s landmark buildings and it’s wonderful to see it being brought back into use in such an imaginative way.”

The Leicester city mayor was joined by Richard and Tom Hazelton of Hazelton Homes, Justin Fox of JSP Architecture and a number of council members for the big reveal, which took place on Friday 10^th February.

Following a speech from Tom Hazelton, the new Shakespeare show home was declared open, just one of 31 brand new properties that will eventually stand on the 4.2-acre site which also encompasses the Grade II listed former shoe factory Wheatsheaf Works.

Photographer, Jerry Wesley, was our man on the ground, capturing all the action as it happened, which thankfully didn’t include any snow despite the forecasts.

See the Leicester Mercury’s take on the event HERE and coverage from Insider Media HERE.