It was a cold start to the year and client Raynsway Properties was once again prepared for the worst kind of weather. To ensure the firm’s commercial tenants were able to keep working through the snow and ice at its three Leicester business parks, bosses invested in more clearing equipment.
Raynsway’s neighbourly approach to business has not only kept its customers problem free during the long winter but also helped secure them the Leicester Mercury’s Heart of the Community Award.
January’s chosen picture is a Raynsway employee with some of the shiny new equipment. Our photographer Toby Savage was on stand by to capture the clearing team in action, proving whatever the weather getting the story and the right shot is ’snow problem’ for the USG PR team!
Prior to the launch of the brand new iPhone the paper has used space within its free Business Monthly magazine to review the apps which people should be downloading, from the serious to the quirky.
Newby Castleman’s accountancy app has been given a fantastic four stars which is the same rating as global hits such as Words With Friends and IMDb, and a higher rating than other popular apps like TimeLapse, TuneInRadio and Draw Something.
Readers of the article can also see the app for themselves as the review includes one of our photos of marketing manager Raquel Lesta holding an iPhone with the app on it.
This great review comes after the app experienced global success just a fortnight after its launch, being ranked first at the time in the Finance category for iPads and also eighth in the most downloaded accountancy app category for iPhones.
The Unsworth Sugden team has played a pivotal role in helping Newby Castleman generate interest in its app both locally and further afield. The PR team has secured a number of mentions in the Leicester Mercury and pieces in other titles such as Chamber News, Accountancy Live and Global Accountant. Meanwhile the creative team has designed emailers, press ads, web banners and flash animations for the website, email signatures and small iPhone mailers to sit in reception and be handed to clients. In short, there isn’t much we haven’t done!
To download the Newby Castleman app please follow these links to either the App Store if you have an iPhone and / or iPad, or Google Play if you have an Android phones and / or another tablet computer.
"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
Leicester residents were out in force on Saturday morning to witness the toppling of one of Belgrave’s most distinctive landmarks, at the hands of a former factory apprentice.
Hundreds looked on as 62-year-old Tom Keville pushed the button, bringing the 115-foot disused chimney crashing to the ground at Ross Walk, making way for a brand new development of 72 properties from Westleigh New Homes.
Mr Keville, who worked at the site 47 years ago, paid £1,700 to detonate the chimney – once part of the former British United Shoe Machinery (BUSM) works – after placing the winning bid in a charity auction for local good causes.
Alongside the residents, the local media were also keen to capture the action as the chimney toppled. You can read the Leicester Mercury’s coverage and see step by step images of the demolition HERE.
You can also see and hear the exciting moment Mr Keville brought the chimney down by following these links:
The former BUSM site is undergoing development in four phases as part of the Abbey Meadows regeneration area project. The project comes as the result of a partnership between Westleigh, Leicester City Council, the Homes and Communities Agency and landowners Trafalgar Global Ltd, who are working together to regenerate the area.
As the dust settles on the site, the Whetstone-based housebuilder will begin work on 72 modern three-, four- and five-bedroom properties, with the first 14 expected to be ready this summer. For further information about Belgrave Riverside log on to www.westleighnewhomes.co.uk
The Unsworth Sugden PR team has been helping Pure Gym with its publicity prior to the launch of its new branch in Leicester today.
The old Sturgis Land Rover garage on Walnut Street has been transformed into new premises for the state of the art, 24 hour, low cost, no contract gym with more than 200 pieces of the latest exercise equipment.
The fully air conditioned gym also offers its members over 40 free classes including spinning, circuits and legs, bums and tums. Members will receive a free exercise induction and access to a dedicated member’s area on the website complete with online training and nutritional advice. A personal training service will also be available.
As well as securing coverage in the Leicester Mercury, other local media and some trade titles in the build up to its launch we also invited Gemma Collins, features writer at the Mercury, down to have a look round and try out some of the state of the art equipment for herself. You can read her brilliant write-up HERE.
Whilst many people sit back and watch this year’s Wimbledon Championships whilst tucking into their strawberries and cream, the Unsworth Sugden PR team has been busy serving up some great coverage for client Schlüter-Systems after the leading supplier of tile solutions installed several of its market leading products at the world famous Number One Court.
Many of the hospitality suites surrounding the 11,429 capacity court at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which plays host to many of the world’s best tennis players during the two-week Grand Slam tournament, now feature amongst other products the famous orange Schlüter-DITRA matting, the world’s leading uncoupling membrane which neutralises cracks and prevents movements from the screed being transferred to the tiled surface of the various hospitality areas and terraces.
After commissioning some tennis themed PR photography shots and issuing a press release, we received coverage in both the local media such as this fab piece in the Leicester Mercury and this article in Midlands Business Insider; plus many of the building and tiling trade titles including Tilezineand Building Talk.
Schlüter-Systems' Stuart Ross with the Schlüter-DITRA matting
This morning’s Leicester Mercury features more post-Budget coverage for another of our local PR clients.
After Westleigh Developments appeared in last Thursday’s paper, today is the turn of fellow property developer Raynsway Properties as managing director Tom Watkinson gives a cautious welcome to plans to overhaul the planning system and further reaction to the removal of red tape for businesses and Leicestershire not being named as one of the 10 selected enterprise zones across the UK.
For those of you with a copy of today’s paper you can read the article on page 10 of the business supplement, otherwise you can read a PDF of the article here.
Tom Watkinson, MD of Raynsway Properties, gives his reaction to the Budget in today's Leicester Mercury
One of the Chancellor’s announcements yesterday during the 2011 Budget was a new £250 million shared equity scheme, called First Buy, aimed at helping around 10,000 first time buyers to get onto the property ladder and purchase a new build home.
When the Leicester Mercury came looking for an immediate response to this particular part of George Osborne’s speech, we were able to supply a comment from client Westleigh Developments.
As part of his quote on Home Buy, Ian Jones, Business Development Director at the regional property developer, urged caution saying “the devil will be in the detail and it will be interesting to see how these changes are implemented in the coming weeks.”
You can read the full article on page 9 of today’s Mercury or HERE if you haven’t a copy. This forms part of the paper’s comprehensive post-Budget coverage.
Tomorrow sees Chancellor George Osborne deliver his second Budget and not surprisingly the Leicester Mercury was keen to find out what different companies around the city, representing all kinds of industries and sectors, were hoping for.
When approached for views on how the Chancellor might help stimulate the commercial property market, we went to client Westleigh Developments and sought their wish-list.
You can read the views of Matt Moore, Property Director at property developer Westleigh, on page 17 of today’s bumper business supplement or CLICK HERE to read a PDF.
Don’t forget you can follow the Budget live on the BBC website tomorrow (and on many other news websites) - The Chancellor is expected to make his Budget statement from 12.30pm.
Will George help the commercial property market in tomorrow's Budget or won't he?
EDIT: Afternoon of Wednesday 23rd March - Reaction to the Budget:
In response to the question posed in the title of this blog - not an awful lot! At least not at first glance. There are a number of reforms earmarked for the planning regime which sound interesting, which on paper could make life for developers a little easier. But as with all these things, whilst they sound very nice, how long will it take these new rules to kick in? Hopefully not “a number of years”, which the Chancellor seemed to say about a number of his proposals today.
Keep watching for the blog for more ‘post-Budget’ comments from our clients.
Client Westleigh Developments has been recognised for its continued commitment to its employees after being awarded the prestigious Investors In People gold status. And in much the same way, the Unsworth Sugden PR team has been rewarded for its hard work with two pieces of coverage in the Leicester Mercury inside a few days.
Our press release and photography resulted in THIS initial piece in the Mercury business pages however just a few days later it received much larger coverage as part of an article in the paper’s weekly business supplement.
This second piece was a really strong story about Investors in People which leads with the Westleigh gold award and shows exactly what Westleigh is all about, a great company to work for. In fact their photo caption “going that extra mile” sums it up perfectly! You can read the article HERE.
Westleigh HR Manager Suki Deol (left) and Administrative Director Judy Beighton (right) with the Investors in People Gold Status plaque.
