Unsworth Sugden Group

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.

The PR team recently went all ‘Time Team’ and dug in to achieve some great coverage when it was revealed that client Westleigh Developments had unearthed the first example of a Roman cemetery plot for the historic Lincolnshire town of Sleaford during construction work on a new affordable housing development .

The regional property developer discovered the Roman remains, thought to be up to 1,800 years old, at the site on Boston Road in 2009 and analysis by APS Archaeology since has not just confirmed their age and origin but also provided a unique insight into the health and lifestyle of those who inhabited the town.

After working with the client to sieve through a wealth of technical information and researching further details with APS, the PR team recently issued a press release, with the Lincolnshire Echo running THIS SUPERB PIECE in today’s paper.

One of the Roman burials recovered at Boston Road in Sleaford

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.

A £13m development of 80 new affordable family homes in Birstall was recently opened by the Mayor of Charnwood after work by client Westleigh Developments and de Montfort Housing Society, part of the Waterloo Housing Group.

The joint venture between Westleigh’s Partnership Homes division and the housing association, has seen 77 two-, three- and four-bedroom houses and three one-bedroom apartments built on the Hallam Fields development located just off the junction of the A6 and A46, to the north of Leicester.

Dave Toyn from the Unsworth Sugden PR team attended a launch event held on a cold but sunny morning as Councillor Jill Vincent, Mayor of Charnwood, unveiled a stone plaque to commemorate the opening.

Coverage has subsequently been received in the Leicester Mercury and Leicestershire Builder Magazine.

l-r Ian Jones of Westleigh, Margaret Allen (HCA), Ted Carr (de Montfort) and Cllr Jill Vincent, Mayor of Charnwood

A selection of the new affordable homes at Hallam Fields in Birstall

Three days on and the media interest has kept on building for our client, Westleigh Developments. The PR team’s Dave Toyn lept into action yesterday afternoon when BBC East Midlands contacted us, eager to cover the Belgrave housing scheme story.

The Westleigh news feature aired this morning on BBC East Midlands breakfast show. You can take a look for yourselves by clicking the following link: bbc-tv1-east-midlands-300710-0628

The first phase of work has begun on a £15m project for our client Westleigh Developments, causing a media flurry on announcement. Along with Westleigh, the redevelopment of the former British Union Shoe Machinery (BUSM) works on Ross Walk, Belgrave, is the result of a collaborative partnership between Leicester City Council, the Homes and Communities Agency, and two housing associations based in Leicester and Nottingham.

Featured in today’s Leicester Mercury, the low cost housing scheme for an initial 119 new properties, was herald for bringing affordable homes to the Belgrave Community, something that was in great demand.

BBC Radio Leicester also featured the story last night, which you listen to by clicking on the following link: bbc-radio-leicester-270710-1742

Westleighs Chris Beighton with land owner, Mandeep Singh, representitives of the LHA-ASRA and NCHA and Leicester City Council's Director of Planning, Andrew Smith.

PR Snap Shot of the Month - August 2009

Matt Moore of client Westleigh Developments and Ian Harrison from Mosaic1898, Leicester’s leading and longest standing disability services charity, shake hands after agreeing a deal for Westleigh’s commercial division to build its new permanent head office at the LE3 business park off Ratby Lane.

Hard work by the PR team resulted in great coverage in the Leicester Mercury and a happy client!

Client Westleigh Developments Ltd recently welcomed local students to its headquarters in Whetstone for an event that forms part of the Leicestershire Education Business Company’s (LEBC) Excellence in Enterprise Awards 2009.

Entitled ‘Building for the Future’, the event saw teams of six pupils from De Lisle Catholic School in Loughborough, Countesthorpe Community College in Countesthorpe and John Cleveland College in Hinckley undertake a number of construction-based challenges, to demonstrate the variety of skills required to work in the building industry.

Participants from each school were able to watch and learn new skills from Westleigh employees during the morning, by the end of which all teams had a member trained in the fields of surveying, estimating, brick-laying, health and safety and two educated in timber construction. These skills were then put in to practice with each team challenged to construct a timber-frame scaled down house using materials from Westframe, the timber-frame division of Westleigh Developments.

Pupils from Countesthorpe College (orange), John Cleveland (green) and De Lisle Catholic College (blue) at Westleigh

There’s lots of great environmentally friendly news with some of our Leicester-based PR clients at the moment:

A brand new website has been launched by the Raynsway Group for the Watermead Business Park in Thurmaston. There’s a huge focus on sustainability around the whole project which is already home to businesses of both regional and international importance, such as Lafarge Aggregates Ltd and Bentley. For more information on the wealth of green features there, then why not visit the site.

Westframe, the timber frame manufacturing division of Westleigh Developments, has made it into today’s Leicester Mercury after supplying and erecting the timberframe for a landmark ‘eco-house’ in Mountsorrel. Once completed it will be the first home in Leicestershire to achieve the highest available rating (Code Six) for environmentally-friendly homes.

And finally, the commercial division of Westleigh Developments, Westleigh Commercial has begun work on a new £12m environmentally aware office development on the outskirts of Leicester, adjacent to junction 21a of the M1. Once completed, LE3 will comprise of a combination of office units from 17,000sq ft upwards.

Keep up the green work everyone!!