Darlington's landmark site

Graham writes.......

I travelled to London this week to meet with the Times writer Rebecca O'connor, whose excellent Bricks and Mortar section has won awards for the coverage of the UK property scene. My client John Orchard, a director of Marchday plc, accompanied me. We told Rebecca about Lingfield point, which is a landmark site of the same magnitude of, say, Fort Dunlop in Birmingham or Harland and Wolff in Belfast - sites with an iconic status in their previous history. In the case of Fort Dunlop it was the motor sector, in the case of H&W it was shipbuilding. Lingfield Point was the UK's largest textile site and home to Paton & Baldwin. Development has been underway for several years but it is about to embark on a new phase...you'll be able to read about in in The Times in due course. In the meantime its existing buildings have been winning awards, in particular two major property awards for its groundbreaking Memphis building.Memphis, which has been created from wool factory buildings originally constructed in the 1950s is now occupied by the Student Loans Company and 650 of its staff, was named as the best Commercial Property development at the Royal Chartered Institute of Surveyors’ (RICS) North East Renaissance Awards. The RICS accolade was presented within days of Memphis also achieving first place in the refurbished/recycled workplace category at the British Council for Office (BCO) awards. Memphis joins such prestigious previous winners in the category as Fort Dunlop in Birmingham and aircraft hanger-turned-business premises, Skyways House in Liverpool. Lingfield Point’s Memphis was among 51 shortlisted entrants for the RICS Renaissance Awards, which was judged by an independent panel property professionals who consider all aspects of buildings and projects from design and planning to construction and the look and feel of the finished project.Following the presentation of the regional RICS title, Memphis will be entered into the organisation’s national awards where it will compete against other projects from across the UK.Memphis is a remarkable space which capitalises on its industrial heritage. Developer Marchday plc was keen to celebrate the building’s history and work with the industrial loft style space. This was particularly appealing to the Student Loans Company which was keen to produce a contemporary inspiring environment for its dynamic workforce. As well as being a cutting edge workspace Memphis is a low energy sustainable development.Student Loans Company commissioned award winning designers 3Fold/Graven images to create a truly remarkable bespoke interior. Other companies, which worked on the Memphis Building regeneration included architects SP&A, builders Rok plc and TMD Design.

Fish & Chips and insurance - a great PR result

Graham writes……this weekend I saw first hand how a properly constructed small campaign can work and, in this case, its cost was met by the client’s insurance company. Barker’s fish & chip shop & restaurant in Richmond, North Yorks, is an award winning business. It was recently the victim of a fire which closed the business for months. Part of the insurance settlement was a sum of money to be spent promoting the business reopening. The falling prices of advertising on TV, Radio and Print make the cost of a multi media advertising and PR campaign within the reach of small business and Barkers took advantage. We organised a PR campaign with press releases; sponsorship of a key feature in the Darlington & Stockton Times newspaper; spot advertising on local radio and a 30 spot campaign on local ITV. The results were amazing. I could hardly squeeze into the fish & chip Take away on Saturday it was so crowded and the restaurant was packed too!

Frances writes……

Well done to Charlie Mullins (left) of Pimlico Plumbers, one of our most successful and interesting clients. Charlie took on the MPs in a live debate about the expenses on Channel 4 News last night. It takes guts to go on national TV against well rehearsed politicians and Charlie let them have it!

Graham writes….

We were delighted to win a special new PR contract from US firm Black & Decker. The firm has a fantastic design centre in the North East at Spennymoor. Despite the bad news about job losses in that part of the UK, Black & Decker is still a significant employer. I paid them a visit today and saw a 21st Century business with world class designs and some unbeatable products. The people were enthusiastic creative and talented and you’ll be hearing more about their achievements as our media release start being published.

Repairing Britain Campaign launched

Graham writes......

Our long standing client Rok plc, the nation's local builder, has started a UK wide campaign called "Repairing Britain". Working with our partner firm on this project, Redleaf, we have already secured considerable coverage on the importance of putting skilled tradesmen to work on repairing the country's built environment at a time when new build projects sare few and far between.

The campaign says up to half a million jobs could be lost in the current downturn. However, it is highlighting that refurbishment and improvement projects create many more jobs than new build schemes, require skilled tradesmen and are more sustainable.

If, over the next two years, the UK tackled just 20 percent of the buildings that needed repairing and turning into homes, 250,000 new homes would be created, which would more than satisfy the country’s need.

Currently there are:

• An estimated one million empty homes in the UK


• Up to 20 percent of UK properties are likely to be in poor condition, in need or repair or underused. This includes properties above shops, empty shops, old factories, warehouses and private dwellings.


• Four million people on waiting lists for rental accommodation


• Five million people will be on social housing waiting lists by 2010 (Local Government Association statistic)
  

These empty properties could be made habitable much faster than new homes can be built. Repair and refurbishment of existing properties is also greener than starting from scratch on green fields.

The campaign is calling for an audit of empty buildings by local authorities to identify properties needing attention, at a time when the country needs 240,000 additional housing units a year and only 60,000 are being built we need to look at the buildings that already exist for new homes.

‘Repairing Britain’ wants to encourage a sense of civic pride in our surroundings; money is being spent on new housing developments while empty homes multiply in existing neighbourhoods, causing them to become under-populated and under-resourced.

Central to ‘Repairing Britain’ is a petition on the Downing Street website, http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/repairingbritain/, requesting a reduction in VAT on property repair work to 5 percent, which will provide a much needed stimulus.

We were pleased that the Rok chief executive received coverage for the start of the campaign in national newspapers and on Radio 5 Live. He also received coverage in numerous regional newspapers. Now we want other companies in the sector to join with Rok in promoting the 'Repairing Britain' message!

Top 'Private Eye' signs up for 'PR Starter Pack'

Frances writes......

In these challenging economic times new clients often want a taster of what PR can do for them without commitment to an ongoing contract. One of the UK's top private investigators wanted to try out our service and was the first client to use our the new 'PR Starter Pack', which costs £550 plus VAT.

The result for Andy Coates has been coverage on local radio and in newspapers for an award he has won. He also has a web video that is to be used on his own web site and on sites such as You Tube and http://www.broadbandtvchannel.co.uk/ The video is also available to newspapers to use on their interactive sites.

Click here to see the full story on the page which professional journalists use down load the information from Recognition:

http://www.recognitionpr.co.uk/journalistarea-story.asp?id=6409

Terms and conditions for the PR Start Pack are on our prices and fees page:

http://www.recognitionpr.co.uk/fees.htm

Andy is delighted with the results and has already asked Recognition to undertake more work on his behalf.