BUSINESS NEWS
Groundwork joins Chamber
Groundwork, the environment charity, has become a member of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. Groundwork UK, which has offices in the West Midlands including Birmingham, aims to improve the quality of life throughout the UK. Its priorities are people, places and prosperity, and it aims to build safer
‘Today, Groundwork has 1,800 staff, a £150m annual turnover and delivers 6,000 projects a year’
and stronger communities, to promote health and well-being, to support local economies, to promote environmental sustainability, to combat climate change, to provide young people with something to do and to tackle unemployment. It works locally, regionally and nationally, through public, private and
voluntary partnerships in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Groundwork UK’s chief executive, Sir Tony Hawkhead (pictured), from
Knowle, was knighted in this year Queen’s birthday honours for services to environmental regeneration. While Sir Tony has been chief executive, Groundwork has grown from a charity with 600 staff, a £20m annual turnover delivering 800 projects a year, to one with national reach across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Today, Groundwork has 1,800 staff, a £150m annual turnover and delivers
6,000 projects a year. Jerry Blackett, chief executive of Birmingham Chamber, said: “We are
delighted to welcome Groundwork and Tony to Chamber membership. Their work through the UK is renowned and one of their key projects at the moment involves the letting of office spaces in Canalside at Brindley Place in Birmingham.”
New members swell the ranks at CEC
Chamber Executive Club has recruited four new members, including Patrick Fergan, of growing technology company PFF Technologies. PFF is a Leicestershire-based
company, and has two distinct areas of operation. One is digital television installation, and the other is ‘green’ related technology, including solar panels, wind turbines and biomass. The company, which covers the whole of the Midlands, currently has around 60 employees, and according to managing director Patrick Fergan, is embarking on a recruitment drive which will see that number double. “We’re expanding rapidly and we
have joined CEC to make new contacts,” he said. “We’re hoping to get in touch with other CEC members and hopefully offer them our services and start saving them money.”
He said the company was
targeting, among others, hoteliers, housing associations and nursing homes and would offering both digital TV installation and the green technology.
He added that the company had been busy recently with the digital TV switchover, and said that calls were still being received about this. He said that some, particularly older people, were still confused as a result of the switchover, and PFF were trying to help them out through free advice. The three other new CEC members are: Nicki Gibberson of Element Marketing of Streetly, Sutton Coldfield, which offers a variety of marketing services; Philip O’Reilly, of O’Reilly Contract Scaffolding, of Wagon Lane, Solihull, which provides scaffolding services throughout Birmingham, Solihull and the surrounding areas; and Lakh Hayer, of Pure Destinations, an Edgbaston-based travel agency.
NOVEMBER 2011 CHAMBERLINK 15
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