Solihull


All the latest news, advice and events for the Solihull business community


Contact: Joan Smith T: 0121 678 7488


In Brief


Hogarths Solihull has been named ‘Luxury Hotel & Restaurant of the Year – West Midlands’ in the 2017 Luxury Travel Guide Awards. The judges at Luxury Travel Guide


commended the hotel for the ‘high calibre in services offered to guests’ and the ‘value of its facilities’. Luxury Travel Guide account manager


Kerry Payne said: “Hogarth Hotel Solihull represents a fantastic location in the West Midlands, the hotel has everything a customer would need from a lovely room to spend a relaxing night in or finding their perfect place for any occasion. “Looking at images of the rooms from


the website and reading online reviews prove that Hogarths Solihull exceed all customers’ expectations. I look forward to seeing the hotel in future and experiencing a great stay.” Hogarths Group general manager Steven


Quick said: “The win comes on the back of a very successful 2016, where Hogarths picked up a number of awards for customer service and also gained its AA Silver Stars.”


Hogarths Solihull


Learning skills for life Getting Life Ready: Pupils at Coppice School in Solihull, who are taking part in the project


A new initiative to help get Solihull school and college leavers ready for the world of work has been launched. The scheme is ‘Life Ready’, and it is being


funded by Solihull Council. The main aim of it is to give young people ‘the skills, knowledge and dynamism to reach their full career potential, to meet the needs of employers and to contribute to the economic growth of the borough’. Life Ready is being overseen by The Careers


Solihull Chamber has joined forces with Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber to host an expo on the 17 March at The Heart of England Conference centre in Coventry. It is the second time the chambers have


got together to stage one of these events, and it is estimated that there will be more than 90 exhibitors and 450 delegates in attendance. There will also be a number of business


seminar events, and the speakers for these will be announced prior to the expo. Solihull Chamber director Joan Smith


said: “This is our second joint expo and we will be looking to host more of these going forward. “There is some overlap in our postcode


areas and some businesses are members of both chambers. Although we are separate chambers we all have the same common goal, to help support, engage and grow our local businesses.” Members can exhibit at the expo for


£250 +VAT, and non-members for £400 +VAT. The event is being sponsored by Entrepreneurs Circle.


40 CHAMBERLINK March 2017


and Enterprise Company, who said: “Life Ready is a simple framework, designed with local head teachers and senior teaching staff to support schools and colleges in developing independent, life ready young adults and to help raise the standards of careers guidance across Solihull. It provides young people with the opportunities to progress and record their employability skills. “If young people have a good understanding


of career opportunities and progression routes, they are more likely to be motivated to achieve the qualifications and skills required. In doing so they are more likely to accomplish better outcomes in the labour market, such as higher earning and greater job satisfaction.”


‘Provides young people with the opportunities to progress and record their employability’


A key way of achieving these aims is to


improve the links between businesses and schools, to help to raise awareness of the breadth of career opportunities available to young people. To help with this, Solihull Chamber members


are being urged to fully support the scheme, and can do this in a number of ways, including offering work experience. Businesses can also support the delivery of Life


Ready projects, and help develop lesson plans. Businesses can also become ‘enterprise advisers’. Solihull Chamber director Joan Smith said: “We


are delighted that our Solihull Chamber executive board have agreed to have Life Ready as the Chamber local section campaign for our division within the GBCC group. “This campaign is to raise awareness for Life


ready to all our members. I believe that we all have a duty of care to our younger generation to upskill them in all areas of business, from a young


Smart meters lead the way


Sitting in the heart of Solihull, specialist teams based at National Grid’s Homer Road office are leading the way in an energy industry that is experiencing unprecedented change. Driven partly by the rapid growth of


renewable energy and advances in technology, the 400 strong workforce is playing an important role in connecting UK consumers with more secure, sustainable and affordable energy. National Grid co-owns and operates cable


links to France and the Netherlands and is currently building two new interconnectors to Norway and Belgium. There are a number of other interconnector projects in various stages of development in the pipeline too.


With one eye fixed firmly on the future,


National Grid has recently launched a new smart metering business, based in Solihull. Drawing on years of metering experience and on the strength of its brand, National Grid’s ambition is to be a market leader in the next generation of ‘smart meters’. Under Government plans, some 30 million UK homes and small businesses will have smart meters installed by 2020. From its base in Solihull, there are also


dedicated teams that remotely oversee Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and a domestic, industrial and commercial metering business, which boasts more than 14 million installed meters throughout the UK.


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