Popular city centre restaurant, Bar Italia hosted Liverpool Chamber of Commerce’s latest platform lunch, these events are designed help members promote their businesses and opportunities to other members.

Tracy Mawson, Mersey Partnership’s business development manager described how Liverpool’s growth is on par with the rest of the UK, George Wayland of Look Ahead Project talked about pension advice available not just to companies but also to individuals. Gillian Hunt of Liverpool Ventures talked about their role as a seed fund for MSIF and how businesses can access funding.

Pictured above, L-R, Tracy Mawson, George Wayland, Brian McCann, Chamber Board member, Gillian Hunt

Kegang Wu and Shiu Ling of the Chamber’s ChinaLink team are seen here with a personalised Liverpool shirt which was presented to Wu Yangyu, Deputy Chinese Consul General based in Manchester, before his return to China. Kegang said: “Wu Yangyu has been such a strong supporter of Chinalink and we wanted to give him a gift that would give him fond memories of Liverpool.”

Kegang also presented a Liverpool shirt to Wen Fulin, Chinese consul. Kegang continued: “Wen Fulin is another great supporter of ChinaLink particularly with the issue of visas for our trade missions. Over the years he has done a huge amount of work for us and this is a gesture of our appreciation.”

The newest waterfront construction project, Liverpool’s new museum, was the focus of Liverpool Chamber’s first construction and development lunch of the year.

One hundred and eighty guests enjoyed a lunch of tasty locally sourced lamb and digested an overview of National Museums Liverpool from Director, Dr David Fleming followed by a review of the current museum construction by Liverpool Museum’s Project Director, Sharon Granville.

L-R Dr David Fleming, Chamber Chairman, David Wade-Smith, Sharon Granville.

Microsoft Vista - Will EVO Stick (Exchange, Vista, Office)?

Together with Merseyside ICT and Knowsley ICT, Merit is hosting this free event at The Marquee at Everton Football Ground on upgrading to Microsoft Vista and its impact on businesses. Aimed at SMEs this event will explore the new Windows platform, its features and showcase case studies from companies who have already upgraded.

A number of leading Merseyside IT companies will run a series of short seminars to illustrate the pros and cons of the new system using real life case studies.

Software Generation, an IT training company, will share their upgrading experiences and will demonstrate the changes with Office 2007.

Gardner Systems will explore the beneficial features of the Office 2007 Suite, focusing on the practical implications of installing the EVO suite and the benefits of the Unified Communication Strategy from Microsoft and how you actually deploy it.

Finally 7 Global will demonstrate how, by using software as a service SMEs can get all the business benefits of large organisations by paying a monthly rental cost for hosted applications.

Reserve your place now.

Guest Speaker: Julie Sherrington from Microsoft

Wednesday 21st March 2007
Registration - 9.30 a.m.
Close - 13.00 p.m.
Everton Football Ground

Due to the increasing burden of employment legislation and the proliferation of ‘no win no fee’ solicitors, dealing with employment issues is becoming increasingly difficult, time consuming and costly.

Whether you’re a small business and can’t afford a full time HR professional or if you’re a larger firm and just want to keep up to date with legislation, this service can help you. Best of all it’s free - it’s part of your Chamber membership.

The service offers unlimited access to a 24 hour, seven day Human Resource and Health & Safety advice line and over 150 downloadable policies, forms, documents, letters, templates and fact sheets.

All chamber members are entitled to Chamber HR. Chamber HR is a complementary service to the existing Chamber Legal Expenses Scheme. When you subscribe, you will receive proactive advice through Chamber HR but also reactive insurance to cover the cost of representation and awards in respect of Employment Tribunal claims.

Michael Hobbs, of the Catholic Blind Institute, said: “We were very impressed with the service. I needed some advice on a HR problem and was contacted within 15 minutes of the initial enquiry. The helpline staff were informed, knowledgeable and gave very helpful advice. I would recommend this to other members as it is an excellent service and it is free!!”

Chamber HR offers:

. unlimited access to a 24/7 HR advice line
. a compliant contract of employment
. a compliant employee handbook
. a compliant health & safety policy
. web access to over 150 downloadable policies, procedures, templates, letters and fact sheets
. preferential rates for bespoke HR and health & safety consultancy.

The Chamber HR website also includes monthly tips including Disciplinary Resignations, Injuries and Sickness Payments and Home and Lone Working

To access the service call the Chamber HR advice line on 02920 349614 or visit their website.

Liverpool Chamber’s new e-newsletter service is sponsored by Custom House. Sign up (via the above link) to up to get all the business news that matters as well as what’s happening at the Chamber.

Custom House are a leading global provider of foreign exchange services and payment solutions to businesses and individuals. Whether you’re making payments, receiving funds, or working to establishing a stable payment relationship with foreign businesses partners, they can provide custom solutions for your business needs.

Contact Ian Meyer on 07932 024 893 to find out more.

Read the Custom House weekly money market update by clicking on ‘more’.

Read the rest of this entry »

With energy bills having doubled over the past twelve months, there is both a powerful financial and environmental need to switch on to energy efficiency and drive down those harmful carbon emissions.

UK workplaces generate over 66 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year from the energy and resources they consume, yet there is plenty employees and employers can do. Getting started on reducing your energy consumption can cost you nothing and here’s six simple steps you could take to reduce your overall energy costs.

1. Government research shows that up to 20% of business energy is wasted. Companies spending in excess of £50,000 per year will qualify for a free energy efficiency survey from the Carbon Trust.

2. Lighting in a typical office costs about £3 per square metre annually. Energy efficiency could help you cut your annual lighting bills by two thirds. Energy efficient lighting solutions combined with timers, sensors and controls can help you make dramatic bottom line savings.

3. Heating costs rise by about 8% for each degree celsius of overheating. Check thermostat settings regularly. The recommended heating level for shops, restaurants and offices is 19 degrees Celsius.

4. Measure how much energy you’re using so that you can see what impact any energy saving measures have on your business. ‘Smart metering’ - the modern monitoring technology - is now highly affordable to all sizes of business - giving you instant access to quality, timely data that will give you a full picture of your energy consumption.

5. Switch off equipment when it’s not in use. According to the Carbon Trust, an average office wastes £6,000 each year by leaving equipment on over weekends and bank holidays. Just getting your employees to turn off their monitors when they go home can make a big difference.

6. Make the most of natural light. It’s free and it won’t damage the environment. So keep your windows clear and make the most of the daylight.

The Chamber UtilitiesT service can offer organisations all the help they need to become more energy efficient through smart metering monitoring solutions and Carbon Trust services. For further details contact Chamber UtilitiesT on 0845 120 2423, or visit their website.

Read the Utility Auditing Energy Brief for February 2007 by clicking ‘more’.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today in the Daily Post, Professor Phil Redmond writes that the building work currently taking place across the city centre may present a unique background for new works of public art. He says:

“Could the miles and miles of traffic cones and building site hoardings be transformed from miserable irritants to, well, forms of potential blank canvases?

“Why not allow artists, schools or communities to adopt hoardings and turn them into civic collages or murals?”

What a good idea! Why shoudln’t the future European Capital of Culture take this opportunity to express itself creatively on such a public stage? If we have to walk and drive past vast expanses of boards surrounding one building site after another, let’s at least have something nice to look at.

Liverpool is home to a veritable army of artists and designers. The work could potentially be of a very high standard. Zones could be created for different projects - design-led work in the rope walks, community or school paintings in tourist hot-spots, intricate graffiti artists’ work just about anywhere.

Is the city missing a trick here? Perhaps the Culture Company should take Professor Redmond’s advice…

Peter Jones Manager of the Chamber’s Business Crime Direct Team was interviewed on Radio Merseyside’s drive time business slot. He talked about the Action Against Business Crime Awards where the Chamber’s partnership working and success of Pub Watch scheme were commended. He also discussed the Chamber’s support for the new city centre Business Improvement District.

Listen to the interview here [MP3, 3MB]

Find out more about BCD’s success at the awards in this Chamber news story.

Businesses across Merseyside are invited to take part in Liverpool Chamber’s survey on Work / Life Balance in the workplace.

This survey looks at what working hours, leave entitlements, flexible working options and staff benefits are offered to employees.

As we’ve already mentioned on the Chamber Blog, flexible working and the home/life balance is becoming more important, both to employees and employers. Allowing staff to work in ways that more suit them increases productivity and aides staff retention.

Now we need your input to tell us how this issue affects your business. To fill in the survey (it will only take a couple of minutes) visit the Mersey Economy website and go to the ‘Surveys’ page.

If you want to find out more about flexible working, BT are holding a symposium on the topic on March 27. More details can be found here.