Uk Vol 4.Pdf

40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:13 Page 1 40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:14 Page 2 40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:14 Page 3 40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:14 Page 4 40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:14 Page 5 40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:14 Page 6 40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:14 Page 7 Your Association is working for you! contents Yes, the recession is still with us and the signs are that it will SSA UK News . 8 take a while for the general economy to start growing. This News Features . 10 to 13 was confirmed by our speakers from the banking (Barclays and The Royal Bank of Scotland) and business (John Dunning • Self Storage – started by cavemen? of the South Cheshire Chamber of Commerce) sectors at our • Safebox Self Storage sponsored... recent and successful conference in Manchester. However, it • BiG Storage hosts Big Lunch is clear that every one of you has been fighting the recession • Dudley storage company’s grand... positively and most operators agree that, to date, the industry • BiG Storage wins award as a whole is showing itself to be fairly resilient. Expansion plans have not • Self storage company thrives... surprisingly been held back; that said, there are clear opportunities for future growth. No doubt the trick is to decide when the time is exactly right to make the Company Features next move. • Quality assured with Kilmarnock Removals . .15 Although less well attended than of late, the conference was much enjoyed and • Big Box, Maidstone . 16 many more delegates than usual stayed to the end to listen to all the presentations. Most of the speakers were from member organisations, or those with whom we • Always room to buck the recession .18 are associated. Day One was led by our trainers, Geoff Langston and Steve Bent, • Big Yellow and Armadillo Self who were encouraging everyone to keep going and do what you have always Storage’s charitable works . .21 done, but a little better. Rob Riddleston and Andrew Garvey of Barclays and Paul • Merthyr Self Storage . .25 Turton of the RBS launched the second day, explaining what had happened in the Business News . 27 banking sector and how anyone requiring finance should go about preparing their case. Sustainable development, be it new builds or refurbishing older • Progress on the Business Rates... properties, remains a very important theme which I am convinced the industry • Energy Efficiency Loans should follow. We were grateful to Abigail Dean of Upstream Sustainability • Statutory Redundancy Pay Rate Rise Services (part of Jones Lang LaSalle) for her practical input on this subject; an Conference Features . 28 to 33 article by her appears on Pages 32 and 33. Finally, and most importantly, Louis Hill of Source PR, who is now working with the SSA UK on its marketing campaign, • SSA UK Conference – Trade Show and Rob Smith of Blueleaf, gave masterful presentations on marketing and the • A step in the right direction... importance and use of web-based digital marketing. Copies of their slides are • Introducing Sustainability to the... available from Head Office. Technology Features But that is not all. Our marketing campaign on your behalf has certainly taken off and it has been confirmed to us that the short feature on BBC Breakfast • SSA UK to launch new and improved television last month has brought in new customers for some operators. Louis website . .34 Hill’s article on Page 31 is well worth reading. From nowhere we have managed • The World’s Gone Tweeting Mad! 37 to obtain some coverage of our industry in the national newspapers and on prime- Employment Feature . 39 time TV. It is now our aim to build on this early success and we urge you to take advantage of what we are doing in your own localities. By working together we • Immigration Update can surely spread the positive message about your business to more and more To subscribe to the Focus and Self Storage Europe people in our communities. magazine, please contact: Self Storage Association, Priestley House, The Gullet, Concurrent with the production of this edition, we are launching a new website. Nantwich, Cheshire. CW5 5SZ Tel: + 44 (0)1270 623 150 There is an article about this on Pages 34 and 35. We hope it will assist you in Fax: + 44 (0)1270 623 471 finding out what is going on and support and enhance the marketing campaign e-mail: [email protected] I have just mentioned. We are also starting to put together the results of this Editorial year’s SSA UK Mintel Survey, which we know will be very important for our industry. News items and articles on all aspects of the self storage Again, may I encourage any operator who has not yet submitted their survey industry are welcomed, and should be sent, together with photographs if appropriate, to the editor, Stan McKerron: results to do so as quickly as possible, so that we really can have a pan-UK and e-mail: [email protected] fully representative document. Opinions expressed in the Focus magazine are not necessarily those of the SSA UK or FEDESSA While I know it is very early, may we wish you all a Happy Christmas. Advertising Please contact Stan McKerron: Rodney Walker, 48 Talbot Way, Stapeley, Nantwich, CW5 7RQ. CEO, SSA UK Tel: + 44 (0)1270 624 622 e-mail: [email protected] 7 40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:14 Page 8 SSA UK NEWS Self Storage Focus New SSA UK Members NOTICEBOARD On behalf of the Directors and members of the Self Storage Association, we would like to extend a warm welcome to: Training Course Dates: 18 November - Proactive Selling, London Full Operator Members • Harrogate Self Storage Ltd. Notes for members Associate Provisional Operator Members From Sue Brash, SSA UK Business Manager • Self Storage Tameside. The SSA UK’s new website will be launched soon. Members should check that their log-in details are still working correctly. Associate Supplier Members Go to www.ssauk.com, and click on the “Member Login” tab at • Basil E Fry & Company Ltd. the top of the page. Then, type in your “Username” and “Password” and click “Submit ”. If you cannot access the Members’ Section of the website, please contact the SSA UK as Focus Magazine Deadlines soon as possible ( 01270 623 150). The deadline for submitting contributions to the next edition of the There are plenty of Anti-terrorism posters and SSA UK window Focus magazine is the 24th of December, 2009. Any news items stickers available to members. If you require any of these, or articles, together with any photographs, should be e-mailed to please e-mail: [email protected] with details of your Stan McKerron, at: [email protected]. requirements. The deadline for Advertising Booking Forms is Friday the 1st of There has been a great response to the Members’ Survey. If January, 2010 and for Advertisement Artwork it is Friday the 8th of you have not yet done so, you can still send us your completed January, 2010. survey; it’s not too late! 8 40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:14 Page 9 40023 Focus:Layout 1 1/12/09 08:14 Page 10 NEWS FEATURE Self Storage Focus Self Storage – started by cavemen? Following extensive field studies, Prof. Krik Semaj believes that self storage has been a thriving business for 35,000 years. Here, he explores the historical development of self storage. The Upper Palaeolithic peoples of Central Europe are well known for their exquisite cave drawings. Fine examples exist in Lascaux, France; the Cave of Altamira, Spain and at Creswell Crags, UK. The eminent professor’s extensive studies suggest that the drawings of bison, horses and deer, informed hunter-gatherer cavemen of what could be stored safely in each cave. Further research is required to validate this exciting hypothesis. The Great Pyramid of Giza, built in 2560 BC for King Khufu, is a spectacular early storage facility. Construction of this Wonder of the Ancient World took 20 years. For over 3,800 years it stood proudly as the tallest man-made structure. However, despite its size it only has three chambers. Such poor space utilisation would dismay modern self storage operators. Security would also cause McQueen was in and out of the cooler for his many escapes. concern, given that all three chambers were looted. Storage professionals always take care of security; it’s what the Noah benefited from a tip-off about an impending flood and business is about. created the first floating self storage facility. Subsequently he The United States Bullion Depository is a fortified vault building cornered the market and achieved one of the fastest fill rates ever located near Fort Knox, Kentucky, which is used to store a large known for self storage. The flood removed his competitors, giving portion of the United States’ official gold reserves and, him a monopoly on storage provision. However, his charitable occasionally, other precious items belonging or entrusted to the disposition meant he didn’t abuse this dominant position and federal government. Now that makes it a pretty valuable self instead gave shelter to animals. storage operation. Who else can claim to store $134 billion An army of terracotta soldiers would present a challenge to some worth of goods? Well, Jeremy Irons in Die Hard with a Vengeance storage companies. The army included strong warriors, chariots, knew that he’d make more by targeting the Federal Reserve in horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians.

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