Annual Report 2017/18 Contents Overview 4
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ANNUAL REPORT 2017/18 CONTENTS OVERVIEW 4. First Year in Numbers 6. Chairman’s Welcome 7. Executive Director’s Welcome 8. About FOR Cardiff 9. The FOR Cardiff Board of Directors / Team PROJECTS 11. Welcoming 17. Vibrant 24. Influential 26. Financial Overview 27. Spring 2018 and beyond 2 FOR CARDIFF CONTENTS ANNUAL REPORT 3 FIRST YEAR TAXI MARSHALS GIVE DIFFERENTLY The FOR Cardiff TAXI funded Give Differently campaign had a reach of 40 million Assisted over 12,500 people STREET ENTERTAINMENT Made reports A video of to police on 35 our street occasions entertainment over the NatWest CLEANSING TEAM Six Nations tournament Over 1000 was watched 170,000 chewing gum more than pieces removed 170,000 times MARKETING Over 2500 hours of additional work done E-NEWSLETTER NEWS 27 e-newsletters Created Cardiff’s biggest ever read by 4600 Christmas campaign with a people reach of 5.2 million across TV, @ radio, print, digital and social 4 FOR CARDIFF IN NUMBERS AMBASSADORS TRAINING 9,000 business visits/interactions Over 2,000 directions provided Free training for nearly 120 NEWSLETTER employees from over 25 FOR Cardiff businesses have 5000 benefitted from these training distributed to courses. That’s an average businesses on a saving for each of those quarterly basis businesses of £2,467! SOCIAL PRESS AND PR £ £ £ £ £ £152,500 worth of coverage By comparison, Northern Ireland’s capital city BID, Belfast One 983,100 14 pieces of delivered £24,421 worth of coverage in their first year and the UK’s Tweet broadcast biggest BID outside London, Leeds, impressions coverage generated £60,000 WEBSITE NEXT PAGE .COM 7,000 visits to 21,000 the website page views ANNUAL REPORT 5 Simon Phillips Adrian Field Chair of the Board Executive Director CHAIR’S WELCOME At the end of its first year, FOR Cardiff is meeting the vision and ambition of the business plan and is demonstrating itself to be a dynamic venture helping Cardiff to thrive. FOR Cardiff has been the driving force behind several bold and innovative projects, delivering key investment to propel the city centre forward. As one of the fastest growing cities in the UK, Cardiff is an economic powerhouse and recognised as one of the country’s top destinations for business and pleasure – it needs to consolidate, celebrate and amplify its appeal, successes and strengths and the BID is working hard to help achieve this. FOR Cardiff has already demonstrated, in its first year, that it is a force for positive change and good. Its achievements have been down to a combination of hard work from the BID team, judicious investment and the proactive involvement from businesses and organisations across the city. Going forward into year two and beyond, FOR Cardiff will continue to build on this, working collaboratively across all sectors to deliver an aspirational and exciting project plan which will make a real difference to Cardiff’s city centre. Simon Phillips Chair of the Board 6 FOR CARDIFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S INTRO FOR Cardiff officially opened for business in December 2016 and since then the team have had a productive year working on projects across our key areas of Welcoming, Vibrant and Influential and progressing on initiatives set out in our five-year business plan. We are passionate about our city centre and want to create a high quality experience for every visitor, be the destination of choice in Wales, and attract new investors and businesses. The Central Square development is now well under way with the BBC due to be fully operational by 2019. Brains have recently announced their plans to develop their site which will be the biggest regeneration scheme ever seen in Wales. The £1.2bn Cardiff Capital Region City Deal could transform the economy of South East Wales, including the new Metro scheme and development of the transport interchange. This is only a handful of the developments that are revolutionising Cardiff’s landscape and with other projects in planning we’re seeing an exciting regeneration of Cardiff unfold. Our overall objective is to create a city centre that is Welcoming, Vibrant and Influential, an attractive place for people to visit, work and live and that is easily accessible from anywhere in Wales. As part of our Vibrant project this year we delivered the largest Christmas campaign Cardiff has ever seen with a reach of 5.2 million, this was done in partnership with Visit Cardiff who received “an unprecedented” increase to their website as a direct result of the campaign. The Champions League Final came to Cardiff in June 2017, and we received a lot of feedback from our members about how the organisers communicated with both visitors to the city and with businesses. We want businesses to know that we listened to you and I wrote a report detailing recommendations for large scale events like this. The Board and I will ensure the BID has a seat at the table when these event discussions are taking place to make sure your voice is heard, the city is safe and your business benefits, as much as possible from the economic impact. Our year one Influential projects included providing free training to nearly 100 employees from over 20 FOR Cardiff businesses. That’s an average saving for each of those businesses of £2,467! Following extensive feedback from businesses we’ve invested in a pilot project, in partnership with BT Openreach, to bring superfast broadband to the Castle Quarter. 250 businesses could benefit from this installation and we’ve already received statements from multiple businesses who were looking to relocate due to poor broadband speeds and have now remained in the city centre, which is fantastic news. Our flagship Welcoming project in year one was the introduction of our eight Street Ambassadors in the FOR Cardiff area, whose primary role is to greet tourists and share information on the highlights in our city. They also report on antisocial behaviour and environmental issues and engage with businesses. We were delighted at the initial success of our business crime reduction initiative, Cardiff Against Business Crime (CABC), with over 150 businesses signing up to the CityNet radio scheme in its first week. Businesses have fed back to us with huge positivity about this project praising its significant improvement in service and difference it has made to their bottom line compared to schemes they have used in the past. FOR Cardiff is run by businesses, for businesses, and we want to encourage all our levy paying members to get involved by giving us feedback. We’re very much looking forward to embarking on our second year and progressing with the delivery of our five year business plan. If you would like to discuss FOR Cardiff further, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the team. Adrian Field Executive Director ANNUAL REPORT 7 ABOUT FOR CARDIFF FOR Cardiff was founded by a core group of businesses and stakeholders in the area to drive forward positive change and create a thriving and prosperous community for everyone. Following a two year development period we were established in December 2016 and now represent over 750 individual businesses. Our overall aim is to create a Welcoming, Vibrant and Influential city centre and a profitable place to do business. Our long-term projects and area management initiatives seek to improve the area for the benefit of all and our support and promotion of businesses will ensure the area continues to thrive. We are a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and are funded by businesses as a Business Improvement District, or BID, a model that exists in over 290 locations countrywide. Importantly each BID is tailored to suit the local environment, needs and stakeholders and every business plan is different to reflect the challenges in each area. 8 FOR CARDIFF BOARD OF DIRECTORS Simon Phillips Marks and Spencer – Chair of the Board Marie Fagan Hilton Hotels – Vice Chair of the Board Dan Langford Acorn Recruitment – Chair of Marketing Sub Committee Steven Madeley St David’s – Chair of the Projects Group Andrews Phillips Savills Bruno Nunes Peppermint Bar Cliff Vanstone John Lewis Huw Llewellyn Admiral Ken Poole Cardiff Council Mark Brace Asst. Crime Commissioner, South Wales Police Natasha Williams Brains Neil Wicks National Museum Cardiff Nick Newman The Philharmonic Phil Sheeran Motorpoint Arena Ruth Ryder University of South Wales Steven Salamon Wally’s Deli (resigned January 2018) OFFICE TEAM Adrian Field Executive Director Carolyn Brownell Marketing and Communications Manager Nigel Griffiths Operations Manager Ian Tumelty Business Crime Reduction Manager Emily Cotterill Project Coordinator STREET AMBASSADORS TEAM Louise O’Hanlon Jodie Sullivan Jordan Tucker Tom Smith Alex Grove Mike Lewis Tasia Stephens Olivia Insole ANNUAL REPORT 9 PROJECTS 10 FOR CARDIFF WELCOMING 3 MILLION OVER 5 YEARS STREET AMBASSADOR TEAM In April the BID introduced an exciting On average the addition to the city, a branded team of Street Ambassadors engage Ambassadors. This high quality professional with 750 members of meet and greet team of eight, provide a the public a month warm, friendly and knowledgeable welcome to visitors, residents and businesses alike. They assisted over They act as human signposts, adding 2000 people to find value with their expert city knowledge and the locations they enhancing the Cardiff welcome for all. They were looking for provide a link on the streets to the businesses in the BID area, carrying out visits to provide information on the activities of FOR Cardiff. They cover the whole They also help inform vital customer profile BID area, walking an intelligence and details on how the city is average of 8-10 miles being used.