Accountancy Plus Training deliver courses across the South West with venues in Plymouth, Exeter, Taunton, Bideford, Fraddon and Torquay, as well as by distance learning using on line materials and workbooks. They have over 600 AAT learners, the majority of whom are undertaking Apprenticeships in Accounting.

This summer has seen A+ introduce computer based exams for the AAT Foundation and Intermediate levels. This has been a resounding success, with an average pass rate over the 3 exam papers of 91% compared to the national average of 76% for the first half of 2010. With computer based exams being rolled out to all three AAT levels under the new syllabuses this Autumn, this level of achievement is critical to the future success of their students.

Simon Deane, Managing Director of Accountancy Plus Training said; “I am absolutely delighted with the results achieved by our learners, which reflect the excellence of their tutors and of the overall support we provide. We recently achieved certification in the Training Quality Standard with excellence in accounting and were the first of only two providers in the country to have achieved this in respect of accountancy training. This followed our achievement of the Matrix accreditation for the quality of advice and guidance given to learners in choosing their course and career options.”

Their brief is to turn the disused, run down block into one of the most iconic office premises within the city. Work on the £1.35 million redevelopment is set to start imminently. KMS Managing Director Kevin Smith was delighted to win the tender; “We are absolutely delighted to win this contract, this is one of the most exciting construction projects to have been awarded within the heart of Plymouth for a long time. We consider Studio 5-11 to be a very exciting development for Plymouth businesses and a very exciting project for KMS”.

Marc Nash, Director of ADG added; “We decided to entrust the redevelopment of Studio 5-11 with KMS Contract Building Services because they have a proven track record of record of delivering projects of this nature on time and on budget. When we have worked together in the past I have always been impressed with the attitude and energy that you always get from Kevin and his team and I look forward to working closely with them on this exciting project”.

This contract award comes after recent high profile contract awards from Plymouth NHS Trust and the University of Plymouth. Kevin added; “We have worked hard to create a strong reputation for delivering a high standard of finish for a fair price to the client and I am very much looking forward to adding Studio 5-11 to our portfolio of work”.

User experience design (UX) is a fairly new field, advocates (myself included) are committed to producing interfaces that anticipate, process, and positively adapt people’s behaviour. We aim to take all aspects of a website, from basic site navigation to final text copy, and consider them holistically from an ‘end-user’ perspective. Our ultimate goal is to produce websites that work for those who will use them.

There are a variety of ways to create successful online user interfaces, and the complexity of the methods used is often a direct function of the budgetary scope of the project. More sizeable projects allow for the research and testing of many factors, including the cultures, experiences, and demographics of the intended users, ensuring that all processes are pre-planned and online conversion rates are as high as possible. But that is not to say that basic UX principles cannot be employed for projects with more modest budgets.

By mapping out the basic functions of a website and discussing the perceived purposes of its features, it is possible to develop a robust UX model without eating up a large portion of a project budget. And the value this model can add to the final site should not be underestimated. For instance, by combining an intuitive and targeted navigation system with highly relevant and well presented content on a thoughtfully designed site map, you could see marked increases in the amount of site visitors that are converted into customers.

Even if your site has already been designed and built, it’s never too late to consider changes based on user habits and interaction. Sometimes a couple of seemingly small changes – such as converting a page link into a well-placed call-to-action button – can have disproportionately positive effects.

The field of UX design will continue to grow in importance. It is central in providing value for an increasingly savvy and demanding online audience, and business owners and marketing managers are fast tuning into the value of having a UX-focussed design team looking after their online presence.

If you would like to chat about how UX can help you win more work online, don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

Posted by: Nikos

Leading South West law firm Foot Anstey is continuing its nationwide search for top legal talent and has attracted three new partners.

Angela Bridges joins Foot Anstey from the Norwich office of Mills & Reeve bringing with her over a decade of experience in advising landed estates, farmers, trustees and entrepreneurs on wills, trusts and tax planning issues.

She is joined by Juliette Clarke who specialises in high value personal injury claims for those people who have been seriously injured with particular emphasis on those with acquired brain injuries, spinal injuries and those working within the military.  Juliette was formerly a partner at Bond Pearce.

Foot Anstey’s third lateral hire is Mike Bird, the former Deputy Coroner for Derbyshire who specialises in complex clinical negligence and brain injury work for clients. He is a very experienced inquest advocate and has experience of General Medical Council representation. Mike qualified with national law firm Eversheds before joining Freeth Cartright.

All three are joined on the Foot Anstey partnership by company and commercial lawyer Helen Wallwork and employment specialist Matt Huddleson – both of whom have been promoted in these two key growth areas for the firm.

Commenting on their appointments, Foot Anstey’s Managing Partner John Westwell said: “We are delighted to appoint five new partners who will increase the depth of expertise on offer to Foot Anstey clients.  The arrival of Angela, Juliette and Mike represents the first phase of our continued search for talented senior lawyers, which will have an immediate impact on the firm’s ability to proactively service our clients.”

The announcement by the firm follows the news that it will have a record thirty lawyers identified as “leaders in field” by the Chambers Guide which is widely regarded as the most authoritative guide to the legal profession in the UK.  The Guide, which will be published later this year, is compiled after detailed research over a six month period including thousands of telephone and face-to-face meetings with clients and other law firms.

Photo: (left to right) Mike Bird, Juliette Clarke, Angela Bridges, Matthew Huddleson, Helen Wallwork.

Posted by: Martyn

Thank you for your patience!

- The Fuel Team

Drew & Co were awarded the contract to install new switchgear at the University’s Babbage Building after beating off stiff competition from a number of other electrical contractors.

“We were delighted with the feedback from the University which stated that we were selected after a rigorous process on the basis of our technical merit, quality, pricing, time for delivery and commitment to the environment,” commented Andy Botterill, Managing Director of Drew & Co.

The opportunity arose after the University had to undertake an urgent tender, and looked to those companies who had completed their Business Registration Questionnaires and were green flagged on sell2plymouth.

Sell2plymouth is a partnership between Plymouth’s public sector buyers, local business support agencies and both the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses. It offers small and medium sized companies the chance to win contracts with the city’s public sector organisations by providing a user-friendly portal and a simple, single registration process.

Jenny Bushrod, Head of Procurement at the University of Plymouth, said: “This is exactly the kind of success story that sell2plymouth was set up to provide. It demonstrates the importance of completing the Business Registration Questionnaire which enabled us to quickly select companies that had the necessary registrations in place.”

“We look forward to working with Drew & Co and would encourage more enterprising companies like them to register on the website and complete the Business Registration Questionnaire so that they stand a better chance of winning contracts in the public sector.”

Posted by: Martyn

The Chambers Guide, widely regarded as the most authoritative guide to the legal profession in the UK, is compiled after detailed research over a six month period including thousands of telephone and face-to-face meetings with clients and other law firms.

New “leaders” at the firm this year include John Pindard for Tax; Marlene Howels for Intellectual Property; plus Rob Antrobus and Mike Bird for Clinical Negligence.

Lawyers from each of Foot Anstey’s offices in Truro, Plymouth, Exeter and Taunton were singled out for recognition across a wide range of legal disciplines including Agriculture & Rural Affairs; Banking Litigation, Charities, Clinical Negligence, Construction, Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions, Defamation/Reputation Management, Defendant Personal Injury, Employment, Family/Matrimonial, Information Technology, Licensing, Planning and Real Estate.

Commenting on the news, John Westwell, Managing Partner at Foot Anstey said: “It is really pleasing to see more of our lawyers afforded ‘leader’ status following detailed research by Chambers.  That research has taken into account feedback from clients who have clearly benefited from specialist advice over the past 12 months – we look forward to recruiting and developing more high quality lawyers in the near future who can have an immediate impact in supporting clients in a tough environment.”

Posted by: Martyn

From 1 August 2010 all staff will move from the Formation Zone to our registered office at 18 Mannamead Road, Plymouth, PL4 7AA.

We have taken this decision principally to enable all staff to be based in one office and anticipate remaining at the new office for the near future.

IMPORTANT: Contact details

Our direct lines have to remain as University numbers so please contact the usual office number of 01752 210048 or 01752 825906 for assistance. Our email addresses will also change to name@fuelcommunications.com (although the old @fuel-communications.co.uk will still work). For our individual contact details, please click here.

Fuel director Martyn King explained:”Whilst we are looking forward very much to enjoying the benefits of working together in one office again we will certainly miss the Formation Zone. It is a first class facility which has underpinned our significant growth since starting up in 2008. We are however delighted to maintain a presence there and will continue to play an active role within its burgeoning community and keep our close links with the University of Plymouth.”

Eleanor Butland, Formation Zone Programme Manager, said: “Fuel was one of the first start-up businesses in Formation Zone and their pro-active attitude has made a significant contribution to this initiative at the University of Plymouth. They have been an important part of the peer-support structure and shared their time and expertise with undergraduates of the Faculty of Arts through the new Industry Liaison Panel. Helping a business take the step from Formation Zone to establish their own office is what this is all about, we’ll keep in close contact and encourage more new creative business start ups to take their place here.”

Our own success hinges on the result we deliver for our clients and fuelling business growth is at the heart of everything that we do, if you would like to talk to us about how Fuel can help your business to grow please feel free to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you!

Since rolling out our new email marketing service, we have partnered with a number of clients in successfully revamping their online marketing campaigns. By providing them with great looking email templates, full content and subscriber editing capabilities, and powerful in-depth analytic information, we have extended the reach of their online capabilities and given them control of their own campaigns.

Mark Slade of Maitlands, one of the first of our clients to pick up on the potential of this new system, has been extremely pleased with the response to their newsletter. “The newsletter design that Fuel supplied was fully tailored to our requirements, and having the ability to create and send our own newsletters has given our campaigns much more flexibility. The valuable analytic information has enabled us to adapt our newsletters, making them a more effective advertising tool.”

If you would like more from your email marketing, email us (nikos@fuelcommunications.com) or call us on 01752 210048 for more information.

Posted by: Nikos

His appointment follows thirty years of membership of which the last two years has seen Mr Hackworthy in the position of vice president. Mr Hackworthy has already visited every region in the country and will also head up various committees tasked with encouraging more members and improving quality standards.

His two-year term began with an official ceremony in Bristol at which Reg said:”I am honoured to receive this appointment. As an association we already have OFT accredited standards and look forward to working with members to further improve standards in the removals industry. “

He continued, “So far this year we have had thirty five applications to join the membership which is a good sign that companies are showing more confidence in the economy and are committed to having quality standards in place for customers.”

Mr Hackworthy entered the removals business in 1973 and established Hackworthy & Sons. The family run business expanded into self storage in 2000 by starting up Plymouth Self Storage which now has sites at Cattedown and Plympton. The company recently expanded its removals service into Cornwall with the purchase of St Austell based S.P. Cocks.

Posted by: Steve