Launch of the City Jobs & Skills Shop in May 2012 a multi agency initiative comprising City College, DWP and BHCC. The shop provides a physical route for residents and employers to take up and find out more about job opportunities and apprenticeships.
The creation and development of the jobs, careers, information advice & guidance website, brightonandhovejobs.com - A portal which also facilitates access to apprenticeships across the city
The launch of the Apprenticeship Training Agency (ATA) by City College, providing an easy route for small employers to offer an apprenticeship without the risk of direct employment.
Successful ‘Brighton Your Future’ event in April 2013 attended by over 1,000 people and providing 16 – 24 yr olds with 570 opportunities for internships, apprenticeships, work experience and volunteering linked to local businesses and organisations in Brighton & Hove
Employment & Training Agreements signed by developers in the New England Quarter, the Open Market, Park House and the KEEP. Developers on these sites agreed to provide jobs, training and work experience places by working with the Brighton & Hove Local Employment Scheme (BHLES). These commitments resulted in 61 jobs, 10 apprenticeships and 30 work experience placements for residents in 2012.
European Union Funds secured via Interreg to deliver construction taster courses for unemployed people. The Building Futures project (BUFU) resulted in 464 Brighton & Hove residents attending Information, Advice & Guidance (IAG) sessions; 260 participating in construction taster sessions; 184 gaining NOCN Level 1 qualification in Construction Skills, 165 gaining a Construction Skills Certificate Scheme (CSCS) card to access site work; 73 taking up work placements; and, 65 jobs secured.
Albion in the Community – Want to Work Programme a week long, private sector led course for unemployed16-24 year olds interested in working in the construction industry. The week long course was designed to give course attendees a taste of each part of the construction industry. The course took place at the AMEX Stadium and the project was supported by private sector partners and co-ordinated by Centurion, Albion in the Community (AITC) and City College (CCBH).
Circa £3million secured by the University of Brighton in support of the environmental industries. The Green Growth Platform (GGP) will provide help to ensure that Low Carbon Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS) sectors achieve and exceed the high growth rates predicted for the sector. The 5 year programme will focus on SMEs with strong growth potential, working with 1,000 SMEs, creating 250 new jobs and supporting 100 innovation / R&D projects leading to the development of 25 new or enhanced products or services.
Launch of the Brighton & Hove Living Wage Campaign to encourage local businesses to voluntarily pay all employees at least £7.45 per hr. Set independently and updated annually the Living Wage is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK and is the amount that allows a person to live, rather than just survive. Eleven charities and 13 digital firms are among over 100 businesses signed up to the scheme
Launch of the Brighton for Business inward investment website (www.brightonforbusiness.co.uk) which showcases the city as an attractive places for business start-up, business re-location and Foreign Direct Investment.
Circa £90,000 secured in support of London Road via a successful bid to become a Portas Pilot area. The fund will help to promote the London Road retail and entertainment offer and attract new shoppers to the area
Launch of the SE Assist pilot by Legal & General and CAF Venturesome in support of social enterprises. The scheme for fledgling social enterprises offers interest free loans of up to £10,000 as well as mentoring from Legal & General staff and up to £5,000 worth of expert consultancy. The Chair of the City Employment & Skills Steering Group sits of the Board of the pilot project. The programme encourages other local companies, both large-scale corporates and smaller SMEs, to invest time and additional money to support this important sector of the economy.
The £3m of LEP funding secured to help make up the shortfall that is stalling the i360 scheme on Brighton seafront. The £35m i360 consists of a single storey glass heritage centre built on the site of the West Pier and a 172 metre viewing platform. The loan will be repaid with interest at commercial rates from the income generated by the attraction when it starts to operate. BHCC has also contributed £14million to the scheme which will host up to to eight hundred thousand visitors per annum and is expected to generate an operating profit of approximately £6.7m per annum and about £5m in additional spending for the local economy together with 154 jobs [fte] directly and up to 444 indirectly.
The KEEP is a £19m project that will provide a new purpose-built facility bringing together the combined archives and historical resource collections of East Sussex and Brighton & Hove, and the special collections of the University of Sussex, including the Mass Observation Archive. This new state-of-the-art historical resource centre will be a vibrant community resource opening up access to the partners’ collections in a one-stop shop for all aspects of the historic environment, and will enable people to research their local and family history.
Completion of the Open Market development in London Road which is a new covered market with 44 permanent market stalls surrounding a central market square for temporary stalls, visiting markets and a variety of activities. It comprises 12 workshops, 87 affordable housing units, approximately 80 FTE construction jobs and 120 jobs in the new market, along with new opportunities for small business start ups. The Venue will promote local food produce and local producers.
Circa £3 million secured from central government for ultra-fast broadband infrastructure offering speeds of 80-100 megabits/second in the city’s business district. The investment will add value to the important and fast-growing Creative, Digital and IT [CDIT] sector and also roll out wireless provision across about one fifth of the city. About 23,600 jobs in the city are thought to rely on the industry, which represents about 18% of the local economy.
New website in support of artists and creative practitioners launched to ensure that artists and creative practitioners have the most up-to-date information on resources and activities that will help them to engage, develop contacts and collaborate. The new website, replete with resources for cultural organizations’ and artists can be viewed at: http://www.acicommission.org.uk
In June 2012 Brighton & Hove hosted the city’s first Eco-Technology show at the AMEX community stadium in Falmer. Over the two days the show was attended by105 exhibitors, 3,030 public visitors and 820 trade visitors. A wide range of exhibitors from a variety of sectors attended, highlighting the diversity of the city’s environmental industries offer. As a showcase for the city, the event was a success. It was attended by members of local and national government and generated the equivalent of £450,000 in marketing value in over 100 trade and consumer press articles.
Ride the Wave 2, the Council funded business support programme saw over 600 entrepreneurs benefit from attendance at workshops designed to build business resilience and foster business growth. The workshops included sessions on business start-up, social enterprise, and export along with sector specific workshops for SME’s.