ANNUAL REVIEW

Transcription

1 ANNUAL REVIEW YEAR 3 ESSENTIAL EDINBURGH

2 2 3 What is Essential Edinburgh? Essential Edinburgh is Edinburgh s first and Scotland s largest Business Improvement District. Formed on 1st July 2008 Essential Edinburgh delivers projects and services based on the business plan agreed at ballot in A Business Improvement District (BID) is a defined geographical area of a town, city or commercial district, where businesses have voted to invest collectively in local improvements in addition to those delivered by statutory authorities. A BID is not a substitute for central or local government investment, but an additional investment to strengthen the local economy and give local businesses a unified voice, helping to provide an arena for businesses and local authorities to increase their understanding of each others priorities. All eligible businesses (those with rateable values of 25,000 or more) in the BID area pay a set levy of 1% of their rateable value. This money is used to pay for the services and improvements that the BID provides. A BID is also a mechanism for attracting funding from other sources, such as public sector bodies, depending on the projects involved, or private sponsorship. The Essential Edinburgh BID has a fixed term of five years and the re-ballot is due by June All eligible businesses will be consulted prior to the re-ballot to establish the priorities for the businesses plan for the second term of the BID. Area Promotion Safe & Secure Accessibility Clean & Attractive Facilitation Who are Essential Edinburgh? The Board of Directors Denzil Skinner, Chair Vinnie O Brien, Standard Life Investments Greg Ward, City of Edinburgh Council Gordon Drummond, Harvey Nichols Ron Hewitt, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Kevin Havelock, Royal Bank of Scotland Iain Livingstone, Lothian & Borders Police Barry Matheson, The John Lewis Partnership Christopher Wayne Wills, Macdonald Hotels & Resorts Ivan Artolli, The Balmoral Hotel Rochelle Burgess, St James Shopping and Multrees Walk The Team: Andy Neal, Chief Executive Shona Davidson, Head of Corporate Services (P/T) Emily Johnston, Marketing & Communications Co-ordinator Brian McAteer, Events Co-ordinator Richard Darke, Projects Co-ordinator Grant Roberts, Market & Events Assistant Carolyn Smith, PA to Chief Executive (P/T) Lisa Ross, Administration Assistant (Finance) (P/T) Gillian James, Marketing Assistant (P/T) Cassandra Ritchie, BID Liaison Officer Grant Stewart, BID Liaison Officer Joe Huckle, Exchange Warden John Devlin, Exchange Warden

3 4 5 Introduction By Denzil Skinner, Chair In the past year Essential Edinburgh has undergone significant change. A restructuring designed to reduce administrative costs and free up greater resources to spend on services and projects to benefit the 600 levy-paying businesses we represent has been successfully completed. The process to streamline the management of the business has borne some fruit in the current year, but the full impact will be felt over the next two years when operating costs will be well within the National BID Guidelines ratio of 20%. This will provide very significant additional monies to be available for even more promotional activities within the City Centre, and to build on our successful services such as the Clean Team and the innovative anti-crime programme Check Out, for the benefit of our levy payers. Despite the restructuring work, and the pressure this inevitably put on the team at Essential Edinburgh, a huge amount has been achieved during the past year, and it has been achieved on budget - my thanks go to our loyal and committed staff. During the year, we have delivered on all our key projects in the four focused areas of Safe & Secure, Clean & Attractive, Accessibility and Area Promotion. We continue to work in partnership with others, such as Marketing Edinburgh, to ensure our levy-payers see maximum value leveraged from their contributions. At the end of the year, we also saw Andy Neal appointed as Chief Executive and the Board is delighted to have welcomed Andy to the organisation. With the new Chief Executive and a move to new offices on George Street I am very confident that the good work done thus far by Essential Edinburgh will gain new momentum to deliver even more to our Levy Payers. The activities planned for year four of the BID include the Capital Project to redevelop and enhance Rose Street, new George Street festive lights and a comprehensive procurement programme for waste management which are in addition to the original Business Plan. I would like to thank the Board of Directors for the support and time they have given to provide strategic direction to ensure that Essential Edinburgh continues to deliver for our Levy Payers over the next two years. Essential Edinburgh would also like to ensure we are as transparent as possible with the governance and management of the organisation. As such, the budget for is included within the financial pages of this Annual Review, and will also shortly be available along with the Essential Edinburgh Governance Procedure and Operations Plan on our website:

4 6 7 Welcome By Andy Neal, Chief Executive The past year has been a busy one for Essential Edinburgh, with the delivery of our key services to keep the city centre clean and safe and a programme of events designed to drive footfall. All the key projects that were planned were delivered or initiated throughout the year. One of our major roles is in promoting the area. Essential Edinburgh continued to be a major supporter and contributor to the work of Marketing Edinburgh, our 83,000 support helping leverage big campaigns such as Edinburgh Sparkles. Regular events also help drive footfall, and key event highlights included: The 2-day Spa in the City, funded by Essential Edinburgh, which has met with great favour with city centre businesses and visitors with 80% of attendees coming specifically into the area for the event and 73% of those going on to shop/eat/drink The inaugural Under the Stars outdoor cinema event, run in conjunction with Edinburgh International Film Festival at St Andrew Square Garden during the summer Successful markets and events in Castle Street The Christmas Lights switch-on Essential Edinburgh BID footfall increased by 2.0% compared to the previous year out performing the UK average of -0.9%. We also strive to help keep our city centre Safe & Secure and we are delighted at the continued success of the Check Out programme to combat retail crime, thus saving money for our levy payers in reduced shrinkage costs. Membership continued to rise and retail crime continued to fall. We were instrumental in the launch of the Check In website, designed to help combat hotel crime. We continue to fund 2 CCTV cameras and Transport Marshalls in George Street. During the year, we also re-launched the Childsafe scheme. A record 83% of crimes in the city centre were solved facilitated by the Checkout scheme that Essential Edinburgh supports. Our Clean Teams continued their sterling work in keeping the city centre Clean & Attractive, removing chewing gum from 4,740 square meters of pavements and removing 588 instances of Environmental Waste, highlighting the efforts they make over and above the work of the city council s cleansing department. 83% of companies who responded to a survey in St Andrew Square scored Essential Edinburgh good or excellent for cleaning and maintenance. Our role as a facilitator for our levy-payers has never been clearer. The ongoing concerns and debate around the Edinburgh Trams project saw the city centre s businesses drawn together under joint leadership of Essential Edinburgh and Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, to speak with one voice to ensure your views were and continue to be recognised and acted upon. In addition to representing business regarding trams, the team have worked on producing a map highlighting the car parking options around the BID area and walk time to the key streets to avoid frustration for visitors to the city centre not being able to find parking close by. Finally, all that we did achieve has to be set against an internal restructure, designed to reduce the burden of management costs and free up more resources to invest in services and events. On joining the team this year, I was fortunate to be able to build on the work carried out by my predecessors in the role and in particular the work carried out by Liz McAreavey, who served as interim Chief Executive for six months prior to my arrival and provided strong and dynamic leadership at a vital time for the organisation.

5 8 9 Area Promotion The past year has been a busy one for Essential Edinburgh, with the delivery of a programme of events designed to drive footfall. All the key, planned projects were delivered or initiated throughout the year. Measuring footfall is key to determining the impact of the work carried out by Essential Edinburgh. City centre footfall for July 2010 to June 2011 increased by 2.0%, considerably higher than the UK average of -0.9% compared to the same period in 2009/10. This strong footfall achievement was driven by successful marketing (from Visit Scotland and DEMA). Essential Edinburgh was a major contributor to DEMA with 83,000 invested in Edinburgh Sparkles and This is my Edinburgh. Essential Edinburgh also ran several successful and high profile events which brought people into the area, including Spa in the City and Under the Stars. The Essential Privilege Card The Card is available free of charge to those who work in the Business Improvement District, and has seen take-up increase by 28%. The card s purpose is two fold; for BID companies to maximise their business from the captive audience of people who work within the BID area as an incentive for BID employees to spend where they earn; and to provide an additional, exclusive benefit for employers to pass on to their staff who work within the BID area. The Privilege card has been a great success so far but Essential Edinburgh wants to utilise this idea further and commissioned in June 2011 the development of a new smart phone app. There will also be a new website for those without a smartphone to use. TOURING MARKETS Essential Edinburgh hosts very popular touring markets within Castle Street in the BID area. These range from French, Italian to more mixed Continental markets. POETRY GARDEN St Andrew Square designation as a Poetry Garden was further enhanced by the planting of The Poetry Tree, donated by the Royal Botanic Garden of Scotland, at a special event attended by the Deputy Consul General of Japan. We hope to hold an annual poetry event involving the tree each year. TREASURE HUNT The Easter Treasure Hunt continued to attract families to the city centre to enjoy a quiz-based adventure which took them to all parts of the BID area. UNDER THE STARS Free outdoor cinema screenings, organised in collaboration with Edinburgh International Film Festival, encouraged people to visit the city centre to experience classic films on a giant screen in the picturesque setting of St Andrew Square over a packed four-day period. Essential Edinburgh ensured the BID area got its share of the Edinburgh International Film Festival visitors. Good crowds attended, despite occasionally inclement weather, and the big screen was used to promote city centre businesses between film screenings.

6 10 11 Fantastic event, we will be back next year if it goes ahead. - Under the Stars Only came to the city centre for this event, loved it, thank you - Under the Stars SPA IN THE CITY This two-day health and beauty event was bigger and better than ever this year with 80% of attendees coming specifically into the area for the event and 73% of those going on to shop/eat/drink. The involvement and bounce back to levy payers business through vouchers and offers has led to this being a much appreciated event. Essential Edinburgh offered city retailers the chance to showcase a selection of their best offerings as well as bringing more people into the city centre. Although the event focused on St Andrew Square, with a wide range of therapies, treatments, taster sessions and sampling opportunities offered within the Garden a number of in-store events also took place across the BID area as part of Spa in the City. We feel the benefit is long term - potential new customers have now been introduced to our brand products. Great idea and we will gladly take part again. - Crabtree & Evelyn, Spa in the City MEDIA CAMPAIGNS Essential Edinburgh made a substantial financial contribution to Marketing Edinburgh to help fund promotion of the city centre through the This is My Edinburgh and the acclaimed Edinburgh Sparkles campaigns. Findings from the Edinburgh Sparkles evaluation showed that 87% of Edinburgh residents had heard of Edinburgh Sparkles and it created at least 172,175,055 Opportunities to See. The campaign promoted the city s leisure retail offer through media trips, UK-wide promotions, advertorial. Media coverage generated relating to Edinburgh was worth 756,751, focused on UK quality publications in Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) terms and 1.9m in PR terms. This represented an excellent return on Levy Payers investment. FESTIVAL FRINGE GUIDE Essential Edinburgh also helped sponsor the Assembly Festival Fringe guide, allowing city centre businesses to promote their businesses through the Fringe s key publication. PROJECT START In September 2010 Essential Edinburgh organised a three day festival in St Andrew Square Garden. The aim of Project Start was to promote the BID through the national launch of Start, an initiative, established by HRH The Prince of Wales, to promote and celebrate sustainable living. There were 5,000 people who attended the event over the 3 days. ROSE STREET FESTIVAL On an inclement Sunday at the beginning of July 2010 Essential Edinburgh organised a festival in Rose Street to celebrate Dance, Music and Street Theatre. Thousands gathered on Rose Street to take in the 54 exciting acts from around Britain. Although we had done shopping in Rose Street in the past, it s not an area I would normally come to, the event made me realise the great shopping in Rose Street and the kids loved the food, we had a great lunch while we watched people having fun.

7 12 13 Facilitation The Essential Edinburgh team represented many businesses on planning or other issues with The City of Edinburgh Council and kept levy payers informed of all road works and planned activities in the BID area. As well as providing this supportive and informative role, Essential Edinburgh has represented levy payers on many forums building the future strategies for the city including Economic Development and Tourism. This will ensure the issues that effect BID businesses are considered in the context of future growth. TRAMS Essential Edinburgh took a lead role in bringing together city centre businesses concerned about the issues raised by Edinburgh s ongoing tram works. Essential Edinburgh chaired the trams group, and with Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce represented the views of businesses in consultations with City of Edinburgh Council. This succeeded in two major areas securing additional funds for city centre promotion; and in securing a cessation of the work for the vital Festive trading period. ROSE STREET Essential Edinburgh commissioned work by the Princes Trust for the Built Environment which is helping to shape the future of the area in consultation with the businesses and owners in the street. STREET LIAISON OFFICERS In order to provide a more personalised service for levy payers the Ambassadors were replaced by two Liaison Officers, who have started to work more closely with individual businesses to better understand their needs, identify issues that can be addressed and find effective solutions. ESSENTIAL TRENDS The regular bulletin contains vital intelligence to help business planning for those operating in the BID area. Figures and analysis include footfall, the CACI Report providing market intelligence, parking figures, retail sales figures and also specific projects such as the Edinburgh Shopper Survey or an examination of the impact of the Festivals on city centre trading. Accessibility Essential Edinburgh was instrumental in setting up the Tram Business Forum, acting as spokesman alongside the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce to make sure the views of businesses across Edinburgh were heard. In addition to representing business regarding trams, the team have worked on producing a map highlighting the car parking options around the BID area and walk time to the key streets. Essential Edinburgh strives to improve all aspects of the BID area. We have a number of initiatives which attempt to improve footfall and help generate more business for all enterprises within the district. Access plays an important role in this. SIGNAGE Essential Edinburgh worked in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council to improve the use of the 7 vertical signs along Rose Street. Coinciding with the removal of A-Boards along this historic street, these signs are now used for way finding and list every business along the street to make life easier for shoppers and visitors. These signs are regularly cleaned by the Essential Clean Team and the vinyl covering is replaced every six months. PARKING Essential Edinburgh began work during the year to create a map for shoppers and visitors to the city centre, which identifies parking areas in and around the city centre and walk-times into the BID area. The map, created in partnership with Marketing Edinburgh also provides additional helpful information about shops and leisure facilities in the BID area and is available in hard copy and as a download.

8 14 15 Clean & Attractive Of the companies who responded to a survey in St Andrew Square 83% scored Essential Edinburgh good or excellent for cleaning and maintenance. As well as keeping St Andrew Square Garden a jewel in Edinburgh s crown, the Clean Team have continued to do an excellent job keeping the doorways, shop fronts and basements clean and tidy. CLEAN TEAM Our green-uniformed Essential Clean Team is out in all weathers and at all times, carrying out tasks to deliver a key objective identified by our 600 levy-payers delivering a cleaner, more attractive city centre. This activity is carried out in addition to the agreed and benchmarked services carried out by the City of Edinburgh Council, and the partnership approach continues to pay dividends. Working in teams of 4 from hours, 7 days a week, the clean team Remove litter from private land that is accessible to the public. Co-ordinate deep cleaning and chewing gum removal and also look to removing graffiti and fly-posting in the area. And their efforts are bearing fruit, with a cleaner, tidier city centre. Here are a couple of examples of the work: Our team members are picking up almost 200,000 cigarette ends every month. Chewing gum was removed from 4740 square metres of our pavements by our teams during the year. FLOWER-POWER Essential Edinburgh initiated hanging baskets to brighten the environment in St Andrew Square and also in Rose Street. In addition, very substantial planters were used to decorate George Street. ST ANDREW SQUARE St Andrew Square Garden continues to provide a focal point. Essential Edinburgh manages and maintains the garden, and a recent survey of businesses fronting onto the Square recorded a 83% Excellent or Very Good rating for the quality and cleanliness of the Garden.

9 16 17 Safe & Secure Keeping the city centre safe and secure, for those who run enterprises and for their customers, is another key objective for Essential Edinburgh. Significant progress continues to be made in this regard. A record 83% of crimes in the city centre were solved supported by the Check Out scheme that Essential Edinburgh facilitates. As well as supporting retailers with Check Out, Essential Edinburgh continues to fund additional CCTV cameras, and Taxi Marshalls on George Street to keep visitors and those who work in the district safe. CHECK OUT Launched by Essential Edinburgh and Lothian and Borders Police, Check Out has exceeded all expectations in delivering results aimed at tackling organised criminals, including shoplifting gangs. More than 150 retailers based in the city centre have signed up to the project, which uses technologies to share real-time information amongst the retailers. Poster campaigns are also aimed at deterring would-be thieves. Figures show a 20% drop in the amount of retail crime in the city centre Business Improvement District, and with a solution rate running at around 83% the area is enjoying one of the highest solvency rates anywhere in the UK. CHECK IN Essential Edinburgh also backed an innovative coalition in working to tackle hotel crime in the Capital by helping fund it s website. The Check In group is a partnership between hotels and the police designed to tackle all types of hotel crime in Edinburgh - creating a safe and secure environment for the residents, staff and visitors within the hotels. Several of the 60 active member hotels are from the BID area. CCTV Essential Edinburgh continues to help create a safer environment for people enjoying the BID s fabulous night-time economy through financing 2 CCTV cameras. Between September 2010 and June 2011 there were 85 incidents recorded from the two CCTV cameras installed and paid for by Essential Edinburgh, twenty three arrests were made and thirty warnings issued. September 2010 saw the most arrests with eight being made, November & December 2010 were the quietest months recorded with only nine incidents, no arrests or warnings. Eleven Arrests were made between January 2011 and March Most of the incidents recorded were fighting or aggressive behaviour TRANSPORT MARSHALLS Two Transport Marshalls are funded by Essential Edinburgh to operate at a Taxi stance on George Street. The Transport Marshals are linked by radio with CCTV and Lothian and Borders Police. Their aim is to help the public get home as quickly and safely as possible using suitable public transport. CHILDSAFE During the year, Essential Edinburgh relaunched the Childsafe scheme. This helped to expand the initiative which aims to help to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. To date it has helped to reunite dozens of lost children with their worried parents.

10 18 19 Accounts 1st July th June 2011 Budget 1st July th June 2012 * Edinburgh Farmers Market and Exchange District Contract * Edinburgh Farmers Market and Exchange District Contract

11 Until 1st December 2011 To contact Essential Edinburgh: 1 New Parliament House, 5 Regent Road, Edinburgh EH7 5BL t: +44 (0) e: info@essentialedinburgh.co.uk Essential Edinburgh Ltd. From 2nd December 2011 To contact Essential Edinburgh: 139 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4JY t: +44 (0) e: info@essentialedinburgh.co.uk