Binorth140716 final

Going with the fl owProfi le: Tidal gateways champion George AggidisPages 4-5

Forum: Forand against

Top MBAchoices

Pages 2-3

Pages 7-16

Business Insight

Wednesday July 16 2014

THETIDALPOWERPLAN

Wednesday July 16 2014 | the times

Business Insight2

Inside Driver of the power planProfi le of Dr George AggidisPages 4-5

The MBA key to successWhy the Main man is a believerPage 7For a fair degree of fl exibilitySalford MBA director speaks outPage 10The Times Business Insight reaches more senior business people in the North of England than any other quality newspaper. Indeed, with 184,000 readers* and reaching almost 20 per cent of the all c-suite executives**, there is no better place to be seen.*Source NRS July 2011 - June 2012 **Source BBS 2011

To advertise in the next North of England edition of Business Insight:Freephone 0800 027 0403or contact: [email protected]

Welcome

Barrage of opinionsTidal gateways along the North West coast are back, front and centre on our editorial agenda – a refl ection of their growing importance in terms of renewable energy, not only to keep the lights on but also to combat global warming.

The specially convened Forum from The Times on the subject covered in these pages attracted some of the biggest names in the tidal power sector, arguing both for and against to present their respective cases. The Forum also provided an opportunity for the environmental lobby, in the form of the RSPB, to put forward its concerns for the fi rst time in the pages of The Times North – concerns that this latest proposal would involve building gateways across estuaries which provide a habitat for some of the most important bird species.

There was also a breakthrough for the pro-gateways camp, in that a representative of Peel Energy chose the Forum to announce the company’s intention to revisit its Mersey Tidal Power Scheme, which it effectively mothballed in 2011.

Now that the issue has been fully aired, it is a question of reaching a compromise between the opposing camps, then achieving the political will needed to pursue tidal gateways for the benefi t not only of the people in the North of England but also throughout the entire UK.

The growing importance of MBA (Master of Business Administration) courses offered by Northern universities is also fl agged up in this issue, with one former professional cricketer explaining why an Executive MBA course is opening up a new career for him after he walked back to the pavilion for the last time.

Then there is the head of the Association of MBAs – which accredits the top 2 per cent of business schools in the world – revealing the increasing importance of an MBA in terms of a career in what is now truly a global jobs marketplace.

All-in-all, it is a varied and good read.

ForumForum

Engineers, developersand RSPB leadersseek way forwardto accommodate all,writes Mike Cowley

While the story of King Canute commanding the tide to stay out, only to then get his feet wet, is al-most certainly apocryphal

(although based on a Viking who did in fact conquer England), it still has certain resonances to this day.

For tidal power is moving inexorably up the agenda in most developed coun-tries – at least those which have suitable coastlines – given the increasing need to switch to renewable energy not only to save the world for future generations but also to help keep our lights on in the relative short-term. And hydro power, of which tidal power is a major part, already accounts for 80 per cent of all the renew-able energy, little though it is, generated globally.

International conferences on tidal gateways – barriers with built-in turbines erected across estuaries to generate elec-tricity – are increasingly attracting atten-tion from the renewables lobby as the re-alisation dawns that here is a permanent and signifi cant free energy source with tried, tested and trouble-free technology available to make it work.

Tides always go out and come in – as Canute found when he had to change his eleventh-century socks – so stack this up against windfarms during the times when the wind doesn’t blow, and against solar energy when the sun doesn’t shine, and the benefi ts become glaringly obvious.

The difference, though – and the factor that has somewhat shackled tidal gate-ways up to now – is that they are essen-tially long-term projects, whereas wind and solar at least seem to offer the short-term answers beloved of politicians.

In countries where renewables tick all the relevant political boxes, however, sea power has started the long climb to reach the plateau of acceptability. That is why the French, for example, are taking a long hard look at reducing their exposure to

nuclear to around 50 per cent (it currently runs at 85 per cent), with much of the shortfall to come from tidal.

After all, the French kick-started tidal gateways with the fi rst project of the type at La Rance in Brittany 50 years ago, and this has generated signifi cant supplies of trouble-free electricity ever since. The only surprise is that they hadn’t done it before – but that’s the French for you.

Now the South Koreans have picked up the tidal gateways baton and currently have the world’s largest scheme at Sihwa Lake. Opened three years ago, it has a power capacity of 254MW (megawatts), just surpassing the 240MW capacity of La Rance.

But despite all the global interest, the country which has the optimum coast-line to produce tidal energy – the UK – does not have any tidal gateways and still awaits Government support for several projects which have been in the pipeline for almost a decade.

This is why a specially convened Forum from The Times on tidal gateways attract-ed some of the most infl uential players in the sector when it was held last week dur-ing the International Festival for Business (IFB) in Liverpool.

The panel line-up was a Who’s Who of tidal energy expertise in the UK: John Epps, representing the global developer behind the South Korean project; Peter Nears of the Peel Group, the company still hoping to develop a tidal gateway in the Mersey Estuary; Dr George Aggidis, one of the world’s leading experts on the hydro power generated by tidal gateways; Alan Torevell, the inspiration behind the latest initiative to run a string of gateways along the English North West coast; Dr David Howard of the National Environment Re-search Council (NERC); and Tim Melling, senior conservation offi cer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

It was Tim Melling who understand-ably found himself centre-stage in the dis-cussion, as birds topped the contentious part of the agenda given that the natural habitat of the species the RSPB wants to protect can be found in the very estuaries proposed for gateways.

With Mr Melling as their advocate, it had all the plot ingredients for a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, although with the winged creatures in this case por-

trayed as the potential victims while the tidal gateways perched menacingly atop telephone lines.

Called in to blow the whistle in case of any biting by the opposing players was Alasdair Nimmo, publisher of The Times North. And under his guidance it did turn out to be a game of two halves, with the engineers and developers arguably leading at half-time before the bird lobby came back strongly in the second period.

The event even attracted a small but vociferous crowd which included repre-sentatives of the nuclear industry: An-thony Hatton, development director for Peel Energy and Geoffrey Piper of the North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT).

The fi rst period was a relatively gentle affair, with the developers’ camp easily ex-plaining why they hoped the latest initia-tive on tidal gateways would score where the previous ones had more or less drawn a blank. Dr Aggidis (see pages 4-5) ran with this particular ball, explaining that earlier proposals had failed to gain the necessary traction because they had been set up as individual projects.

And it was Dr Aggidis who had tackled this problem by becoming the fi rst chair of the North West Tidal Alliance, an um-brella group formed for all the projects. “At some point,” he recalled, “it was de-cided that everybody had similar prob-lems, so there was a need to move forward together. And that’s when we started to look at projects in a holistic way. Then the RSPB came along, as did anyone who has anything to say.”

With fi nancial backing from the North-west Regional Development Agency, the new group was making collective headway before the Government wound up all the development agencies, essentially cutting off the funding and leaving the gateway projects in limbo.

Mustshores bestrictly forthe birds?

THETIDALPOWERPLAN

THETIDALPOWERPLAN

THETIDALPOWERPLAN

Business Insightthe times | Wednesday July 16 2014 3

The great thing about tidal is that you can see what will happen in 120 years and it’s free energy

Alan Torevell (NWBLT) points out the benefits of tidal gateways along the North West coast to other members of The Times Forum using the giant model of the region on display at the IFB. Left to right are Dr George Aggidis, Lancaster University; John Epps, Andritz Hydro; Dr David Howard, National Environment Research Council;Peter Nears, The Peel Group; Alan Torevell; Tim Melling, RSPB; and Alasdair Nimmo, The Times

There were still high hopes that the Mersey Estuary project would make it, as it involved the influential Peel Group, but even they ran into a brick wall (after spending £3 million on research) as they felt that the market was “too short-term” in 2011 to attract the necessary investment.

Tidal gateways slipped into a backwater for a time until Alan Torevell (see page 6) and the NWBLT resurrected them as part of a report on how the North West could sustain itself in terms of food, water and power. The publicity around the decision to build a giant model of the North West proved to be enough to revive interest in gateways, and showcasing it at the IFB was a masterstroke.

“This enabled us to show that the whole of the North West coast can be used not just to generate power but for flood control, improved roads, thousands more jobs,” Mr Torevell said. “This is a long-term programme to increase general wealth of the area, with all the social ben-efits this will bring.”

Then there was the question of im-proved timing for the new project in the wake of the Government’s announcement of renewable energy targets, the claim be-ing that these could not be met without tidal gateways. “The main thing is that the energy gap issue has not been solved,” said Peel’s Peter Nears. “We believe that tidal has great potential to be part of the mix to provide the answer.

“The great thing about tidal is that you can work out what will happen in 120 years’ time and it is energy for free. What we have now is an energy market which is very short-term in outlook. If we actually took a long-term outlook, and planned these schemes, then they suddenly become viable. If you were trying to build HS2 in a 20-year timeframe, people wouldn’t have looked at it. So there is a need to be look-ing at tidal long-term as well.”

Next on the agenda, the panel was asked to consider whether the new project was technically viable. Naturally, the engi-neers had a field day with this one as the basic technology has been around since the time when watermills came into play, and there is very little difference between the ones used in the latest tidal gateway in South Korea and what was installed and still remains at La Rance today. Time and again the Forum panel heard the phrase “tried and trusted”.

Then the panel was asked whether, in this time of austerity, tidal gateways made economic sense. Alan Torevell stepped up on this one, having already discussed it in detail with the leading pensions and insurance companies he comes into con-tact with in his day job. As a result, he believes it does make sense because of the potential financial return on offer for electricity – once the Government gives it a green light, so providing confidence for investors.

But getting that green light is very much dependent on the environmental lobby in general and the powerful RSPB in particular – and this all boils down to whether the RSPB feels it needs to make the case that the estuaries should be kept strictly for the birds.

Tim Melling laid the RSPB’s cards firmly on the Forum table. “Many of the estuar-ies you propose to cross with barrages are among the most important wildlife sites in Britain,” he said.” You have five of the top ten wildlife sites in Britain.

“What these barrages will do is to im-pede the flow, so reducing the area of mudflats which birds are there to feed on – so the birds will be struggling. And these sites are among the most protected in Europe.”

He agreed, however, that this did not make them “sacrosanct”, as one caveat that runs along with the protection issue

is that any development of tidal gateways would need to provide a level of rehoming for the birds.

“If it was just to have a minor impact, you could do a little managed realign-ment,” Mr Melling said, “but to do it on this scale, you would have to create a new inter-tidal habitat. I’m not saying this is insurmountable, but it is one hell of a hur-dle.”

The fact that the man from the RSPB did not take a hard-and-fast line over the absolute right of birds ahead of any devel-opment left the door open – if only slightly ajar – and went some way to appease the developers, including Alan Torevell who had questioned the fairness of the power vested in the environmental lobby and called for the need for a balanced ap-proach.

“There should be no absolute right when it comes to birds before people,” he said. “Too often, the balance has been wrong in the past and we certainly don’t want to see it go that way in this case.”

The RSPB position understandably re-ceived the partial backing of Dr David Howard of NERC, but his contribution was not so bleak in outlook. He suggested that no one knew for certain just what would happen to the habitat of protected birds in the future (due to the sea level ris-ing through global warming), regardless of whether any gateways were built.

Instead, Dr Howard took the pragmatic approach, and suggested he would “like to see a smaller tidal barrage in place some-where”, so that it could be monitored prop-erly. “The trouble is that up to now what people have been stating as fact is simply conjecture,” he said. “La Rance looks great, but no one really knows as no one looked beforehand, so it is just a guess.

“The point I am making is we can’t pre-dict with any certainty what will happen unless we go ahead with one. I would like to see a small development, which is the only way we will get the answers.”

On hearing this, Dr Aggidis said that once his team at Lancaster University had all the data to hand, there was no reason why they should not be able to adapt the technology to satisfy all parties – including the RSPB.

One surprise announcement which came out of the Forum was that the NWBLT initiative has “prompted” Peel to go back and take a further look at its Mer-sey Estuary project, and they are hoping for a public-private partnership led by the Government to assess it in more detail.

“To achieve that,” Alan Torevell said, “we have achieved the whole purpose of building the model in the first place.” So the result of The Times Forum match, if not quite in the Germany versus Brazil league, was probably three-one in favour of the progressive thinkers against the birds.

It’s time for action, says world expert

John Epps was the only member of The Times Forum panel who could say his company has “been there and done that” in terms of tidal

gateways. He is an energy consult-ant for Austrian-based Andritz Hydro GmbH, the global operation responsible for the construction of the latest and largest tidal gateway at Sihwa Lake, South Korea.

And Mr Epps left his fellow panelists in no doubt as to what he felt in regard to the need for tidal gateways not just in the North West but around the entire British coast-line. Unless action is taken now, he said, the UK will be facing “disas-ter”, not only in terms of meeting its renewable targets but also in combating the effects of climate change, including the increased risk of flooding as the sea level rises.

Flood control, he believes, will become one of the main drivers of tidal gateways in the UK, with the level of seawater likely to continue to increase. “We can’t look backwards, the change is going on now,” he said. “We have to learn to be visionaries like Alan [Torevell] is, as the changes are going to be enormous.

“The worst possible future sce-nario is for someone to come along and say we should have done this 20 years ago. We cannot allow that, otherwise it will be a disaster.”

Mr Epps also confronted head-on the key argument used by the environmental lobby – that of the

ecological damage caused in the Netherlands by the erection of flood barriers. “That was an emergency response when more than 50,000 homes were in danger of being under water,” he said, “and not a carefully thought-through and planned approach as used in a tidal gateway project.”

The energy consultant also believes that not enough emphasis has been put on the predictability of tidal technology. “The changes to the grid system are enormous,” he said. “We are putting wind and solar on to it in vast numbers.

“Yet we know that wind some-times doesn’t work and the sun goes out – and that’s a great threat to grid control stability. This project will give us predictable energy when we want it, so this is a big opportunity we must grasp.”

John Epps also recognises the need to keep the environmental lobby onside. “Along with all the other large companies in our field, we are very involved with the environment,” he said. “Before any major project goes ahead we have to make commitments – just as the RSPB is talking about here.

“We really need to have an input globally in order to recognise and see what we can do to minimise the problems. But don’t forget we are talking about 20 years’ time, and a lot can happen over that period. It’s an enormous learning curve we are all on. What we can’t afford to do is not to continue along it.”


Business Insight4

Profile

The engineering skillsand refined research of George Aggidis aredriving the plan to runtidal gateways alongthe North West coast,writes Mike Cowley

Dr George Aggidis, the Greek-born engineer and academic now living in Kendal, finds himself following in the foot-steps of two of his most fa-

mous countrymen: the philosopher Aristotle and the world explorer and geographer Pytheas.

Aristotle was the first person to con-sider the impact of tides when he took his students from Athens on a somewhat long field trip – it lasted four years – to the seashore near Marathon around 350 BC and wrote down his findings for posterity.

Just a few decades later, Pytheas mapped and recorded tidal movements around the British coast. He was the first to suggest that the pull of the moon af-fected the tides, a theory which is now considered correct, and he produced the earliest accounts of tidal movements in the Atlantic Ocean.

Today, Dr Aggidis is effectively car-rying on where the two ancient Greeks left off 2,300 years ago by adding to the mapping of tidal movements the appro-priate technologies to harness potential tidal power, thus ensuring that renew-able tidal energy plays a major role in keeping our lights on.

He is one of the world-leading experts on tidal gateways – better known as barrages – and the man whose techno-logical research is the basis for the cam-paign, backed by the North West Busi-ness Leadership Team (NWBLT), to run tidal gateways along the length of the North West coast of England.

With Dr Aggidis providing most of the technological data, the NWBLT is seeking to win support for the project

by emphasising not only its potential for generating half the electricity needed by the region, but also that the scheme will create thousands of jobs, dramatically improve the region’s road networks and provide effective flood barriers for areas such as Cumbria.

The NWBLT has forced the issue into the spotlight by commissioning a gi-ant model of the North West as a way of illustrating its overall potential. Cur-rently on display as the centrepiece of the International Festival for Business in Liverpool, the model mirrors the groundbreaking work undertaken by Dr Aggidis in recent years.

Naturally, the good doctor is not pre-sumptive enough to place himself along-side his illustrious predecessors Aristotle and Pytheas – even though he knows much more about the subject than they ever did – but he is a sufficiently larger-than-life character to give them a run for their money in both the intelligence and charisma leagues.

An impressive man with presence, culture and intellect, Dr Aggidis is the director of the Renewable Energy and Fluid Machinery Group based at Lan-caster University, and his CV is indeed very impressive. You could cover the walls of a large property with copies of his academic outputs alone – and then there are his professional accreditations: Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers; Fellow of the Institution of Marine Engineering, Science and Tech-nology; Fellow of the Energy Institute; Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology; chartered engineer; EU expert evaluator on energy… and there is more, a lot more.

Also, due to being an innovator in his field of expertise – advanced turbine power (or, as Dr Aggidis describes it, “computational and experimental mod-elling, control and the economics of novel fluid machinery applied to energy and renewables, including wave, tidal and hydro power”), there are his pat-ents. Again there are too many to fully list. And being a laid-back character, he takes an extremely relaxed approach to these patents when it comes to others potentially pinching some of his ideas.

“In some circumstances I simply take it as a form of flattery,” he says with a shrug. But it is on record that he was involved with the design of the giant primary coolant pumps at Sizewell B atomic energy plant for Mather & Platt, and then for Weir, when it was commis-sioned in the time of Margaret Thatch-er, and at least one of his inventions for submarines is still classified as secret.

So here is a highly intelligent and creative engineer who has spent a life-time as a visionary and innovator. The son of a process engineer and food tech-nologist from Thessaloniki who studied in Greece, Italy and France, and of an archaeologist mother, Dr Aggidis has shared his father’s interests having been initiated from childhood into the com-plex machinery that has fascinated him all his working life, while for relaxation he has maintained an interest in archae-ology “that was nurtured from an early age by my mother”.

His relatively affluent background saw him introduced to the delights of these shores as a teenager when he was sent over to Cambridge with a group of friends for three months to improve his English. The travelling, and his being a fast learner, shaped him as an interna-tional and cosmopolitan individual.

Next, he landed in Kansas City, hav-ing won a scholarship to attend high school there from the American Inter-national School in Thessaloniki. Once again, he found the lessons did not stretch him enough – the Greek system based on the Baccalaureate had been more demanding – and he finished each of his semesters a month ahead of the class.

So he acquired a large American car and spent those spare months travelling, from California to Florida – visiting 24 states in all – and from Canada to Mex-ico. And all this when he was just 17…

It was not surprising, therefore, that when he read a book about the Indus-trial Revolution and its origins in Man-chester – and saw a reference to one of the world’s oldest engineering com-panies, Mather & Platt, being based in the city – he decided this should be his next stop. Peter Mather started out

making textile machinery in 1817, and by the time George Aggidis arrived on the scene the company had become one of the leading engineering conglomerates for fluid machinery.

He found himself in the office of the educational director of the group, which then had some 2,500 engineers on its books. After being taken out for lunch because of the distance he had travelled for the interview, the Mather & Platt ex-ecutive made him an unusual offer: go to one of their affiliated universities and, if he ended up top of the class, he would have a job. If he didn’t, then the door would be closed on him.

He accepted the challenge – and won. Not only did he get the job, but a year to the day after this meeting, he received a letter from the company which con-tained a cheque effectively fully reim-bursing him for every day he had been away studying as if he had been working for them full-time. This continued dur-ing the whole of his time at university.

That was in 1978, and the next four years saw George Aggidis alternating between working for Mather & Platt and picking up a string of qualifications for the benefit of both his employer and himself. Eventually, with his university training having come to an end, he left the Mather & Platt research and devel-opment department to return home to do his national service – which allowed him interact with the mechanical engi-neers of Greece.

During his time in the army he met – and confounded – the leading Greek en-gineer George Polemis. The 75-year-old, who headed the leading fluid machinery

The man whotaps time andtide to keepour lights on

Pinchingmy ideas?In somecases Itake it asa form offlattery

Innovative: Dr George Aggidis now leads the relevant Lancaster University research group

THETIDALPOWERPLAN

THETIDALPOWERPLAN

THETIDALPOWERPLAN


The case for tidal gateways to transform not only the North of England but also the entire UK is based on research undertaken by

Dr George Aggidis. His technical input is currently being used as the central technology platform for the campaign run by the North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT) to establish a string of gateways along the major estuaries on the North West coast.

Dr Aggidis and his colleagues at the Lancaster University Renewable Energy Group have shown, through computer modelling, that the entire UK coastline could be used to benefit the British population. “The UK has the potential to produce in the region of 50TWhs [terawatt-hours] of electricity a year,” he says, “one tenth of what could be produced world-wide, and almost half of the potential output for the whole of Europe.

“And the UK is ideally placed, in that few sites worldwide are as close to both the electricity users and the National Grid.”

In terms of the North West – and the main planks in the argument being presented by the NWBLT – several benefits are now recognised:

�� Tidal gateways along the region’s coast could generate half the elec-tricity required for the region and 5 per cent of the national supply.�� Construction of the gateways would generate thousands of new jobs and bring prosperity to poorer regions such as West Cumbria.��With flooding likely to become an increasing issue related to increasing sea levels due to global warming, the gateways would act as effective flood barriers.�� An associated programme of road-building would have a dramatic effect on traffic movement in the region.“The challenge is for engineers

and scientists to deliver UK’s energy targets,” Dr Aggidis says. “The opportunity here is for the UK to deliver energy with minimal environmental impact. Engineers can solve the problems, but politi-cians need to provide leadership, remove barriers and allow sufficient time for some potentially spectacular successes.”

Whenever tidal gateway and lagoon schemes have been pro-posed in the UK in recent years, Dr Aggidis has been the guru on whom the developers have relied on

for advice and assistance to prove the viability of their case, from the North West all the way down to the coast of Wales.

In terms of the North West alone, he has been contacted by a series of organisations interested in harness-ing the power of the main estuaries. Starting with Morecambe Bay, where there has been a proposal to erect an 11-mile tidal gateway bridge, Dr Aggidis has scoped out a string of projects along the North West coastline, the main ones being the Solway, the Wyre and the Mersey.

In the past, tidal gateway projects have been developed without being progressed further – not because of the technology, which has been proven for more than 50 years at La Rance project in France using Alstom technology, the first major project of its type – but because of issues over finance or the environ-ment.

Tidal gateways also suffered due to progressing as individual projects – something which Dr Aggidis was among the first to recognise, and why he became the founding and first chair of Northwest Tidal Energy Group which brought together all the major players..

With the financial backing of the former Northwest Regional Develop-ment Agency, this organisation had started to gain traction politically when the Government got rid of all such bodies.

“With concerns now mounting over the UK’s energy future and the effects of climate change,” Dr Aggidis says, “it is becoming paramount that all viable sources of renew-able energy are fully exploited.” Yet despite renewable energy being increasingly high on the Government agenda with specific targets to be met – and despite tidal gateways not being subject to variable wind and solar factors, and having a projected trouble-free lifetime of 125 years – they have not progressed as they ought.

“Effective tidal energy policies are critical to the development of tidal energy,” according to Dr Aggidis. “With such policies, tidal energy can play a vital role in a sustainable energy future.”

More recently, South Korea pro-gressed with the largest tidal gateway project in the world – the Sihwa Lake project, using Andritz technology, completed in 2011. The Austrian engineer in charge of this, Markus

Schneeberger, was invited several times to the UK and specifically to Lancaster University by Dr Aggidis, to discuss the exciting new gateway project.

“Tidal power has traditionally suffered from relatively high cost and limited availability of sites with sufficiently high tidal ranges or flow velocities,” Dr Aggidis says, “thus constricting its total availability.

“However, many recent technologi-cal developments and improvements, both in design and turbine technol-ogy (for example new novel axial turbines, dynamic tidal power, tidal lagoons, multi-regulated turbines) are suggesting that the total availability of tidal power may be much higher than previously assumed, and that economic and environmental costs may be brought down to competitive levels.”

The latest initiative, by Alan Tore-vell, chairman of wealth management company Dewhurst Torevell and a member of the NWBLT, has brought the issue of tidal gateways back firmly into the glare of the public spotlight. This time, with continuing collabora-tion and input from Dr George Aggidis and Lancaster University, it is likely to remain there.

An expert eye on the gateways’ full potential

company Drakos-Polemis, invited the other George for a meal at his luxury villa – where, after dinner, he showed him his latest designs.

George Aggidis, being honest and straightforward with his professional opinions, upset his host by providing a critical appraisal of what he saw – not all of it positive. Some three weeks later, however, he received a call from Mr Pol-emis saying they had tested the products and the dinner guest had been right – and would he like to come for another meal and to discuss a very interesting job contract?

With army life behind him, Dr Ag-gidis found himself working for Torrent Pumps, another Greek company where, within 12 months, he had introduced a new range of horizontal axis centrifugal pump products and managed the tech-nology transfer project from French company Pompes Guinard.

Then, after a stint as an engineer with the Agricultural Bank of Greece, which also involved project-managing the £35 million dairy products process plant AGNO and several other engineering facilities including wine-making (having had experience with his family’s vine-yard and wine production), it was back to the UK where he joined Kendal-based Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon, the world’s oldest hydro turbine manufacturer.

Dr Aggidis describes his role at Gil-bert Gilkes & Gordon as “research, de-sign and development of fluid machin-ery, particularly centrifugal pumps and hydro turbines”, and says he worked with “major oil, gas and power utilities along with other industries worldwide, establishing a valuable international network especially in energy-related fields”.

These ranged from fossil fuel plants (for example Drax), through nuclear power plants (Sizewell B, Ling Ao in China), to hydro power plants (Kin-

lochleven, Dolgarrog). The quality of his research contribution from his industrial career alone is recognised internationally, with his designs and patents being used by major companies around the world, including Alstom (France), Alcan (Can-ada), Wärtsilä (Finland), and Caterpillar, Cummins and Westinghouse (all US).

It was not long before Dr Aggidis be-came the youngest-ever Fellow of the influential Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ fluid machinery group, and an acknowledged expert in his field. He then dipped his toe in the tidal engineer-ing waters for the first time, working on a project in the Straits of Evripos for an-other Greek company, Themeliodomi.

After that, it was only a short hop down the road to his present post at the University of Lancaster, having by now accumulated over 25 years of industrial and academic experience – with nine of those years having been spent overseas, where he found himself with both feet planted firmly in the renewable energy and fluid machinery camps.

Lancaster was home to pioneering work in renewable energy undertaken by Professor Michael French, and re-mains the only campus in the country to boast its own wind turbine – another suggestion by Dr Aggidis. He brought his experience in research, design, develop-ment and deployment of fluid machinery and turbines for renewable energy hydro power generation schemes at a critical time for the renewable energy research in the UK and worldwide.

Building on his expertise in creating physical research prototypes that oper-ate successfully and to specification, he established – and now leads – the sig-nificant Lancaster University research group.

The rest, as they say, is almost history, with Dr George Aggidis doing what he does best – always coming out with new ideas and innovations.


Business Insight6

My vision

Most of us are equally dedicated to protectingthe people’swellbeing

He is steeled forresistance to his big idea, but AlanTorevell pushesits positives, hetells Mike Cowley

The revolutionary proposal to build a range of tidal gateways along the North West coastline – a proposal which has the po-tential not only to generate half

the electricity required in the region, but also to enrich the people and communi-ties there – is slowly moving from the concept stage towards reality.

A giant working model (3.6 metres by 1.2 metres), commissioned by the North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT), is currently the centrepiece attraction at the International Festival for Business in Liverpool and has already achieved its initial objective by ensur-ing that the initiative sits in the publicity spotlight.

The next priority is to get it on the Government agenda – and Alan Torevell, the NWBLT member whose brainchild the project is, intends to do just that. He knows he has a fight on his hands, but he is ready for it.

The North West Tidal Gateways team is currently working on a more detailed appraisal of the proposal, including the exact positioning of the gateways and connecting roads. At the same time, it is establishing priorities in relation to pow-er, flood control, potable (drinking) water and improved communications, and then planning accordingly.

Running in parallel with all this, the plan is to present the case to a wider audi-ence by taking the model on a roadshow which will embrace locations including Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cum-bria and the Wirral.

There is also an increasing awareness of the need to convert any negatives that surround the project into positives, so strengthening the overall pitch. The first of the hurdles to overcome is the area of political will, the main stumbling block for any major infrastructure project.

“The political will should be there,” Mr Torevell says, “but there is a lack of focus

because it involves so many different de-partments. As our project covers power, flood control, improved communications, employment, education and social wel-fare, the problem becomes obvious.

“It needs central control, but I have seen little sign so far of that happening with the current way of handling things.”

Alan Torevell is also ready to take on the powerful environmental lobby, which is likely to man the barricades in defence of the wading birds whose habitats are often the estuaries where the tidal gate-ways will be built. “We are all dedicated to protecting and improving our environ-ment,” he says, “and most of us are equal-ly dedicated to protecting and improving the wellbeing of people.”

But he is well aware that he will have a battle over this because of the “draconian absolute power of some single-issue envi-ronmentalists” – although he feels that a balance must be achieved when the wel-fare of people is on the line.

“Where absolute rights apply to badg-ers, birds, bats, newts and toads and the like,” Mr Torevell says, “they have and will continue to have a very damaging impact on our economy – which, in the long run, is bad for the environment. Only relatively rich countries are pre-pared to care about such matters.”

He also makes the point that the real threat to mudflats in the estuaries will come from global warming rather than tidal gateways, and cites reports that sea levels are potentially likely to rise by 80 centimetres in the next century as a clear demonstration of this.

“Tidal gateways, with modern control systems operating both on the ebb and flood tides, will have very much less im-pact,” he says. “Then you have to balance this with the impact on global warming of the emission-free power they produce, and what effect their ability to control tidal flows will have on reducing flood-ing.”

This just leaves the largest hurdle of all – cost – at a time when the Coalition is still treading water in the wake of aus-terity. With over 40 years of experience as chairman and major shareholder of a financial services company, Alan Torevell believes his day job has already provided the answer to this problem.

His long-term contact with major insurance companies and pension pro-viders gives him access to a great deal

Let’s open thegateways to areinvigoratedNorth West

of information on their attitudes to in-vestment, and he is convinced, given the political green light for the project, that they will step up in terms of funding.

“It is early days to set out detailed methods of funding,” he says, “and in-deed no serious discussion on funding can take place until questions relating to political will and the environment are at least addressed.” However, he believes there are some salient points which need to be taken into account. Here is his cur-rent thinking:�� There is serious institutional interest in long-term investment in infrastruc-ture projects. At today’s interest rates and yields on equities, a return of 4 per cent would be more than accept-able.�� Borrowing is available to the Govern-ment at around 2.5 per cent.�� The tidal gateway across La Rance estuary in Brittany, having covered all its capital costs many years ago, is

generating electricity at 1.5 pence per kilowatt-hour.��Wind, solar and nuclear energy have been proposed at rates around or over 10p per kilowatt-hour, and they have a relatively short timescale along with “carefully ignored decommissioning costs”.�� If tidal energy were to be priced at 10p per kilowatt-hour for the first 20 years, it would be likely to cover its capital cost in that time, either by repaying debt or by sale to private companies.

“It should not be forgotten that the pro-ject would also achieve flood control, improved communication, substantial increases in employment, improved edu-cation and the scope for improved social welfare,” Alan Torevell says, “all creat-ing substantial increases in gross value added.

“Overall, it would reinvigorate the North West and therefore the whole of the UK – and how much is that worth?”

Tough talk: Alan Torevell believes big companies will step up to the funding plate

Michael Oglesby, CBE, DL – chairman, Bruntwood.“The tidal gateway model provides, in a very graphic form, an inspiring challenge of what can be achieved, not just to the North West but to the nation as a whole. This is not only of major importance as a provider of natural energy, assisting with our climate change issues, but it also brings major economic benefit to some of the most deprived coastal towns in the country.

“The major objections to any tidal barrage emanate from the environmental lobby, but the model clearly shows how global warming is a far greater issue and that, in fact, the gateways will assist with this.”

The giant North West Business Leadership Team model of the North West on display at the International Fes-tival for Business to promote the string of tidal gate-ways along the region’s coastline has – understand-ably – generated significant interest in the project. Here are just two typical comments:

Major-General Richard Peck, Royal Engineers (retired)“As a civil engineer, I see we have reached a stage where we need energy other than from fossil fuel – and this is a source which seems to me to be more predictable than wind, therefore it can harnessed. On the assumption that it is important, that it is something we have to get to grips with, it seems to me to be a sensible thing to do.

“The most important thing is that tides are predictable – we know they are going to happen twice a day.”

THETIDALPOWERPLAN

THETIDALPOWERPLAN

THETIDALPOWERPLAN


Business education

The boss who helpsapprove ExecutiveMBA business schoolstells Mike Cowley their offering is a vitalcareer ladder stepfor his types today

When Andrew Main Wil-son graduated from the University of Birming-ham in 1981, he got off to a flier by being selected

as a graduate trainee with Thomson Holi- days – from where he worked his way up, in a mere eight years, to become market-ing director and commercial director at Thomas Cook, the world’s best-known travel agency.

His subsequent career path had all the hallmarks of success, leading to him becoming the chief operating officer of the most respected organisation for di-rectors, the Institute of Directors. He is, however, the first to admit that he may well not have enjoyed the same smooth ride had he graduated today – with one key reason being that the competition for top jobs has now gone global, while another is that he never took time out to do an MBA (Master of Business Admin-istration).

This has been brought home to him forcibly because of his current position as chief executive of the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the body responsible for accrediting the top 2 per cent of Execu-tive MBA Business Schools worldwide.

True, Mr Main Wilson did go on the chief executive course at Harvard Busi-ness School, where they mentor MBAs, but with the benefit of hindsight he is aware that he might not have fared quite so well in the fiercely competitive re-cruitment market today without the cru-cial qualification.

“An MBA is more important than ever before and more valuable than ever be-fore,” he says. “When I graduated, I was looking for a job in international market-ing with a blue chip organisation and I was up against the very best from Ox-ford and Cambridge and one or two ex-ceptional individuals from other Russell Group universities.

“I did very well as it happened and got job offers from 21 multinationals. How-ever, if I was doing that today I would be in trouble, because I would be up against the best Americans, Germans, French, Indians – and soon the best Chinese – for these jobs.”

That is why an MBA, he believes, is in-creasingly “the only senior business qual-ification that is a well understood, truly global currency by those who recruit”.

This, Mr Main Wilson insists, is be-cause people know they are going to get “someone intelligent, motivated, trained in a number of different skills, so they have an appreciation of – if not actual work experience in – many functional areas: marketing, finance, strategy, HR [human resources] leadership and op-erations.”

Naturally, employers and recruiters need to differentiate between the vari-ous MBA graduates on offer, and that in-volves an appreciation of the individual business schools involved. Those schools which are AMBA-accredited – the only recognised international yardstick – ob-viously stand out from the pack.

If you are in the top 2 per cent inter-nationally, there is no doubt that you be-long to an elite club. So it is difficult to write about the AMBA without it sound-ing like a complete plug – just as it would be when writing about Rolls-Royces and Bentleys in an article on luxury automo-biles.

Times are changing in the MBA busi-ness school world, however, and the AMBA is evolving accordingly. Having started out in the UK and retaining its headquarters here, the association has become an increasingly global brand, with the boom in business schools in-ternationally having seen to that. To-day, there are 216 AMBA-accredited schools in 85 countries – and the curve is ever upwards.

While the UK and the US are still seen as home to the pre-eminent busi-ness schools – the UK has 42 accredited out of a total of 140, with 11 of these in the North of England – the growth of such schools, particularly in the devel-oping countries, is now threatening to alter the league table. India, Brazil, In-donesia and South Korea are all in the chasing pack. But the one to watch is China.

Some 20 years ago, China had no business schools and hence no MBA graduates. Now there are around 400 students clutching their MBAs pouring out of China each year, and these are starting to swell the ranks of the most eligible MBA candidates on the global scene. As a result, it is getting increas-ingly tough out there.

So, for those people who are not yet able to brandish a good MBA (which is, by definition, an-AMBA accredited one), how should they best judge if one is necessary for their career? Andrew Main Wilson has a formula for anyone with ambitions to get ahead.

The first step, he suggests, is simply to go away to some secluded spot with an A4 pad and undertake what is effec-tively a self-audit. The person should “ruthlessly interrogate” his or her own employability, matched up to where they want to go in life, and make the appropriate notes.

He suggests that the person who is determined to succeed should analyse their ability to perform in three distinct categories. First, there is their potential for employability in what is now a glob-

al marketplace. “If I couldn’t,” he says, “and I’d worked mainly for UK compa-nies doing UK things, then an alarm-bell or two should start ringing.”

The second box that needs to be ticked is the one dealing with the abil-ity to function in an increasingly digital age. And the final section of the three-part exercise in navel-gazing should be an analysis of functional skills, with the target being all-round ability for those who want to reach the top management posts.

“You’ve obviously got where you are because of a skill,” Mr Main Wil-son says, “but if you haven’t added any others – or at least an appreciation of them, even though you haven’t done the jobs in those areas – to make you an all-round performer, then you have a problem.”

Most people who take the time to answer these questions come up with “I could do better”, unless they are megastars. “But the most important thing is that they have thought about it,” says Mr Main Wilson.

“One of the things that bright young people sometimes think is they are working for a brilliant company, and that company will look after their ca-reer. That in most cases simply isn’t true. My mantra is that the only person responsible for your own career is you.”

Unsurprisingly, the answer to each of the three self-audit questions posed by Andrew Main Wilson is an MBA – and a good MBA at that. “Where I think an MBA is actually more important than ever,” he says, “is if you want to radi-cally improve your understanding and competence in all those areas within a 12- to 24-month period. If you do, an MBA is the only course that is open to you.”

But the AMBA chief executive feels that his not having an MBA has, oddly enough, been beneficial to him in his current role. “That’s because I can’t be accused of blind bias to just one of the schools we accredit,” he says.

MBA key to a highdegree of success

Chief executive Mr Main Wilson has a formula for anyone who wants to get ahead

It’s moreimportantand morevaluablethan everbefore

�� The latest AMBA careers survey shows that the employability of MBA gradu-ates continues to grow. Statistics indicate a strong MBA representation in all sectors, with 15 per cent of the graduates surveyed working in consulting, 11 per cent in finance, 10 per cent in industry, 9 per cent in healthcare, a further 9 per cent in the public services, 5 per cent in energy and 5 per cent in the consumer goods sector. ��MBA graduates from business schools with AMBA accreditation are receiving the highest average salaries in the UK since 2004, and the number of gradu-ates who reported earnings above £70,000 increased by 11 per cent compared to those questioned in the previous AMBA career survey.

Growing employability


Business Insight8

Changes

Stephen Moore was bowled over by MMU’sExecutive MBA offer,reports Mike Cowley

When the county cricketer Stephen Moore decided it was time to pull up stumps at the end of a first-class career which

had seen him score over 9,000 runs and a dozen-and-a-half centuries, he was faced with two major decisions.

The first was: What to do now? To help him with his dilemma, he turned to no less a person than the former Governor of the Bank of England – and cricket fan – Lord King of Lothbury, perhaps better known as Mervyn King. He suggested that a part-time Executive MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree lead-ing to a career in finance could open all the doors Mr Moore wanted.

The second question was: Where to take the Executive MBA? Stephen Moore answered this for himself after being bowled over by the course content and flexibility of the case presented by Daniel Sheratte, the MBA programme manager at the award-winning Manchester Met-ropolitan University (MMU) Business School.

The programme, which has two intakes per year (October and January) is deliv-ered in three-day blocks every six to eight weeks. MMU appreciates the demands of the senior executives who attend this course, and works with students to adapt personalised study schedules to fit indi-vidual circumstances.

What also helped Mr Moore was being introduced to Alan Torevell, the congen-ial chairman of Dewhurst Torevell – the well-established and highly influential wealth management company based in Manchester, and one of the legion of leading companies with which MMU has active links.

And the deal was clinched when Dewhurst Torevell, who have a box at Lancashire County Cricket Club, came up with a project for Mr Moore’s disser-tation which involved research into what has become a legislative minefield – occu-pational pensions – and agreed to advise and support him in the project.

“We wanted somebody to look at the practicalities of all the detail,” says Mr Torevell, “to enable us to present this to firms to make sure they fully understand the advice they were getting.”

With as many major legislative changes in occupational pension scheme govern-ance having occurred in the last decade as in the whole of the previous century, this was no sticking-plaster cosmetic exer-cise but one which would provide Stephen Moore with a high-profile entry into his new life after ten years as a professional sportsman.

“The research work has been the most challenging thing I have done in my life from the point of view of time schedul-ing,” he says. “The amount of material to get through is quite daunting. However, I have been very fortunate not only to be involved with an outstanding business school, but also to have an understand-

It’s not cricket now, but...

ing company behind me, to communicate with me, to help me where I am strug-gling.”

Stephen Moore is also fortunate to be connected with the alumni of MMU Business School, which includes the group pensions director of Tesco and the chair of the National Association of Pen-sion Funds. On the Executive MBA, Mr Moore has had the chance to mix with and exchange ideas with fellow students from a wide range of backgrounds. These include engineering and manufacturing, the NHS and local government, banking, the law, service industries and owner-managers.

The lectures and workshops delivered at MMU Business School are enhanced by residential weekends and international study trips, allowing the students to de-velop their own leadership style, to see the world through diverse lenses and to build a valuable network of like-minded professionals.

There is a growing realisation that sportsmen and women now need prepa-ration for when they can no longer com-pete. This is something that has been recognised by MMU, which this October will introduce a new Masters in Sport Directorship executive course aimed at senior-level sports professionals want-ing to break into the sports governance/ leadership side of the business.

Pitched as a similar programme to the two-year part-time Executive MBA which Stephen Moore is on, the Masters in Sport Directorship course is a joint commer-cial programme run by MMU Business School and Visionary Sports Investment.

Mr Moore’s story reflects the need for such courses. Here is a highly articulate, self-assured 33-year-old who already held a Masters degree in electronic engineer-ing from the University of Exeter. But when he looked at opportunities in that sector, he found that his period of absence meant he “ran into a brick wall” of lack of interest.

So having dedicated his life to cricket for ten years – he missed selection to

the England Test team by losing out to Jonathan Trott for the 2009 Ashes series, despite having scored a century in one of the England Lions warm-up games against Australia – he was faced with the reality that he needed another future career option.

“The Professional Cricketers’ Asso-ciation is very aware of this problem,” he says. “That’s why there’s a huge amount of literature and support available now. Playing a sport and getting paid for it is wonderful, but the reality is it can end in the blink of an eye. When you are 20, you think it will go on for ever – but it doesn’t.”

Born in South Africa of English par-ents, Stephen Moore was a natural sportsman, with his first choice hav-ing been tennis. He excelled at this and played on the South African junior ten-nis circuit. Then, at the age of 15, he had to make a choice and opted for the team sport of cricket rather than the solitary existence of tennis. And although still a teenager, he made his mark playing jun-

ior representative cricket in South Africa at provincial and national level.

On arriving in England at the age of 18 to study for his degree at Exeter, he found the time to sign on as an overseas professional in the Surrey cricket league. There he ended up playing for the Bank of England team, although it was to be some time before he met Mervyn King.

Mr Moore went on to play for the uni-versity while successfully completing his degree course and was looking for a place on a graduate training scheme, having had no thought of playing cricket profession-ally, when cricket called again – literally.

“I was on my way to post my applica-tion when I got a phonecall from the late Damian D’Oliveira at Worcester, who asked me to come and play with them,” Mr Moore recalls. So he turned round and drove up to Worcester the next day for a successful trial, and for the next three months played for the county’s sec-ond team. “I had to call my parents and let them know that I wasn’t going to be an engineer but a cricketer,” he says, “but they were OK about it.”

In all, he played for Worcestershire for seven seasons and became friends with Graeme Hick – a fellow southern Afri-can, having grown up in Zimbabwe, and one of the outstanding cricketers of the last generation. It was also while playing for Worcestershire that he met the future Lord King for the first time.

“I had just scored my maiden first-class 100 down in Kent and we got invited round to Mervyn’s house,” Mr Moore re-calls. “That is the sort of contact you can make as a professional cricketer, although I didn’t realise at the time that he was go-ing to eventually become my future career adviser.”

Mr Moore moved to Lancashire CCC in 2010 as part of a drive to strengthen the team in a bid to win the County Champi-onship. This they achieved in his second season – the county’s first clear title win since 1934 (they shared it with Surrey in 1950) – and he contributed over 1,000 runs to help make it happen.

Now that he has retired from first-class cricket after a final half-season with Der-byshire, Stephen Moore has no regrets. “I didn’t quite make it to the very top,” he says, “but I still feel very privileged to have been given the opportunity. And I found the warm messages I got from my team-mates, the media and the public to be overwhelming and very humbling.”

Although he could have carried on playing for several more years. Mr Moore’s decision to make that final walk back to the pavilion was in part influenced by his wanting to spend more time with his fam-ily, having a two-year-old daughter and another child on the way.

“You don’t realise how much children change your perspective on life until you have them,” he says. Having married a singer and vocal coach in 2008 – they met at university, where she sang in a jazz band in which he played the saxophone – he felt that the cricket coaching option was not for him.

Now he is ready for his new challenge. “I have learned a lot in a short space of time and it hasn’t been easy,” he says, “but I relish a challenge as I did on cricket field. I always did my best when things were tough.”

Researchwork herehas beenthe mostchallengingthing thatI’ve donein my life

There is a growing realisation that moving-on sportspeople need preparation for a new career – and in that respect, Stephen Moore is on the ball again

...thanks to MMU Business School

The University forWorld-Class Professionals

I am very satisfied with thecourse. What makes it stand out fromthe others is the teaching staff andtheir experience within the “real”world rather than just being purelyacademic.

The staff have experiences that can’t be taught and they are imparting thatknowledge into the course which Ibelieve separates this course fromother, more expensive MBA’s.

Matthew Campbell, current Executive MBA student

Contact Daniel Sheratte, MBA and Masters Development ManagerT: 0161 247 6601 E: [email protected]

“

”

Executive MBADesigned for busy professionals, delivered by industry practitioners

Starting October 2014 and January 2015mmu.ac.uk/mba

Flexible and affordablen Delivered part-time, in three-day study

blocks to fit flexibly around you

n Designed for experienced managers andleaders wanting a strategic direction to their career progression

n Classes take place at our award-winningBusiness School in the heart of Manchester,where you can network with like-mindedmanagers from across the North West


Business Insight10

By Barry McDonald

Embarking on the challenge of a Master in Business Administra-tion (MBA) degree is considered a serious step in terms of pro-gressing your career. An MBA is

an internationally recognised passport to a successful career in business manage-ment: designed to broaden your horizons and build on your strengths, it takes into account all the major aspects of business.

As well as marketing, finance, account-ing, quantitative methods, IT (informa-tion technology) and organisational behaviour, students will study a variety of modules including human resource management, operational and strategic management, research methods and con-sultancy. ��Why study for an MBA?Studying for an accredited MBA gives you an exceptional platform for net-working at the highest level. You will be part of a diverse and experienced group of professionals, studying with people who have been carefully selected, while benefiting from top-quality connec-tions with the alumni of some of the world’s best business schools.

Dr Brian McGarrie, director of MBA and executive programmes at Salford Business School, argues that there are many advantages of achieving an MBA. “It’s the global qualification,” he says. “You may only have worked for four or five years, but everyone wants that piece of paper that says they’re quali-fied.”��Why study for an MBA at Salford?The Salford MBA is one of the most flexible MBAs in the world. Taught by the Salford Business School at the University of Salford, it is a fully As-sociation of MBAs-accredited degree that concentrates on developing the skills required to operate at senior lev-els of business. The course offers an advanced understanding of business administration and incorporates a wide range of disciplines to deliver a compre-hensive educational experience.

“We hold a unique position in the marketplace as a result of the flexible course entry and our digital agenda for course content and delivery,” Dr McGarrie says. “Consequently, the Sal-ford MBA is now taught on our Media- CityUK campus and students can choose from six start dates at various points in the academic year. We think that we offer one of the most flexible MBAs in the world.”��What does an MBA mean for your career? The advantages are many, including a salary increase. Taking on the challeng-es of an MBA means a certain level of investment, so it makes sense to weigh up the long-term benefits before choos-ing a course and making a commit-ment. The increase in salary you will receive following your study is an im-portant deciding factor. In the AMBA’s career survey for 2010, the average me-dian salary was £64,000 and the mean was £73,000.

Those surveyed were earning, on average, 33 per cent more immediately after their MBA than before, 92 per

cent more three-to-five years later, and 151 per cent more six-to-ten years after graduation. The survey also found that 79 per cent of MBA graduates made the decision to go into training for their professional studies to improve their career opportunities. The majority of survey respondents were either senior managers or board directors.��Why has Salford recently developed MBAs specialising in Digital Business and Sports Business?“To stand out in a crowded market, universities need to offer specialist courses that play to their strengths and give their students a clear advantage in the job market,” Dr McGarrie says. “At Salford Business School, we have estab-lished research centres in Digital Busi-ness and Sports Business, which are led by respected academics in those fields. So it made sense for us to develop two new MBAs that would tap into this ex-isting expertise.

“In the UK, there is a big demand for digital- and sports-savvy business executives, and even more so in Man-chester with its two huge football clubs and booming digital and creative sec-tor.”�� Is being based at MediaCityUK an en-ticement for students? “Yes, definitely, because in addition to having access to frankly amazing facili-ties, they are effectively embedded in the digital supply chain due to our links with the surrounding media companies,” Dr McGarrie says.

“While they are based at MediaCity-UK, many of our students work on live briefs with industry. We give them the option of taking a Business Innovation Live Project instead of the old-fashioned dissertation, so they can work on projects with the small media companies that are part of the overall supply chain in Medi-aCityUK.

“It’s such a vibrant place. At least 200 to 300 companies have been set up be-cause of MediaCityUK, while the BBC is sending another 200 people to Manches-ter from London imminently.”��What makes the Salford MBA one of the most flexible in the world?Students of the Salford MBA benefit from one of the most flexible learning struc-tures available. The teaching, learning and assessment strategies of the unique delivery model have been designed to help all of the students make the most of their studies.

Study options include full- and part-time delivery, combined with entry points in September, November, January, March and June. Teaching is delivered in the form of intensive, three-day blocks of lec-tures, supported via tutorials, independ-ent learning and business consultancy projects – all incorporated into a six-week modular structure.

“We don’t have standalone execu-tive part-time and standalone full-time MBAs,” Dr McGarrie says. “If you take the Salford MBA, you will study along-side students on both part-time and full-time routes – it’s an exciting, collaborative environment.”��What core skills can students expect to develop at Salford?“The course content includes modules on finance, economic strategy, market-

Flexibility

�� The Salford MBAThe standard MBA is a multi- disciplinary programme designed to foster a spectrum of business skills that are in demand across all areas of industry. The Salford MBA contains a broad range of modules and unique business partnerships, which makes the programme an ideal option for executives seeking to improve their knowledge across a full range of advanced skill-sets.

In line with the business school’s block-delivered postgraduate portfolio, there are up to six entry points per year and students will therefore take modules in a sequence dependent on their point of entry. None of the modules have pre-requisites or co-requisites and they can be taken as standalone modules.�� The Salford MBA: Digital BusinessThe Digital Business MBA has been launched to meet increasing demand for digitally savvy business executives who can operate effect-ively in today’s digitised, global business environment. Designed specifically for those who want to take advantage of the growing digital skills gap, this programme is the ideal way for senior manag-ers to learn the strategic skills

which will facilitate informed decision-making in the face of a rapidly changing technological and economical landscape.

The business school’s Digital Business programme is taught out of the university’s state-of-the-art campus based in MediaCityUK. Teaching on the pathway is informed by the Centre for Digital Business, the University of Salford’s internationally recognised research facility, and is delivered in a unique, creative business environment.�� The Salford MBA: Sports BusinessThe Sports Business pathway has been developed by the University of Salford’s respected Centre for Sports Business and is a unique MBA option tailored specifically to executives working within the sports industry and related industries.

This programme takes full advantage of the university’s position at the heart of the North West, a region synonymous with sport at regional, national and international levels. BBC Sport is a neighbour at MediaCityUK, while two of the biggest brands in world football – Manchester United and Manchester City – are on the university’s doorstep.

Making media headliners

ing, operations, information systems and leadership,” Dr McGarrie says. “In ad-dition, our students are encouraged to develop entrepreneurial skills. Our aim is to produce well-rounded, innovative executives who are equipped for all the challenges they will face in their careers.”��How important are the University of Salford’s links with business and indus-try?

“We spend a lot of time trying to develop links with local and global institutions,” Dr McGarrie says. “We recently split the MBA students into two groups and took them to Hong Kong and Brazil, where they met with companies and institu-tions. Our international focus is one of the key features that differentiates our MBA – we expect our students to be-come global leaders.”

Salford’s MediaCity: where state-of-the-art facilities support thoroughly modern programmes

Dr Brian McGarrie

Optional offerings

The Salford MBAYour ticket to a successful career in business management

Choose from 6 start dates spread across the academic year – this is one of the most flexible MBA programmes in the world

Now includes specialist MBA pathways in Digital Business and Sports Business

Study on our MediaCityUK campus next door to BBC HQ and downstairs from ITV

Accredited by The Association of MBAs (AMBA)

Take a 3-month live Business Innovation Project with a company in a sector of your choice

“[The Salford MBA] was a fundamental asset in shaping my career and continues to help me in leading a major, complex organisation”Ged FitzgeraldChief Executive, Liverpool Council

Find out more about The Salford MBA and take a giant step towards a successful career in business management: www.salford.ac.uk/business-school/business-management-courses/salford-mba

YOU CAN’T SPELL

AMBITIONWITHOUT

MBA

SalfordBusinessSchool

SBS ad.indd 2 15/07/2014 11:58


Business Insight12

Self-development

Like many North East business people, Victoria Browning was sceptical of academics and their promises. So when she was considering taking an Executive MBA at Newcastle University Business

School to help her then-struggling business, she treated her first point of contact, Juli Campey, with a considerable degree of suspicion.

“But when I actually met her,” Mrs Browning recalls, “it soon became clear she knew what she was talking about when it came to business.”

Today, she looks back at the course and insists that what she learned and the contacts she made not only saved the company of which she has since become managing director – Probe Industries – but also led directly to the launch of a highly successful spin-off company, 2pure Products.

When Victoria Browning first opted for the Executive MBA course at Newcastle University Business School, Probe was in trouble, with declining sales and profits in its core products, odour control systems for the waste manage-ment sector. But her time on the MBA course – in particular the small business and entre-preneurship module – gave her the confidence and the skills to save Probe, and also to form a new company with a range of scaled-down products for the booming small commercial sector.

Not only did she pick up the business skills needed to transform her firm, but network-ing opportunities provided valuable business contacts and even the capital needed to launch 2pure Products after undertaking a Dragons’ Den-type presentation. From a turnover of

£600,000 in serious decline, Mrs Browning has reversed the trend and achieved a turnover of £1.4 million and rising, doubling both the profit and the staff.

Utilising Probe’s formidable research and development team, she has overseen the development of new odour controlling, as well as odour-free products for customers such as care homes. The products are not only gaining traction in the UK, but have also been recently licensed for the giant US market.

Nor has she lost her links with Juli Campey and Newcastle University Business School, as they continue to provide support and are currently researching the potential for her firm to enter the Italian market.

“I couldn’t have achieved any of this without them,” Victoria Browning says.

Having tackled realbusiness problems,this MBA director can help studentsface like challenges, writes Mike Cowley

Juli Campey has all the usual qualifications for her role as Execu-tive MBA (EMBA) director at the renowned Newcastle University Business School – and also a few

one might not expect.With over 3,190 students from more

than 80 countries, Newcastle Univer-sity Business School is among the larg-est schools in Newcastle University, one of the UK’s leading civic universities. In keeping with the university’s worldwide reputation, the business school attracts some of the brightest students from around the globe.

Ms Campey readily admits, however, that the unique selling points she brings to her role – in managing the promo-tion, recruitment and student experi-ence for the full-time MBA (Master of Business Administration) and EMBA programmes – come mainly from the University of Life.

A true Geordie and proud of it – she was born in Newcastle – she can look back on a pre-academic career that spanned bank teller, marketing assistant and then working her way through the ranks of the Department of Social Security to end up as develop-ment manager. There followed a series of senior human resources (HR) and training roles with major companies such as Northern Rock, Benfield Mo-tors and Estée Lauder.

It was during her time as a civil ser-vant that Ms Campey decided her fu-ture lay in business, and opted for ac-quiring formal qualifications to equip her in her future life.

“I took them because it was often said that if you had been a civil serv-ant, you couldn’t do anything else,” she says, “and I wanted to prove that wrong. I wanted to prepare myself for a commercial environment and to get through that glass ceiling.”

Voluntary redundancy allowed her to seize the opportunity, much to the amazement of colleagues who all told her she must be mad to leave as it was then seen as “a job for life.” Austerity was eventually to prove them wrong.

After several years holding senior HR and training roles, Ms Campey went on to become chief executive of her own not-for-profit training and develop-ment business, Nu Life Fitness Plus, which offered improvements for both the mind and the body through per-sonal training.

Then academia came calling in the form of a short-term contract from Newcastle University. “It was meant to be for a year,” she says, “but they must have liked what I was doing. That was back in 2008 and I’m still here.”

And it is this rich seam of real-world experience that has helped her to shape the ongoing success story of the busi-

How I got the confidence to win through

Learning with ‘a bit of life’

ness school, while endearing her to the students who see her as having had “a bit of a life”.

Describing herself as a “pracademic”, she has made a significant contribution at Newcastle, one of only 147 business schools worldwide to receive accredita-tion from the European Foundation for Management Development under its EQUIS scheme.

The Personal and Professional Transformation module is a reflection of Juli Campey’s previous life working in people development, in that it allows students to create their own plan that identifies their aspirations and what they need to do to achieve these.

She has worked with Professor Alastair Nicholson – the internationally renowned academic who also teaches at the Moscow, Warsaw, London and Ox-ford business schools – to introduce what is arguably the Newcastle Uni-versity Business School’s ace card: the Business in Action module, offered on both the full-time and EMBA courses, where students are presented with real business problems and have to come up with solutions.

As a result, Newcastle University Business School has become a prob-lem-solver for companies around the world – from corporate giants such as Siemens to small and medium-sized en-terprises in the North East.

And, for her part, Juli Campey is convinced that it is her experience in the real world, rather than her formal qualifications, that have enabled her to work shoulder-to-shoulder with outstanding academics. But she is not alone in this, as some 60 per cent of the faculty staff also have business ex-perience to bring to the table.

Suzanne Dunn, the full-time MBA programme secretary, is one of these people. She effectively finds herself in the role of mother hen for the 17 dif-ferent nationalities to be found among the current full-time MBA cohort, who see Newcastle as one of the top five in-ternational study destinations.

Director Juli Campey

Set to go: a world of students

I wanted to prepare for acommercial environmentand to get through theglass ceiling

Juli Campey has a BA (Hons) in Public Services Management and an MBA, but also a range of diplomas in non-mainstream neuro-lingual programming, which combines both psychotherapy and counselling for personal development in a successful business career.

Ms Campey – alongside Dr Katarzyna Zdunczyk, the Newcastle University Business School MBA programme director – enables students to put management theory into practice and develop their professional skill-sets. With access

to an alumni network of over 13,000 business school graduates, and a focus on collaboration and real-life application, the MBA and EMBA courses provide students with the knowledge, the skills and the confidence to succeed in business in an increasingly globalised and fast-changing environment.

Completing the MBA and EMBA teams are the business school’s Professor Alan McKinlay, director of MBA programmes and executive education, and Stephanie Colwell, business development officer.

My MBA provided me with the time to assess my My MBA provided me with the time to assess my My MBA provided me with

next career steps. I no the time to assess my next career steps. I no the time to assess my

longer see my career as a series of short term longer see my career as a series of short term longer see my career as

moves, rather a sustainable and tactical approach to achieving a bigger goal.Lily, MBA student

#reputable

ncl.ac.uk/nubsTo find out more about the Newcastle MBA programmes email: [email protected] or visit:


Business Insight14

As members of the North West Business Leader-ship Team we are proud to have supported the development of the North West Energy

Squared (NWE2) model for the Interna-tional Festival of Business.

Dewhurst Torevell provides independ-ent financial advice and active invest-ment management to a growing number of high net worth clients across the North West and the United Kingdom.

Our wealth management business is fo-cused on delivering excellent service and building long term relationships with our clients and professional connections. In many cases we provide advice to several generations of the same family, offering continuity of support from a well-quali-fied team of advisers and support staff.

We are proud of our investment track record. Our approach to investment re-search combines rigorous financial analy-sis and regular meetings with senior fund managers. This approach takes time but we believe the perspective and insight this provides leads to better investment decisions and advice.

If you think that there are any areas where our long term commitment and perspective could be useful to your financial plans please contact us at our Manchester office on 0161 281 6400 or via our website www.dewhurst-torevell.co.uk.

Dewhurst Torevell & Co Ltd is a com-pany registered in England and Wales, Reg no. 3279315. The company is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA number is 183210

Traditional values. Modern thinking.

• Bookkeeping Services & VAT• Management Accounts &

Reporting • Payroll• Business Plans, Budgeting &

Projections• Year End & Tax Returns• Credit ControlWe specialise in giving businesses first rate services at affordable rates. The Financial Management Centre provides regular and up

to date information in language which is easy to understand to equip you with the knowledge to make informed business decisions and there by improve the success of your business. We work with businesses of all sizes from start-ups to established multi site operations.We look to partner with our clients, to enable them to achieve success with passion, innovation and performance.

How can we help you?

Contact us for some free and honest advice in a consultation meeting to assess the requirements of your business.

Let us look after the figures so you can look after the business.

Why should you choose us?• Tailored service to meet your requirements

• Flexible – we can work onsite, offsite and online

• Consistent and personal service from people who will ensure service is always delivered

• Fully experienced and trained financial management professionals

• Competitive pricing

• Local support from a local business with national support

• Our bookkeeping and management accounts services could reduce your accountancy costs

Call us now on 0800 470 4820 or go online at

www.tfmcentre.co.ukOffices Nationwide

the times | Wednesday July 16 2014 15

The UK’s leading provider of switchgear, monitoring and service solutions, Mardix, has entered the latest Sunday Times HSBC International Track league table, compiled by

research organisation Fast Track.The Mardix Group, established in 1966

and based in Kendal, is a global leading provider of critical power systems technol-ogy and services, with over 350 employees. Banking and telecoms companies rely on Mardix to ensure the power grids in their computer data centres operate smoothly. The Cumbrian firm designs and makes electrical switchboards, power management systems and power distribution units for customers in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and had international sales of £5.6m from total sales of £50.5m last year.

Mardix is synonymous with innovation, quality, reliability and lifetime service sup-port. It has a diverse business model which continually invests in research and develop-

ment, and which has, over the last decade, provided significant growth.

Mardix’s history was as a specialist power distribution and control panel manufacturer that began to manufacture Power Distribu-tion Units (PDUs) specifically for mainframe computers and associated communication equipment. The company became suppli-ers to numerous Government departments within the UK and built a reputation for building quality, specialist PDUs which led into other sectors such as telecoms. Mardix steadily grew, and during the 1990s began to supply equipment to the finance sector in London.

Highly specialist requirements within this sector, primarily data centres, meant Mardix was quickly becoming the number one choice for PDUs. Mardix then increased the size of its product portfolio into a complete low-voltage (LV) solution; and embarked on a rigorous testing programme to ensure it met the particular specification requirements of any data centre in the UK. This decision saw

the business grow dramatically into the largest manufacturer of LV Switchgear in the UK.

Working with international market-leading companies has seen the global business grow dramatically in recent years to more than 20 per cent of turnover. In 2013 they under-pinned their commitment to the APAC mar-ket through establishing Mardix Asia Pte Ltd based in Singapore. 2014 has seen a further leap forward for the Mardix portfolio with the release of IBAR, a new and innovative Busbar Trunking Solution. IBAR is manufactured in Kendal and is already enjoying great success in the international marketplace.

Alex Bourne, Mardix commercial manager, says: “Having recently expanded our opera-tions into a further South Lakeland manu-facturing premises we are proud to continue our investment in the area, providing much needed semi-skilled and skilled employment. And with many great prospects both within the UK and overseas Mardix will continue to invest and to be a key stakeholder in the South Lakeland economy.”

Marl International Ltd, a beacon for advanced technology in the North West, is confident its new rural growth hub will pave the way for a

bright future for businesses looking for a South Lakeland home. Marl Hub, just one of many exciting developments, is the new space for business in Ulverston, Cumbria.

Cumbria is one of five regions in the UK to benefit from a £165 million DEFRA-funded Rural Growth Network (RGN) programme to support new projects in rural areas. Enterprise Centres in South Lakeland have opened at Marl in Ulverston, at Clawthorpe Hall in Burton-in-Kendal and at Sedbergh. These have become focal points for local business communities and offer an access route to networking and other business support, both physical and virtual.

This RGN growth hub is the latest diversification for Marl, recognised globally as one of the pioneers of the LED lighting industry and locally as one of the leading high-tech companies. Equipped with state-of-the-art design, engineering and manufacturing facilities, Marl is able to offer a wide range of opto-electronic products and services to customers around the world.

The Marl Hub offers 12 brand-new suites in addition to top-of-the-range supporting facilities. It is ideally located in Ulverston to integrate and support the supply chain activities of many of the large multinational engineering companies in South Lakeland, who are all planning an unprecedented period of expansion during the remainder of this decade.

Adrian Rawlinson, Marl managing director, says: “Marl has a culture of looking for opportunities to collaborate and cluster. The Hub is part of this culture, it’s about confidence and this is an environment that breeds success.”

The Marl Hub was officially opened for business on June 6, by The Duchess of Northumberland, with a keynote speech from Sara Eppel, deputy director, Rural Community Policy in DEFRA. The event was well supported by 160 invited guests, Cumbria-based politicians and business people, in addition to visitors from Califor-nia, Belgium and all over the UK. Two distinguished female guests were invited to emphasise that the Marl Hub is also aimed at encouraging women in business.

Marl Hub has its first tenant. Cresatech is a high-tech SME, active in the UK and North America, specialising in real-time monitoring of remote operational sites

which are potentially vulnerable to theft or removal of ground network materials, (copper and other valuable metals), and unused stored materials, such as cable reels. Simon Jarvis, technical director, says: “Apart from Marl being our chosen development and manufacturing partner, the chance to take an office in the same environment was a no-brainer.”

COMMERCIAL REPORT: SOUTH LAKELAND

Mardix ranked among Britain’s fastest-growing private companies

On every level, South Lakeland offers an attractive quality setting for business, employees and lifestyle. The area enjoys excellent national transport links and supporting infrastructure, where a skilled

and adaptable workforce enjoys an unrivalled quality of life. Here, the prestigious business base with strong industry networks and emerging sectors creates a competitive environment for businesses to thrive. South Lakeland is home to the iconic Lake District and a number of well-known companies including Lakeland, GlaxoSmithKline, HJ Heinz, Mardix, Furmanite, Lowe Alpine, James Cropper PLC, Hawkshead Relish and Siemens.

The quality of life in South Lakeland is first-class; it has long been a lifestyle choice for many professionals looking to escape large cities and conurbations. There are many benefits to living in South Lakeland: high-quality schools, outstanding colleges, top universities on our doorstep and stable average house prices.

South Lakeland District Council has created Invest in South Lakeland, a programme dedicated to help businesses looking to relocate to or grow within an inspirational commercial landscape. The programme includes business support for new-starts and growing firms, regular business seminars, a business-facing Invest in South Lakeland website, an inward investment conference this autumn, online business directory and detailed business profiles for key employers across the district.

The Invest in South Lakeland service is run by the Economic Development team and has enjoyed consid-erable success in helping South Lakeland companies to source key Government grants, Regional Growth Fund and initiatives such as local development orders. Council Leader, Cllr Peter Thornton, says: “The council recognises the key role our local businesses play both in the local economy and in promoting South Lakeland internationally. We have an ongoing dialogue with our businesses and are committed to assist where we can to help them to grow and expand into new markets.”

Visit the Invest in South Lakeland website www.investinsouthlakeland.co.uk for information on the local economy, up-to-date business news, local business profiles, specialist business events, commercial property search, funding opportunities and much more.

Invest in South LakelandTelephone: 01539 793280Twitter: @InSouthLakes

South Lakeland: A brighter outlook for business

MAKE IT YOUR HOMEWWW.RUNCORN-WIDNES.COM

International names Diageo, O2, ABB, Stobart Group, INEOS and Mexichem power the economy of Runcorn and Widnes.

With plenty of space to grow, a superb workforce and situated at the heart of the nation’s transport network,

Halton is the perfect location for your business.

RUNCORN WIDNES

Binorth140716 final

Documents

times business insight

business insightwednesday

times north concerns

tidal power sector

mba key

senior business people

cent of business schools

opinionstidal gateways