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Stuart O'Brien

B2B networking for the ‘new normal’ from Forum Events

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Forum Events & Media Group, host of the Energy Management Summit, has successfully held its first virtual networking events – with over 550 individual meetings taking place within the security industry over the course of two days via virtual events.

With live events unable to take place for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Forum has expanded its cutting-edge proprietary software to create a new interface with live video meetings. This has allowed the company to create a virtual Forum platform, taking the events experience virtual. These events allow procurement executives to source new solutions, and give suppliers the opportunity to discover new clients – and ultimately, keep industries talking.

Forum’s first virtual events were the Total Security Summit and the Security IT Summit, which both match procurement professionals with suppliers for a series of pre-arranged meetings. The Summits attracted security and cyber security professionals from the likes of Amazon, Asprey London, Associated British Foods, BNP Paribas, Department of Work & Pensions, Essex County Council, HSBC, JP Morgan, Legal and General, London Stansted Airport, Manchester Airport Group, Matalan, Marriott International, National Trust, NatWest Markets, Pret A Manger, Royal Mail, Sodexo, Tesco Mobile, United International Pictures, ViacomCBS and many more.

In addition to the virtual meetings, delegates had the opportunity to ‘attend’ streamed webinar sessions hosted by industry experts.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown restrictions associated with it have had a major impact on how we, as a nation, do business,” said Forum Events & Media Group Managing Director Sarah Beall. “Exhibitions are postponed, traditional conferences and networking events are on hold for the foreseeable future. But the wheels of commerce must keep turning and businesses need to connect, particularly during these unprecedented times as companies look for practical solutions to their challenges during the pandemic.

“Like many of our colleagues in the events sector, we have a goal to #GetBritainMeeting. The events industry is a £70 billion sector that employs 700,000 people and is currently on its knees, with no ‘go date’ yet from the Government about when we can host live events.

“The events industry is full of forward-thinking individuals who are more than capable of making controlled, organised events and exhibitions COVID-secure. But with no greenlight from the Government, we cannot sit back and wait. We are creative and innovative thinkers and, like many other events businesses, we have taken our events virtual.

“The success of our first virtual events has proved that business connections can still be made in an online environment. Over 550 meetings in two days shows the potential – and we’re looking forward to hearing back from our guests about the business deals that are made as a result of this event.”

Further virtual events are on the agenda at Forum, while going forward the company is also planning ‘hybrid’ events allowing delegates to choose whether they attend the events in person or via a digital option.

In addition, Forum Events & Media Group hosted two full-day conferences recently – the Hotel Designs LIVE event aimed at hoteliers, interior designers and architects; and the PA Life LIVE conference, which brought together Executive and Personal Assistants for a full day of learning. Both digital conferences also featured ‘supplier pitch’ sessions, allowing companies to present their products, services and solutions to the respective audiences. The Hotel Designs LIVE and PA Life LIVE digital conferences will return again in the autumn.

Reconnect with your peers at the Energy Management Summit

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Join 60 of your fellow energy management professionals this October – either in person or virtually!

With the increasing amount of challenges that the energy industry is facing, looking for new innovative and cost effective solutions is key.

The Energy Management Summit gives you 1-2-1 access to a range of suppliers and their solutions.

5th & 6th October – Radisson Blu Hotel, London Stansted.

Your attendance is entirely complimentary and includes overnight accommodation, access to LIVE seminar sessions, pre-recorded industry webinars, 1-2-1 meetings with innovative suppliers, all meals and refreshments. 

Plus, you can network with fellow peers who share your challenges, including those from;

Optivo
KFC
Places Leisure
Deliveroo
UBS
Hitachi Rail
Dunbia
The Royal Mint
UCL
NHS National Services Scotland
Bracebridge Holdings Ltd
Sussex Estates Facilities LLP
Hovis
Greater London Authority
The National Motorcycle Museum

Be prepared for every eventuality – Click here to secure your free place

Or contact us if you have any questions – Virtual attendance options are available.

BT’s Water Journey: An Interview with Matthew Power, Utilities Commercial Specialist

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In the latest instalment of our industry executive interview series, we spoke to Matthew Power (pictured, below), Utilities Commercial Specialist at BT, about his company’s water needs and how the organisation is working with Waterscan to transform its management and usage…

Matthew, tell us about BT’s experience of water before the market opened. We have a large property portfolio but individually our sites tend not to use much water. Many unmanned sites have only welfare facilities that are used occasionally. From a management perspective, the nature of such a property portfolio has caused a few issues. For example, it has meant that many meters were not being read regularly so our ability to manage leakage and accruals for water charges was limited. Also, the sheer quantity of supplies and regional water suppliers we were dealing with meant that we were processing huge numbers of paper bills – a manual and very time-consuming administrative process.

So, how did BT approach the open water market? What were you looking to achieve? Initially we tendered for a single retailer so that we could reduce the administrative burden of multiple suppliers and paper billing and to try to ensure more regular meter reads. However, we were very surprised to receive no bids from the invited retailers, so we started to look at other options. 

We had worked with Waterscan for a long time on various projects and saw how the team there were partnering with other large organisations to self-supply and began to realise that this route could potentially solve many of our issues too. The opportunities arising from becoming a market participant and helping to shape the water market’s development as a self-supplier also appealed to us.

What has been achieved since? We received our licence at the end of 2018 and began switching our supply points over in a staged programme organised by their team from the following June. To date, 6,513 supply points have been successfully switched, with just a handful remaining. We have automated a lot of the payment processes now too, and this is saving us significant administrative costs. The tangible benefits of this approach have been such that we decided to move our EE portfolio over to this model too and these supply points are currently in transition.

One of our greatest achievements is that the vast majority of our water meters have now been located, verified and read, which means that we have accurate benchmark consumption data on which we can base future strategic decisions. The industry terms a ‘long-unread meter’ as one that has not been read for a year or more and we have reduced BT’s level from 25% to 5% of our meters. I understand that no-one else in the water market has achieved such a feat. In fact, our large number of supply points means that BT is equivalent to a large retailer in the market and we’re currently outperforming all these – unexpected, but really pleasing!

Why are long-unread meters such a problem? For us, being a good water steward means we need good data to manage our usage. If meters are not being read regularly and accurately, this reduces our ability to spot leakages, ultimately increasing our burden on the water networks and wasting resources. What’s more, when leaks are detected, a large catch-up bill that we have not accounted for tends to follow and this makes controlling our water spend much harder.

As a result of our improved water consumption data, we have already identified and repaired a number of large underground leaks and we have also been able to start assessing the consumption impact of a planned roll-out of new cooling systems that use mains water.

Self-supply has been a successful strategy for other companies too: why do you think this is? As mentioned, self-supply puts you in control of your meter reads, but it also gives you access to central market data which means a greater ability to monitor and manage usage and ensure accurate charges. Through our MOSL membership and having more direct contact with Ofwat and other market participants through the Self-Supply Users Forum, we also now have a broader understanding of the challenges the market faces and how these could impact our own operations. This gives us an unparalleled opportunity to plan for, and mitigate, these risks. 

What is BT’s next set of priorities and how will these be achieved? While BT is not a particularly large water user, we do have systems installed at many sites that rely on mains water, particularly in hot weather, so good water stewardship is particularly important to us. 

We are keen to look more specifically at our sites in water-stressed catchment areas so we can help resilience efforts and review contingency plans for sites that are at the highest risk of a water outage. Good data and automation of processes are key for us to achieve this.

From a wider perspective, we are extremely interested to see how the water market develops. Where we can exert our influence to ensure that it continues to improve for customers, we are keen to do so. 

Having achieved so much in such a short space of time, what lessons can other organisations learn from BT’s approach to the water market? Based on our experience, I expect that most large organisations should be able to realise benefits from engaging with the water market and I would advise them to investigate all the options available. For us, partnering with Waterscan to self-supply proved to be the optimal solution to help us manage our water usage and spend and, because we now have complete control, the journey to date has already delivered benefits that we hadn’t anticipated.

www.waterscan.com

Reviewing water contracts could lead to significant cost savings

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By World Kinect Energy Services

The English water market is now the most competitive it has ever been. By switching supplier, you could save more on your water bills than ever before. Ofwat recently revised non-domestic water retail prices, which determined the prices water retailers can charge during the next regulatory period from 1 April 2020, and now is the time to take advantage.

Review your water contract now and benefit from: 

  • discounts on your water bills
  • money savings
  • reassurance you have the best deal on your water.

To benefit from competitively priced water contracts, contact the World Kinect Energy Services water team here: https://world-kinect.com/Customer-Solutions/water-management-procurement-services. 

Government pledges £80 million to help cut emissions from homes and industry

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Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng has announced nearly £80 million of government investment to help cut carbon emissions from homes and energy intensive businesses.

The funding will be invested in a wide range of programmes, including pioneering heat network trials and an innovative new programme to bring down the cost of retrofitting residential properties with the latest energy efficiency technologies.

Funds announced include:

  • £30 million towards the first phase of the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), which supports energy intensive manufacturers, like car factories and steel plants, to cut their carbon footprint
  • £25 million for heat networks, which reduce carbon and cut heating bills for customers, including one which will harness geothermal water sitting in disused mines to heat 1,250 homes
  • £24 million for innovative projects to help develop energy efficient homes by installing green tech and insulation in houses

Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said: “We want to invest now to ensure we continue to propel the UK towards a stronger, greener future. This new £80 million investment will help to reduce emissions across our economy, which will save people money on energy bills and protect jobs in heavy industry.”

Phase 1 of the IETF is worth an initial £30 million in support of the manufacturing sector. The fund allows companies with high energy use to apply for grants to install technology that reduces their energy bills and cuts carbon emissions.

Worth an eventual £289 million in England, Wales and Northern Ireland up until 2024, the IETF also seeks to help bring down the costs of technologies that reduce energy consumption and emissions in heavy industrial processes.

£25 million will go towards heat networks, including one in Gateshead, which will harness hot geothermal water sitting in disused mines to heat 1,250 homes. With thousands of redundant mine shafts criss-crossing the country, experts say that if the mine shaft technology proves successful and economically viable, it could be scaled up to power around 6 million homes around Britain.

The final £24 million green homes investment will comprise of:

  • £7.7 million to install green technology and insulation in over 300 council houses, to bring down the cost of retrofitting homes – with pilot projects in Cornwall, Nottingham, and Sutton
  • £14.6 million to pilot the roll-out of innovative heat pumps to 750 homes in the South East of Scotland, the South East of England and Newcastle
  • £1.8 million to support the development of innovative green home finance products by lenders.

The announcements today form part of the wider efforts to ensure the UK meets its legally binding target to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Do you specialise in Data Collection & Management? We want to hear from you!

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Each month on Energy Management Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on a different part of the market – and in July we’ll be focussing on Data Collection & Management Solutions.

It’s all part of our ‘Recommended’ editorial feature, designed to help energy management buyers find the best products and services available today.

So, if you’re a supplier of Data Collection & Management Solutions and would like to be included as part of this exciting new shop window, we’d love to hear from you – for more info, contact Lisa Rose on 01992 374077 / l.rose@forumevents.co.uk.

Our features list in full:

Jul – Data Collection & Management
Aug – Waste Management
Sep – Solar PV
Oct – Lighting
Nov Heating & Ventilation
Dec – Utility Management

Attend the Energy Management Summit in person or virtually

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With the increasing amount of challenges that the energy industry is facing, looking for new innovative and cost effective solutions is key.

The Energy Management Summit gives you 1-2-1 access to a range of suppliers and their solutions.

5th & 6th October – Radisson Blu Hotel, London Stansted.

Your attendance is entirely complimentary and includes overnight accommodation, access to LIVE seminar sessions, pre-recorded industry webinars, 1-2-1 meetings with innovative suppliers, all meals and refreshments. 

Plus, you can network with fellow peers who share your challenges, including those from;

Optivo
KFC
Places Leisure
Deliveroo
UBS
Hitachi Rail
Dunbia
The Royal Mint
UCL
NHS National Services Scotland
Bracebridge Holdings Ltd
Sussex Estates Facilities LLP
Hovis
Greater London Authority
The National Motorcycle Museum

Be prepared for every eventuality – Click here to secure your free place

Virtual attendance options are available.

‘Superfunds’ should drive Britain’s green future, says think tank

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New British pension ‘superfunds’ should be created to invest in infrastructure for country’s green recovery.

That’s the view of the Social Market Foundation, which also says that ministers preparing for a ‘green recovery’ from coronavirus should be ready to take more risks and spend public money up front to support innovative ‘pathfinder’ infrastructure projects and new renewable energy markets in their early stages.

The cross-party think tank says building new roads, power sources and communications networks could create much-needed jobs and make Britain’s economy more productive and resilient, with priority given to “shovel-ready” projects that support domestic supply chains and employment.

In a new report, the SMF identified pension reform as the key to financing and funding new infrastructure.

Ministers should encourage UK pension funds to merge into fewer, larger funds able to invest large sums in big long-term projects, the SMF said, citing Australia and Canada, where such funds have successfully delivered major infrastructure investments.

The government launched consultations on pension consolidation and the creation of “superfunds” in 2018 and 2019, but despite Boris Johnson’s previous support for the plans, ministers have yet to announce decisions.

The SMF said that the need to support an economic recovery with infrastructure projects meant “urgent action” is now needed on pension reform.

Investment rules should also be reformed to allow the new funds to pay the management fees often involved in running big infrastructure projects, the SMF said in a report setting out how to get more private money into big UK projects.

The SMF report was sponsored by Tidal Power Limited, which is pursuing plans to build a fleet of new tidal lagoons to generate power for the UK grid.

The report draws on a roundtable discussion among parliamentarians, former officials, investors and academics. Based on that event, the SMF concluded that politicians must offer much greater certainty and financial clarity to investors about the profits they can make from funding infrastructure projects.

Such profits should be energetically explained to voters as a necessary condition of private financing of public infrastructure, the SMF said. Political pressure to eliminate profits from private finance deals helps deter investment in infrastructure, the report found.

Politicians’ determination to minimise taxpayer costs by asking the market to fund new projects is also limiting Britain’s ability to build new infrastructure projects, the SMF said.

To support the economic recovery, government should be prepared to take more risks by spending directly to support new “pathfinder” projects that would then be replicated by private investors if they succeed.

The SMF also recommended:

  • A cross-party commission with an independent chair should be created to establish a “strategic vision” of the UK’s infrastructure needs over at least the next decade. Parties taking part in the commission should give public commitments to ensure financial and regulatory support for the projects identified in the vision.
  • An urgent review of planning regulations should be undertaken with the aim of reducing planning risk for investors. This could include narrowing the scope for Judicial Review of projects identified as top priorities by the new cross-party commission.

Richard Hyde, Senior Researcher at the SMF said: “The best way to support the infrastructure the country urgently needs in the long-run is to make better use of the billions of pounds held in pension funds that could be profitably invested in helping Britain on its way to a green recovery. Ministers should move quickly to encourage the creation of pension superfunds like those in Australia and Canada.

“In the short-term, ministers looking to get infrastructure projects up and running and providing jobs should be prepared to spend directly to support pathfinders that can prove to investors that it is safe to invest in similar projects. That means taxpayers bearing more of the risk, but the long-term rewards justify that risk.” 

Forum adds virtual events to B2B portfolio

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Forum Events and Media Group, organiser of face-to-face meetings-based events like the Energy Management Summit, is launching a series of new Virtual Forums.

For over 20 years Forum has been bringing together procurement decision-makers with suppliers for pre-arranged meetings and networking at its Forums and Summits. These events have generated £millions of new business agreements between buyers and suppliers over the years.

With live events unable to take place for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Forum has expanded its cutting-edge proprietary software to create a new interface with live video meetings. This has allowed the company to create a virtual Forum platform, taking the events experience virtual. It will allow procurement executives to source new solutions, and give suppliers the opportunity to discover new clients – and ultimately, keep industries talking.

“During this unprecedented time, we have chosen to redirect our focus from live events to virtual so that we can still deliver expectations to our supporting exhibitors and create a platform to meet with high calibre decision makers face-to-face,” explained Forum Events and Media Group MD Sarah Beall.

“We cannot wait to welcome attendees back to our live events from September and have implemented a COVID-safe risk assessment at all our venues, ensuring the two-meter rule throughout, introducing temperature check and reduced numbers, but still creating the same professional and informal atmosphere of buyers and suppliers.”

“We are prepared and ready to kickstart our Forums from this month across four industries via our virtual platform. And we will continue to serve industries’ supply and demand by holding hybrid live and virtual events that are COVID-safe throughout the coming months.”

The first four virtual meeting events from Forum Events and Media Group will be:-

  • Total Security Summit – June 29th
  • Security IT Summit – June 30th
  • eTailing Summit – July 6th
  • Digital Marketing Solutions Summit – July 16th

Forum Events and Media Group is working alongside other UK events industry to promote the #GetBritainMeeting initiative aimed at kickstarting the events sector in a safe and sustainable way. The events industry employs some 700,000 people across the UK and contributes over £70 billion to the UK economy every year.

For more information, visit www.forumevents.co.uk.

Energy Management Summit: Secure your place today!

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We have a place, plus overnight accommodation, reserved for you – for FREE – at this October’s Energy Management Summit.

Can you confirm your attendance? – Click here to save your place!

5th & 6th October – Radisson Blu Hotel, London Stansted.

  • Full hospitality – Enjoy free overnight accommodation that including all meals and refreshments over the duration of the event.
  • LIVE Seminars – Attend LIVE topical seminar sessions led by industry thought leaders and gain access to additional industry webinars.
  • Industry Webinars – As well as the seminars, your pass gives you access to additional industry webinars, relevant to your role.
  • Prepare for every eventuality – We can build you a bespoke 1-2-1 itinerary of relaxed, no hard sell meetings with innovative and budget savings suppliers who match your requirements.
  • Save time and money – We will handle everything for you, by arranging all your personalised meetings prior to the event based on your requirements, all you need to do is arrive and enjoy.

Secure your complimentary place here.

Social Distancing Measures;
We are abiding by social distancing rules to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our event attendees and staff. The event will have restricted attendee numbers, pre-arranged meetings and clear floor markings throughout. Meeting booths now allow for a 2-meter gap with a clear partition screen between both participants, as well as other forms of prevention.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information by clicking here.