Piccadilly and St James’s
Operational Review
& Outlook 2014
Our Purpose
Heart of London Business Alliance’s purpose is to support the commercial wellbeing of the businesses we represent. By working together as one distinctive and articulate voice, we are delivering greater influence and impact with those who govern and shape our political, cultural and trading environment. Through a clearly defined and bespoke strategy we are marketing this prestigious area to both domestic and international audiences to reach luxury shoppers and brands globally
Your Priorities 2012 – 2017
• Communicating a collective business voice to influence public authorities
• Destination marketing to reinforce Piccadilly and St James’s as a world class destination
• Delivering signature events • Devising operational cost savings • Enhancing the quality of the environment • Ensuring integrated street management • Generating better communications, intelligence and market research for business
• Optimising the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
I’ve been impressed by the variety and scope
of the events staged by the Heart of London
Business Alliance and I’ve found them to be a
helpful and valuable forum, not only for bringing
local businesses together as a community, but
in particular to share important knowledge and
information about events and changes underway
in this vibrant area of London.
Jeremy Palmer
First Secretary (Management) New Zealand High Commission London
“
Focus for 2014/15
Influencing the agenda
Through communicating a strong, united business voice on the wide range of issues you prioritised to meet our collective ambitions and effect positive change for the area
In 2014/15 we plan to:
• Work collaboratively with property owners to initiate the UK’s first Property Owner Business Improvement District once legislation is confirmed. A five year Business Plan will enhance the long term vitality of our area through better localised control of the management of the public realm, ambitious projects and greater influence to support investment and improvements
• Play an active, effective role as Board members of the West End Partnership (WEP) influencing decisions on public realm investment and delivery, strategic transport and infrastructure, marketing and promotion and improving the evening and night-time experience within our area. We will work to define and deliver key outputs and priorities within distinct timescales
• Continue to take a proactive role as associate and funding members of the UK China Visa Alliance lobbying government to reduce visa constraints. Having successfully persuaded the government to consider streamlining the application process for Schengen and UK visas, the next objective will be to discuss other streamlining initiatives with the Home Office and produce a report with new proposals
• Champion Place Management
Re-investment Models for public spaces in the West End providing a mechanism to ring-fence revenue sources to fund services essential to provide high
quality maintenance of these public spaces. Influence the WEP to consider the model and secure endorsement for Leicester Square as an initial pilot area
The benefits being delivered for this
area and Farlows through Heart of
London Business Alliance are very
clear. The updates on tube strikes,
security alerts, shoplifting, roadworks
and many other topics are timely
and to the point. For this reason we
voluntarily contribute to the BID and
will continue to do so as it continues
to forge ahead with greater influence
and impact.
Richard Kingston Managing Director Farlows“
“
Place Management
Through effective management of our area, have the best managed street environment, best quality public realm and the most prepared area for business resilience
In 2014/15 we plan to:
• Provide the best Managed Street Environment through helping reduce the number of entrenched rough sleepers on area streets; elevating pressure for a ban or legislative approach on pedi-cabs; improving the time required in addressing loose pavements, blocked drains and other items of concern on footways and carriageways
• Adjust the hours and resource capacity of the Heart of London Ambassador Street Teams to address the priority street issues and provide genuinely tailored and Integrated Street Management • Support Public Realm Projects and finalise the Street Study to identify street improvements; advocate funding for projects that enhance Piccadilly’s North Side with Mayfair links focusing on Stratton Street, Berkeley Street, Dover Street, Old Bond Street,
Sackville Street and Burlington Gardens. Advocate street improvements for Jermyn Street St James’s with Mayfair Links, including the entire length of Jermyn Street (from St James’s Street to Haymarket) and around the vicinity of Arlington Street. Engage with businesses on Regent Street St James’s, Charles II Street and Haymarket, regarding up- coming construction as part of the Piccadilly Two-Way Part II Scheme • Support Business Resilience by being the most prepared area through providing quarterly counter-terrorism events and updates and enhancing the Radio Link system to support businesses in being emergency-ready. We will advocate improved two-way communication between authorities and businesses during incidents of emergency through our work with the Cross-Sector Safety and Security Communications Hub
• Encourage further business participation to join the Safer WestEnd Business Partnership to access their secure intranet site that facilitates the information sharing of criminal intelligence, which businesses would otherwise be unable to access
We appreciate having the West End
Ambassador team on our street,
helping us by meeting regularly to
talk through issues as they arise
and dealing with things efficiently in
real time. Their presence has made
a genuine difference.
“
“
Richard Harvie Owner and Director Harvie & Hudson
Positioning and promoting
Supporting business and firmly positioning the Piccadilly and St James’s area on the international and national stage through delivering confident and effective campaigns to increase footfall, dwell time and spend
In 2014/15 we plan to:
• Progress Destination Piccadilly & St James’s. Following the detailed research and analysis with businesses, we have defined the positioning of the area and will develop this further in line with The Crown Estate St James’s London Strategy to devise a three year programme of activity to reflect the distinctive attributes driving footfall, spend, reputation, confidence and investment
• Develop strategic business partners to strengthen impact of the London Luxury Quarter initiative. Focus on target markets to welcome and encourage visitor specifically to attract high-net-worth individuals. Raise the profile through specific events and publications for the media, brands and visitors and develop our presence in China with increased media and social
media activity
• Deliver the three year West End Marketing Plan with strategic partners including London & Partners and the West End Partnership, adopting a greater strategic and analytical approach to maximise visitor spend through integrated programmes • Support businesses with Online Promotional Activity through various marketing channels to increase awareness
Connecting with you
Be the most engaged business community in the West End
In 2014/15 we plan to:
• Host four Thought Leadership Events with experts to knowledge-share, particularly for the office sector with industry experts as speakers
• Stage customised Sector Forums ensuring all sectors within our area are kept fully informed and provide the opportunity for two-way feedback
• Stage Bespoke Events to inform and engage – ensuring relevant individuals from our varying stakeholders are present to advise, update and to overcome hurdles collaboratively
• Deliver regular, relevant and timely e-communications covering street works or protests through to premieres and opportunities; ensure our website provides vital and up-to-date intelligence; engage on a personal one-to-one basis to maintain our solid partnerships with you • Work with Street Associations to enhance the BID area
Reporting and Evaluating
Be the definitive source for tracking and sharing business performance
In 2014/15 we plan to:
• Track and share business performance to populate London’s West End: Review & Outlook publication which tracks and comments on the area
• Launch the Retail Sales Index, develop the Food & Beverage Sales Index and install footflow cameras to present further intelligence for the area
Driving down costs
Through specialist procurement and economies of scale, ensuring we deliver genuine added value and tangible economic benefit
In 2014/15 we plan to:
• Complete the study of the Co-ordination of Business Deliveries funded by The Crown Estate and Transport for London, to encourage efficiencies in deliveries to area businesses to reduce costs and noise and improve the street environment • Introduce a Preferred Supplier
Scheme to provide cost savings from offers applicable to all sectors including offices, retail, hospitality and attractions
• Revise the preferred Waste Management supplier offer to members with focus on cost savings, helping move closer to zero to landfill handling of waste and minimising the impact of waste collection vehicles on area streets
• Expand on the success of the WOW Privilege Card scheme that provides area employees with savings on food, shopping, entertainment, leisure and experience at member businesses
As a new business
within the area, our
staff have already
signed up to the WOW
incentive card scheme
and are enjoying some
of the great added
value offers, in addition
to providing an offer
ourselves.
Angus Agnew Front of House Manager Villandry St James’s
“
Looking Back at 2013/14
This year Heart of London have developed a suite of materials comprising London’s West End Reflection 2013/14; this bespoke Operational Review and Outlook and individualised Service Summary Reports for each business, reviewing what we have provided and each business’s uptake of, and involvement with, those services. Here is a synopsis of various projects and services that we have delivered over the past year. Further details are available on our corporate website: www.heartoflondonbid.co.ukInfluencing the Agenda
• Established a Leadership and Steering Group led by Land Securities to champion the concept of a Property Owner BID to be the first in the UK. Now awaiting confirmation of formal BID regulations due October 2014
• Ensured active participation as members of the West End Partnership Board, working across four of the established Working Groups defining objectives
Public Realm: adding value through identifying and catalysing priority projects and setting out holistic principles for what improvementsshould be achieving for the West End; Improving the time experience: defining the distinction between evening and night-time economies and how this impacts on the West End brand and the group’s role in providing guidance on costs and benefits; Marketing and Promotion: defining relationship between West End Marketing Alliance and West End partnership and forging a productive strategic relationship with London & Partners; Strategic transport and infrastructure: responsible for producing and overseeing a cross- organisational strategy highlighting opportunities to improve transport services and reduce traffic alongside the implementation of Crossrail 1 and emerging proposals for Crossrail 2, High Speed 2, bus and underground routes
• Played an active membership role in the UK China Visa Alliance helping successfully persuade government of the need to streamline the application process for Schengen and UK visas in China. UK visas issued to Chinese visitors grew by 40% (Oct ’12-Sept ‘13) up to 284,000. The aim is to enable Chinese visitors to apply for both UK and Schengen visas at the same time and place. In October the Chancellor announced in Beijing a pilot to allow major Chinese tour operators to use one form to apply for both visas
• Enhanced communication regarding Protests and Demonstrations providing more advance warning for businesses with co-ordinated plans in place for the day and full debriefing of impact post-event
Place Management
• Continued to deliver effective Integrated Street Management with a dedicated Street Manager and a Street Team of 11. Between January and December 2013, the West End Ambassadors completed 3,545 business visits, reporting 5,383 issues • Hosted three contingency planning events providing Business Resilience Support; represented businesses on the Sector Safety & Security Communications Hub Board and upgraded the Radio Link scheme with better signal strength and improved policing monitoring • Joined the Safer WestEnd Partnership which resulted in upgrades to the Radio Link system and the introduction of the DISC online crime reporting system • Progressed Rough Sleeping as a priority issue with active participation from businesses, providing impact statements which assist relevant organisations to deal with issues
• Continued work on the Streets Study identifying projects to improve the streetscape including side streets • Ensured provision of Weekly Cleaning of urination-affected areas which on average impacts 32 businesses
Neil Braude Hotel Manager The Cavendish London
“
“
Contingency planning is a vital
element of the work we value
from Heart of London Business
Alliance. We were pleased to
host the first interactive event
through Project ARGUS and
will be looking to attend and
support further events.
Positioning and Promoting
• Hosted a series of structured workshops, interviews and surveys with business members, property owners and stakeholders reference Destination Piccadilly & St James’s, resulting in positioning statement of ‘Piccadilly & St James’s – at the heart of London’s story’. Sitting behind the statement are 10 brand values which are in line with St James’s Strategy which are now being developed into the marketing plan to bring this positioning to life
• Our Vice Chair represented London Luxury Quarter and accompanied Mayor of London, Boris Johnson on the trip to China in October to introduce the London Luxury Quarter to Chinese media and stakeholders and to lobby Government to simplify the Chinese visa application system on behalf of the UK China Visa Alliance (UKCVA). This trip resulted in approximately 240 endorsements online and print media • London Luxury Quarter also exhibited in Los Angeles in March 2013 as part of Visit Britain’s GREAT campaign
• Hosted a London Luxury Quarter Roundtable focusing on Luxury Art & Jewellery with lead speakers from the industry and the Financial Times luxury journalist Claire Adler, producing a publication and exclusive article in FT Watches & Jewellery supplement. Further coverage secured in the New York Times, a broadcast interview on BBC London, 10 online features including Bloomberg and Evening Standard with a total circulation of 23,541,224, advertising equivalent value of £60,600 and PR value of £212,100
• As platinum partner with London & Partners the Shop London campaign in September resulted in 213,000 visits to the shopping section on visitlondon.com; Shop London posts reached 835,248 via Facebook, 7,155 referrals from our shopping tagged Facebook and Twitter posts (4.5 times that of previous months); 289,907 shopping themed emails delivered and print circulation reached 200,000 worldwide • Raised the profile for our area with strategic partner, Time Out, with advertorial copy for eight consecutive weeks within their magazine with a reach
of 305,757. Produced a tailored dining guide for the West End with 100,000 bound into magazine and distributed through leisure businesses
• Maintained our on-line representation through the London West End brand with 96,000 hits to the website, 4,500 Facebook fans and 32,000 followers on Twitter. Ran a Christmas Twitter advent calendar throughout December with prizes donated from business members • Co-funded Festive Light Scheme for Jermyn Street
• Instigated research and conducted feasibiity study for Lumiére Piccadilly, a cultural lighting installation for 2016
We have found
contributing to the
Destination Strategy for
Piccadilly & St James’s
very positive and look
forward to seeing the
plan in action.
“
“
Corbin & King
Connecting with You
• Continued to engage with you and included you in 44 Events and networking opportunities to share experience, best practice and knowledge
• Hosted 57 Sector and Issue Specific forums
• Managed and updated the Website which this past year has had over 31,000 hits • Issued 335 e-communications keeping businesses up to date and informed • Worked with Street Associations to enhance the BID area
Reporting and Evaluating
• Launched our annual London’s West End: Review and Outlook which tracked and commented on the trends for West End trade and investments. Over 200 business and leisure leaders attended the launch to hear views from an expert panel of Britain’s leading economists and industry leaders
• Developed the Retail Sales Index with a greater reach of businesses involved and installed footflow cameras to present further intelligence for the area
Driving down Costs
• Operated an effective Recycling Scheme with 55 participating businesses with 371,540 kg of waste recycled
• Commissioned the study for encouraging efficiencies in Business Deliveries to reduce costs and noise and to improve the street environment, funded by The Crown Estate and Transport for London
• Ensured the continued success of the WOW Privilege Scheme, introduced the ‘app’ which achieved 700 downloads. 15,000 cards are now in circulation with 80 offers on the scheme
It’s vital for us as a business to be able to track our performance
in context to the overall market in what has been historically a
volatile market sector. We are therefore pleased to play our part
in providing information for the Food & Beverage Sales Index
which tracks percentage increases in sales month on month
and provides businesses in this sector with helpful feedback on
benchmarking and trend forecasting.
“
“
Tony LincolnEuropean Sales and Marketing Director Planet Hollywood
Provision for Street Associations - 3% Management - 17%
Reporting & Evaluating - 7% Connecting with you - 4% Place Management - 31% Driving down costs - 7% Positioning & Promoting - 24% Influencing the agenda - 8%
74% - Levy
12% - Contributions 14% - Other
Projected BID Budget 2014 - 2015
76% - Levy
14% - Contributions 10% - Contingency & Other Provision for Street Associations - 3%
Management - 14% Reporting & Evaluating - 9% Connecting with you - 5% Place Management - 27% Driving down costs - 6% Positioning & Promoting - 19% Influencing the agenda - 17%
Notes:
Total income for 2013-14 was £936,000. Total expenditure for 2013-14 was £921,000.
Projected BID Budget 2014-15
Notes:
Budget figures are based on the anticipated levy income. Assumed 0.03% annual inflationary increase and 95% levy collection rate.
Expenditure headings correlate with business plan. Voluntary income confirmed for 2014-15, assumed assured for subsequent years.
Contingency based upon 10% of BID levy, with 5% returned to budget at 3rd quarter.
