FOCUS UK 2010 - Q3

In this issue:

• SSA UK News
• News Features 
  • Wokingham & Emmbrook
    • Football fun is coming home after a self storage firm donated £676 to a local club’s sports programme for children. Wokingham & Emmbrook Youth Football Club celebrated its fundraising partnership with Ready Steady Store in Molly Millar’s Lane, when it collected the cheque at the end of season prize-giving.
  • Big Yellow “in the black”
    • Big Yellow Group, the UK’s leading self storage brand, posted pre-tax profits of £10.2m for the year to the end of March, 2010 compared to a loss of £71.5m the previous year.
  • Armadillo helps St. Luke’s Painted elephants displayed
    • Armadillo Self Storage is helping St. Luke’s Hospice out of a tight squeeze. Space is always tight at the hospice in Little Common Lane, Sheffield; so, the Parkway Avenue branch of Armadillo, which is part of the Big Yellow Self Storage Group, has donated space worth up to £2,000
  • Quickstore’s Charity Parachute Jump
    • Three employees from Quickstore Self Storage, which is based in Devon, are raising money for a local hospice.
  • Pound Gates - Risk Service Provide
    • Pound Gates is delighted to have been chosen as a winner in the 2010 StrategicRISK European Risk Management Awards. It won the Risk Service Provider of the Year category
  • Steel Storage Staks Up
    • Steel Storage launched its newest innovation, Steel Stak, at the 2010 BAR Conference and Trade Show in Bristol.
  • PTI Integrated Systems changes name
  • Haiti Disaster Relief
    • After the devastating earthquake in Haiti on the 12th of January, 2010 Chateau Products flew 18 ft. x 24 ft. tarpaulins from Venice, Florida to Haiti on a special charter plane set up by Agape Flights
  • Ready Steady Store has a big heart
    • The Friends of Sandall Park said a massive thank you to Ready Steady Store on Wheatley Hall Road, Doncaster, for its substantial donation which it was hoped would allow Music in the Park to go ahead in June this year
  • Marketing manager pedals for charity
    • Jonas Witt, UK Marketing Manager for Safestore, took part in the Tour de Vale Bike Ride in June to raise money for the disability charity Scope
  • Safestore in European Business Awards
    • Safestore has been selected to represent the UK in The European Business Awards 2010. Chosen as one of 25 Country Representatives, Safestore will be competing for the coveted Ruban d’Honneur in the next round of the competition.
  • Safestore supports “Trees for Cities”
    • Safestore has joined forces with independent charity “Trees for Cities” to kick-start the Street Tree Programme, which involves local communities planting trees in their respective boroughs as part of a national urban regeneration initiative. The first of these plantings took place on the 16th of March at Colman’s Wharf in Tower Hamlets
  • Adoption, maternity and paternity pay
  • From start-up to established brand
    • Suffolk-based self storage company, HomeStore, is going from strength to strength, despite the current harsh economic climate. The company is preparing to open a third facility alongside the A12 in the Lowestoft area, in the north of the county
  • BiG Storage sponsors Rhino Mania
    • BiG Storage won two awards in June at the European Self Storage awards ceremony in Berlin: UK Facility of the Year and Support to the Community 2010.
  • U Can Store It celebrates its 10th
    • U Can Store It Self Storage celebrated its 10th Birthday in style on Saturday the 3rd of July, when it held a Birthday Party to honour the occasion at its self storage facility in Aldridge
  • Safestore’s half year results
    • Safestore recently announced its financial results for the six months to the 30th of April, 2010 which showed that the business has continued to do well, with rental rate and occupancy growth in both the UK and Paris, despite the prevailing market conditions.
  • Alligator Self Storage are on track
    • In February this year, Alligator Self Storage acquired twelve storage facilities, which had previously been managed by Storage King, from Macquarie Bank.
  • Red Self Storage promotes
• Insurance Features
  • Tendering for Success
    • In the current challenging climate, it makes sense for all businesses to take time out to think about finding new customers; so, why not tender for local and national government tenders?
  • Self Storage security – no compromise
    • Wounded by a weak economy and rising unemployment, the UK is now gripped by another challenging phenomena borne out of recession; a “credit crunch crime wave”. The scars left by a raging recession run deep
• Company Features
  • Easy Access Self Storage
    • A charity family fun day, held by Easy Access Self Storage in Manchester, has raised over £1,500 for three leading North West cancer charities. 
  • Safestore wins Space Maker
    • On the 28th of April, after a long and competitive tendering process against a number of major operators, Safestore Self Storage announced that it had won a six year management contract to run the Space Maker business, which comprises twelve self storage facilities and a removals company.
  • Apex Self Storage
    • Apex Self Storage’s staff and family members, including Dave Sheen (Manager), his wife Jade, Donna Owen (Assistant Manager), her husband Gary, Colin Powel (Maintenance) and his son Scott, attended the Prestwich Carnival and Grand Parade in North Manchester, on the 20th of June
• Conference Berlin 2013
• Employment Feature
  • Statement of Fitness for work
    • In April, 2010 Sick Notes (or Med 3 and Med 5 Medical Statements) were replaced by the Statement of Fitness for Work, or “Fit Note”. The new Fit Note allows doctors to advise not only that the employee is unfit for work (as previously) but to advise that the employee “may” be fit for work, if they get suitable support from their employer