The final Rochdale Ambassador’s webinar of 2020

Posted by on 7 Dec 2020

Our final Rochdale Ambassador’s webinar of 2020 seemed a fitting moment to assess a momentous year and look forward to better times ahead

So that was the year that was. At the final Rochdale Ambassador’s event of 2020, an impressive panel of speakers attempted to make sense of the year nobody saw coming, and look forward to the 12 months ahead.

Inevitably it was, to some extent, a session of uncomfortable truths. Steve Rumbelow, chief executive of Rochdale Borough Council, talked of the 5,470 extra Rochdale residents claiming out of work benefits.

Karen and Gavin Reynolds, directors at recruitment business Recruitment Solutions North West, looked back to a period at the start of the pandemic when their business was barely scraping by.

And Tom Matthew, director at food services business Dunsters Farm, said the small family firm had lost £100,000 in April alone. “There’s no doubt that it was a traumatic time for a high volume, low margin business,” he added.

Rochdale’s cooperative DNA

But without wanting to sugarcoat an extremely challenging year, there were upsides to 2020 as well. Paul Dixon, chair of This is Rochdale, talked of the borough “rediscovering its DNA and the spirit of the Rochdale pioneers.” That cooperative spirit came to the fore in the 30 local businesses that offered help when a local hospice needed PPE.

It was there, Paul continued, in the public/private partnerships that thrive in the borough, exemplified by the work of the Rochdale Development Agency (RDA).

And for some local businesses, the pandemic did not prove an impediment to growth. Daniel del Soldato, head of communication at site security solutions business WCCTV, said that growth had not slowed in 2020. In fact, the business opened a new site in Scotland in May.

As with all businesses, Covid forced WCCTV to put social distancing measures in place, and it had rented a second manufacturing premises in Rochdale and additional vehicles to ensure the safety of its employees. Its efforts gave staff the confidence to come into work, and, said Daniel “we did not stop communicating with customers during Covid, even if we were using different methods like webinars.” The result is a busy order book for 2021 and beyond.

Participating in the Covid response

BES Ltd is another local success story. The business makes clean rooms and laboratories for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and biotech industries, so it was perhaps the right business at the right time when Covid struck. BES has been heavily involved in the UK’s Covid response, including fitting out the new Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (VMIC) in Oxfordshire, which is being fast-tracked for early completion in 2021 due to the pandemic.

But the business was busy before Covid, and managing director Steve Marsh said the company’s order book is already full for the next two years. BES has taken on 35 new people in the last six months. Marketing manager Sandra Stepniak said that success is down to “a collaborative approach, the investment we have made in software skills, and taking a more strategic approach to business development.”

Steve added that Rochdale’s geography has also been a factor, with the company’s Sandbrook Park premises close to the M62 motorway and centrally located between Leeds and Manchester.

Like WCCTV, BES continued to grow despite the pandemic, but even Rochdale businesses that were more severely affected by lockdown refused to buckle in the face of the Covid storm.

That resilience is exemplified by the reaction of Dunsters Farm, which lost most of its core customers in the education and hospitality sectors almost overnight. The company refused to meekly accept its fate, and the B2B-focused business added a brand new B2C online store with local home delivery in just a couple of weeks.

Times remain tough for the business, which, says Tom, is operating at around 60% of where it wanted to be if pre-Covid growth plans are taken into account. But it has survived without making redundancies, and there is a real optimism around the business again as it looks towards a brighter new year.

Rochdale supporting Rochdale

That sense of cautious optimism is widely shared. Gavin said that, in September and October, business was back to something approaching normal, suggesting that local businesses are starting to plan for a post-pandemic future. He added that Recruitment Solutions North West has done more business locally in 2020 than ever before, showing “Rochdale supporting Rochdale”.

He also believes that there is a real desire in the borough to get back the momentum in job creation and recruitment that was evident before Covid.

These are all hopeful signs, and Steve Rumbelow said the borough is determined to bounce back quickly in a way that was not always the case in the past. As well as Greater Manchester initiatives like the Northern Gateway scheme, the borough’s own ambitious growth plan has been brought forward to act as a stimulus to investment and growth.

Paul Dixon added that there is considerable excitement around the Advanced Machinery & Productivity Institute (AMPI), a proposed new centre in Rochdale for the promotion of advanced manufacturing technology. “This was an idea that is becoming a reality,” said Paul. “It will help to fundamentally change the economy and perception of the borough.”

So as a difficult year draws to a close, there are reasons to be hopeful. Vaccine science has brought the end of the pandemic in sight. The core components of the borough’s economic strategy remain in place. And perhaps most importantly of all, Rochdale’s businesses have demonstrated a level of resilience that will stand them in good stead for the future.

Thank you for supporting our webinars in 2020, and we look forward to seeing you again next year.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas.