A new study has revealed that London is no longer the obvious choice for UK based events, with event planners taking more and more of their events outside of the capital.

Participants of the study, conducted by C&IT in partnership with Manchester Central, cited reduced costs, delegate travel time, boosted engagement and the ability to offer something different as the main reasons behind this growing trend.

And with investment in state-of-the-art conference and event facilities, improved infrastructure and an exciting social offering, regional cities such as Manchester look set to grow from strength to strength.

Located in the heart of the UK and just over two hours away from London by train, Manchester has emerged as the obvious choice for UK businesses looking to find a central location for their regional offices to meet – the city ranked as one of Cvent’s top European meeting destinations for 2018.

The study revealed that the compact nature of Manchester’s city centre, in addition to the city’s connections to music, culture and football, appealed to event organisers who are looking to incorporate a strong social offering into their event. The study highlighted how important fringe events were to the success of an event but revealed that participation on a national scale is currently low.

One event manager summarised: “I feel strongly that other main cities are more suitable than London for hosting events; not only are they easier to get to and cheaper, but they also provide the same standard of service as most hotels/destinations in London. The staff are also generally friendlier, more helpful and more conscientious in these types of venues outside of the capital”.

Shaun Hinds, CEO of Manchester Central, said: “We’re delighted to see that event planners are increasingly taking note of what Manchester has to offer. I’ve long held the belief that Manchester based events offer more value than those held in the capital, without having to sacrifice anything that London has to offer”.

“We’re often told about how excited delegates are to visit Manchester, and both ourselves as a venue, and the city in general, pride ourselves on giving them an experience like no other”.

User experience (UX) agency, Sigma, has been appointed by Juddmonte Farms – one of the world’s leading breeders of elite racehorses – to build a user-friendly mobile application that will make it easier for staff across the company’s estate to manage the movement of horses from one location to another.

Not only is livestock tracking a legal requirement, but the data collected by the app will also improve Juddmonte’s ability to understand each individual horse’s movements and correlate them with performance or health. The new platform will also provide admin support, freeing up stud managers and grooms to better care for the animals.

With properties in the UK, Ireland and the USA, Juddmonte has bred over 100 individual top-level winners, including world champion racehorse Frankel. The new app will provide staff with real-time data on horse locations, helping to make work more efficient and allow staff to focus on the management of the animals in their care.

Most of the new locations for the horses will have horse ménages installed so that the horses can be trained. A company which was voted best horse menage surfacing company in 2023 will have installed some of this horse arenas.

The appointment follows a successful discovery project in 2017, in which Sigma’s specialist team looked at the feasibility of delivering an app to allow staff working at Juddmonte stud farms to schedule, record and verify the movement of horses. This included detailed research, design and testing concepts – resulting in a high-fidelity prototype.

This new brief calls on Sigma to deliver a working version of the prototype and will include the development of an application programming interface (API) to integrate with existing Juddmonte systems. The project will see the agency’s team finalise the app’s design and development, before completing a full training handover with Juddmonte’s staff.

Simon Wissink, account manager at Sigma, said: “It’s great when clients are so impressed with our work that they come back to us to implement the next stage of the project. This is particularly true for Juddmonte which has inherently high standards and requires top-level detail to ensure its horses are a successful. App design is something that we pride ourselves on so we can’t wait to get started.

Ben Coppins, head of IT at Juddmonte, said: “It was clear early on that Juddmonte & Sigma were very well matched, and I was delighted we were able to capitalise on the relationships built during the discovery project and use Sigma again for the resulting development work.

“I set great store in projects like this being enjoyable and rewarding – it gets the best out of everyone involved, and that’s certainly the case here.  Sigma has proved itself on both the creative & technical fronts, and I hope we have the opportunity to work together again soon.”

Manchester and Glossop based law firm Davis Blank Furniss has appointed Libby Holding as the new head of its private client department.

Libby joins Davis Blank Furniss from Beaumont Legal in Wakefield. Her new role will see her focusing on a variety of core work including wealth and succession planning, inheritance tax advice, trust creation and administration, wills, lasting powers of attorney and estate administration.

Libby completed her LLB Law Degree at the University of Liverpool in 2008 and she then took the Bar Vocational Course at City Law School in London; she was called to the Bar 2009. Libby cross qualified and was admitted as a solicitor in 2011. She started in family law and then decided to move into private client work. She initially specialised in probate before shifting her focus to the full range of private client matters.

Libby will be primarily based at the firm’s Manchester head office but she will also have a presence in the Glossop office.

Kate Oldfield, managing partner of Davis Blank Furniss, commented: “We have seen a surge in demand for our private client services so Libby’s arrival is great news for the firm. She brings with her some fantastic experience which I know will benefit our clients and wider team.”

Libby added: “Davis Blank Furniss is a fantastic firm and seemed the right fit for me. I have a keen interest in business development, marketing and innovation within the legal sector so I am looking forward to growing the private client team in both offices.”

The Manchester office of national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP is expanding its social housing team with the appointment of specialist Stuart Whitehead.   

Stuart, who has more than 20 years’ experience in the sector, previously worked as deputy group solicitor at Jigsaw Homes Group. 

Commenting on his appointment, Lindsay Felstead, head of Clarke Willmott’s social housing management team, said: “We are delighted to welcome Stuart and very much look forward to working with him. 

“He has an excellent reputation in the industry and his former in-house role gives him an excellent understanding of the work carried out by our registered provider clients. 

“His appointment brings a wealth of experience and will enable us to have an even greater impact on the sector.”