28th October 2016
An event aimed at educating businesses on how to reduce costs was held today by Belfast One – Belfast City Centre’s Business Improvement District (BID). The event was part of Belfast One’s ongoing commitment to supporting businesses in the city.
Clare Maguire, Managing Director of Belfast One said the event was a huge success: “Today was our first in a series of Cost Saving Workshops for Belfast businesses and we were very pleased with the turn-out.
“We wanted to provide an opportunity for businesses to find out about potential ways to save money through Belfast One, and we felt an early morning workshop in City Hall was perfect for a group information session.
“Over the past number of months, we have been working with Eunomia, an environmental consultancy, to carry out a trade waste and recycling audit in the city centre. Collection of trade waste and recycling can be a very expensive and yet necessary cost for lots of businesses, and so our mission is to negotiate a better and, more importantly, lower priced range of these services for our BID businesses. We are now approaching the end of this process and our preferred provider will shortly be appointed after a competitive tendering process. It will then be up to businesses whether or not they wish to change over to this provider.
“Today’s event was about showcasing the different ways we believe businesses could be saving money; not only on trade waste, but also on their water bills, their energy bills, and their merchant services costs.
“The BOIPA Merchant Services package has already proven very popular with our levy payers and the bulk purchasing of gas and electricity being offered by Circa Energy is proving to be an innovative way for businesses to use enhanced buying power to negotiate lower prices – whilst letting Circa do all the work. Representatives from the Consumer Council discussed how to save money on water bills and this is definitely something all businesses should look at.”
Chris Suitor, Chair of the Belfast One Board of Directors said, “Supporting businesses is one of the key themes of the work of Belfast One, but I would like to stress these money saving initiatives are just options and there is no obligation on any business to change provider; we are simply suggesting they have a look and decide for themselves.
“The way I see it is that if my business can save money by taking on board the various offers then the other projects carried out by the BID – to enhance and promote our fabulous city centre – become cost neutral to me! It’s a no-brainer!”
Jamie Delargy, owner of energy price comparison website enirgy.info, hosted the event and said: “As a business journalist interested in how firms can save money, I found today’s event very informative and useful.
“The costs of running a business can be eye watering and to have organisations like Belfast One fighting your corner to reduce bills is a fantastic thing.”
Picture caption: Jamie Delargy, Clare Maguire and Chris Suitor
For media interviews contact Angela Hunter on 07970 294406 or email angela@birdsongni.co.uk
