Paul Robinson Partnership (UK) LLP
Paul Robinson Partnership (UK) LLP is a RIBA Chartered Practice based in Norfolk, with over 45 years of experience. We offer our clients a multidisciplinary service both in the UK and overseas. We work in all sectors including commercial, community, education, healthcare, industrial, residential, retail, sport, bars and restaurants, holiday hotels and leisure. Whilst Paul Robinson Partnership is a multi-disciplinary Practice, our core expertise has been in the holiday and leisure sector for many years and we consider it imperative to bring these skills to the table on projects of significance from an early aspirational stage. We are able to provide project specific consultation from the initial feasibility and design through to a full contractual and project administrative remit including management of all consultants and external expertise. This is to ensure the client’s interests and requirements are respected and protected, throughout the process. For the great majority of our time in Practice, we have been involved in all aspects of holiday and caravan park design. We work with many of the major holiday park businesses on a national basis as well as with independent firms. We are proud to have very long relationships with these various firms and individuals in developing and upgrading the parks, their landscaping and all facilities over the years. We take an holistic approach in our design approach to fully integrate all developments within their surrounds and landscape whilst at the same time integrating all utilities and services together with providing the very latest technology, attractions and ideas within the settings. Our creative and technical approach has ensured much of our work is repeat or based on solid referrals. All of the projects we undertake are overseen by one of our Partners or Associate Partners, meaning we can offer a personal, fully-tailored service and a strong ongoing relationship. Our aim is to ensure a high-quality service is always delivered, whilst providing confidence that we can turn our Clients visions into a reality. The Paul Robinson team has grown to become an exciting collection of experienced, skilled, enthusiastic and talented professionals including architects, architectural technologists, technicians, energy assessors, interior designers and support staff. Each offering a different dynamic and providing the most effective way to deliver a project. Our clients have found our expertise base to be invaluable, and we are able to work on a wide range of projects of varying sizes and constraints. We provide a varied range of specialist design services to deliver a tailored package for every client by drawing on the diversity of each team member’s backgrounds to consider and inform a holistic design approach. Our services include: Architectural Energy Assessments Building Conservation 3D Visualisation Principal Designer (CDM Co-ordination) Interior Design Contract Administration Landscape Design www.paulrobinsonpartnership.co.uk
How UK Agricultural Finance Can Help You
UK Agricultural Finance was founded to provide much needed business finance to rural communities across England, Scotland and Wales. The company recently secured institutional funding to expand its loan book by £150m to meet the demand from farmers for short and medium-term capital, after many of the banks cut their specialist lending teams during and post the financial crisis. Rural finance requires specialist knowledge and a lender willing to offer traditional face to face underwriting. UK Agricultural Finance’s team knows rural property and rural businesses, the many challenges they face, but most importantly their appeal. They also understand business lending against agricultural land where a ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t work. The company prides itself on working with the leading experts in agricultural valuation, security and restructuring to ensure swift informed and fair decisions. UK Agricultural Finance’s works with farmers up and down the country providing loans to assist: • Diversification, to build new businesses • Purchasing new farmland when additional acreage or a unique property opportunity may come available and often at short notice • Property finance to develop, renovate or repair property for capital appreciation and income generation • Renewable energy projects can be a great source of additional income and add real value to under-utilised land on a farm, or even turn waste products into revenue • Livestock finance to expand their livestock holdings • Recovery and Restructuring is needed when financial pressure is acute, and a facility can provide a window to take control and rationally plan • Tenant farmers with a right to buy their land • Generational transfer to help farming families who are looking to transfer their farm to the next generation achieve this Their loans range from £100,000 to £10m, with terms from one to seven years and a maximum LTV of 65%. UK Agricultural Finance recently joined a select group of alternative finance firms on NatWest’s Capital Connections panel, becoming the 10th lender and first industry specialist on the panel. UK Agricultural Finance is an enthusiastic supporter of farm diversification and is experienced in working with brokers and providing farmers access to capital to diversify, sustain, grow and improve their businesses. If you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact the team on 01732 252 399 or info@ukagriculutralfinance.com
Strongarm Tactics To Combat Online Fraud?
A new process for handling online card payments could soon stop customer purchases if traders don’t comply with the new rules. Adam Bernstein explains the change. Online fraud is huge and according to Finextra Research, between 2017 and 2018, £4.1bn was stolen as a result of this type of theft. And to illustrate how personal the problem is, the firm quotes a survey commissioned by comparethemarket.com of 2,000 UK adults which showed that 22% of those surveyed were defrauded in the last year this way. Europe has, for some time, been worried about the problem of card fraud and a new process known as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) made under the Revised Directive on Payment Services (PSD2) will eventually be in place. Originally set for 14 September, in common with other EU states, the UK has postponed introduction for 18 months to give firms more time to prepare. SCA is going to affect how the trade sells online. SCA is to all intents and purposes an extra layer of security designed to prevent payment fraud. It ensures that online card transactions become more secure through “multi-factor authentication” – a second check to demonstrate that both the transaction and card holder are genuine. The aim of SCA is to be the ‘chip and pin’ of the online world; and rather like chip and pin, SCA will apply to transactions over a certain value – €30. But while SCA targets the online transaction, Mark Nelsen, Senior Vice President, Risk and Authentication Products at card processor Visa, says that banks and merchants may also need to regularly check that contactless payments are made by the correct cardholder too – by asking for a PIN. “This,” he says, “might occur after a contactless card has been tapped five times in succession, or when €150 has been spent using only contactless taps.” As to how it’ll work, SCA could mean any one of numerous authentication methods such as an online PIN or password, a device that only the cardholder can authenticate – say a smartphone, or a biometric trait such as a fingerprint or facial recognition that is clearly very personal. SCA is going to mean a marked change to how firms sell online and how an estimated 420m customers in Europe – including the UK – buy at a distance. And for some there are worries that this extra layer of protection will add unnecessary complexity which will irritate customers who subsequently abandon their ‘shopping carts’ part way through the buying process – leading to lost sales. Just as the GDPR revolutionised how data protection is managed and individuals access their information, so SCA is going to change how retail works. What is PSD2? As the name suggests, PSD2 is an update on the original Payment Services Directive (PSD) that was brought into force in 2007. Its stated goals were for a single market for payments with easier and more efficient cross border payments so that it mattered not if a payment was made to another within the same member state or to a party in a different member state. PSD2 expands on PSD by permitting third parties to access an individual’s account information via the ‘Open Banking’ protocol; enhancing consumer rights, especially in relation to currency charges; and enhancing card holder security via SCA. Why now? Change was clearly needed. According to a UK Finance report in 2018, UK Payment Markets , in 2017 there were 3.1bn credit card payments – an increase on the previous year of 13%. The same report reckons that by 2027 there will be 3.9bn credit card payments a year. In comparison, there were 13.2bn debit card payments in 2017 (up 14% on the previous year) and 2027 could see some 19.7bn debit card payments. And with rising levels of card use come increasing risks of fraud. The European Central Bank, in its Fifth report on card fraud, published September 2018, found that that cards issued within Europe saw fraudulent transactions to the tune of €1.8bn in 2016 and that 73% of that sum related to card not present transactions. That said, it’s worth noting that not everyone is in favour of SCA. In 2016, card processor Visa argued that the new process would risk disrupting online shopping while not necessarily increasing security . The point is well made from its perspective as its fortune naturally depends on transaction volume. Changes online businesses need to make Compliance with the new regime is mandatory. There will be no exceptions and if the online trader doesn’t comply then all transactions will be automatically declined by the cardholder’s bank when they attempt to make a purchase. Further, by not planning ahead and developing authentication processes that offer the least friction to consumers traders could see huge falls in sales as consumers switch off and march with their feet. Considering that, according to Ecommerce Europe in its European Ecommerce Report 2018 Edition, the European business to consumer online economy is worth around €602bn in 2018 (up from €307bn in 2013), if only 10% of consumers – let alone a potential 25% that could walk – abandon a transaction because of complexity or irritation then firms stand to lose huge sums. But with new rules comes opportunity – a chance for firms to market themselves to customers as both being secure and trustworthy as well as having the simplest way possible of complying with the new rules. Of course, consumers want protection, but in today’s modern world, they also want simplicity and they want it now. The rollout won’t be easy. While EU demands compliance, every member state will see different interpretations of PSD2. Whether that’s from the banks, card issuers or central bank, there will be differences. On top of this there is the €30 exemption to take into account. Clearly then, the first step for any online trader is to set their systems to recognise when transactions need to abide by SCA (because they are above the €30 threshold) or when
Sanderson Weatherall Sell Prime Coastal Holiday Park in the Scottish Borders
Following a confidential marketing campaign property consultancy Sanderson Weatherall has sold the Scoutscroft Holiday Centre, a family owned holiday park in the village of Coldingham, between St Abbs and Eyemouth on the Scottish Borders coast. Scoutscroft Holiday Centre is in a prime location in the centre of the village of Coldingham, within walking distance of the sandy beach at Coldingham Bay and close to St Abbs, a popular diving destination with a number of shipwrecks to explore. The park was acquired by Verdant Leisure, an award-winning park operator across Scotland and Northern England, adding to their expanding portfolio which already includes three parks in the Scottish Borders. Graham Hodgson, CEO of Verdant Leisure said: “This acquisition is a perfect choice for the Verdant Leisure group in terms of the geographical location right in the heart of our existing business interests.” “It is an area we know well and Scoutscroft will bring a further 180 pitches to the wider group. We have further investment in the park planned and this will roll out over the next 24 months. We will also look to extend the opening period of the park to 11 months from the existing nine and-a-half enabling our customers to enjoy more time at their holiday homes.” Adam Burkinshaw, Partner at Sanderson Weatherall said, “We marketed the park with a guide price in excess of £3.25million and attracted a good level of demand due to the scale of the existing business which is accompanied by significant untapped development potential. “We are delighted to have sold this fantastic business and opportunity to Verdant Leisure. Its location in a very popular holiday catchment and position close to their existing Coldingham Bay Leisure Park will complement the Verdant business and add to their expanding portfolio and we wish them success moving forward.” https://sw.co.uk
