Video by Influence Media.
Historically, Hull and the Humber hasn’t always got the love it deserves.
But we love speaking to champions of the region who recognise its clear and increasing benefits. We’ve got plenty of advocates at C4DI and another has recently made it their base of operations.
Future Humber, led by managing director Diana Taylor, is fresh off the back of a rebrand, and well placed to champion a region that is ready to have a global impact.
It’s one of 12 regions in the country to be awarded freeport status by the British government, designating it as a special economic zone, primed for development and opening it up to tax relief and investment.
The Humber Freeport, which officially launched last year, has the potential to create 7000 new jobs, and has more recently been the source of £25million of Government funding to support local industrial projects and growth opportunities.
We caught up with Diana to find out more about Future Humber and why she’s so excited by the opportunities on offer in this area we call home.
Advocating for the Humber
“Sometimes I think people don't think we're in the best location, but we absolutely are,” says Diana. “The geography, the river, the accessibility to Europe, being approximately 50% of the way between London and Edinburgh and four hours’ drive to about 80% of the UK’s manufacturing and customer base, is hugely attractive to investors. If you then layer on top of that, the attraction of a Freeport that can provide an additional catalyst for investment, then obviously, it doubles the attraction.”
It's certainly a fine collection of qualities and makes it all the easier for Future Humber, which is the trading name of business networking powerhouse Bondholders, to make the case for the region in their work.
The name Bondholders is a recognisable one to many in the region and Future Humber, (previously Marketing Humber), plays an increasingly important role in “changing the perceptions of the Humber on the national and international stage.” They’re celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2024 and are a pioneer of what they do.
Through bringing together the private and public sector, according to Diana they’ve “made a significant difference to the growth, prosperity, and ambitions of the region which have developed in the 30 years since.” Due to its success, the Bondholders format has been replicated around the UK in one guise or another.
A network of businesses and decision makers, they have a shared vision to promote the region and put the Humber on the map.
“For our bondholders, we provide breakfast events, industry insights, and business support around raising their profile. We also provide assets and resources across every sector. So, whether you're in food and drink or digital or the energy sector, the challenges that all our businesses face are shared.” They also help with attracting and retaining talent and building a network.
“We bring people together to amplify the voice of the Humber to whichever audience we feel needs it.”
“It gets under your skin”
Diana, who has been in the region for 28 years, and now a vocal fan, admits it hasn’t always been that way.
“I must admit I came to the region with one of those plans of staying for five years and moving on, but the region does get under your skin. And it's been a fantastic place to bring my family up.”
After leaving her previous role in chemicals she joined Bondholders, on the cusp of Hull’s big City of Culture year in 2017. It was a time of great change, excitement and promise for the city and surrounding area, and was also a time for Bondholders to level up and begin to change people’s perceptions of the area, not just in the arts but enterprise too.
She is particularly passionate about fostering talent in the next generation. In 2017 they launched their Young Talent Network, to “focus on young people and make sure we retain the talent and skills that we're going to need to deliver this net zero future”, something we’ll come back to later.
That initiative, she says, had “grown arms and legs. It's been like a second bondholder network running alongside.”
“But we soon realised that the talent we need to attract and retain is in every age group and every sector, and actually, we needed to broaden our efforts to develop and promote the opportunities that we have here… and Talent+ was born”
It's one of several recent developments, including going through a rebrand and making a big move!
“Last year was a big year for us. We rebranded and refreshed our membership strategy, and we refreshed our board of directors as well. And in the middle of this we made a move to C4DI. It was a critical move for us at the time and remains one of the best decisions I made in 2023."
In line with their vision and focus, moving to C4DI was partly about providing a home for her team to thrive, in a time when many people’s work and home lives are all too intertwined. But it also “enabled me to bring Bondholders into the heart of the [local] business community, which is important obviously for the bondholders, but also C4DI is a hub of connectivity. In terms of a place for inward investment, which is our goal, I'm really proud to bring people here. So, whether it's government officials, media, or global investors, C4DI gives me that base that demonstrates the ambition, the innovation, and the collaboration that we have here in the region.”
It's certainly good to hear that Diana thinks “C4DI will be our home for a very long time.”
The Freeport future
Many of the opportunities that present themselves for businesses relate to very modern changes.
There’s change afoot in the political sphere, with devolution deals on the table for both the North Bank and the South Bank, which if properly harnessed could be a powerful collaboration. And then there’s the freeport status. Diana helpfully and succinctly explains what that means for the region.
“Having freeport status means we can accelerate investment in the Humber, and further drive our promotion of the region as a hub for renewable energy, clean growth, digital innovation and advanced manufacturing. It is a catalyst for innovation and regeneration, providing jobs and growth for communities. We can offer investors certain benefits and tax incentives and seek capital investment to further enhance the strength of the Freeport offer. We have three tax sites and one customs site, where investors can benefit from assistance in planning as well as tax and national insurance relief."
"Just being a freeport doesn't make that happen, of course. You need to have the location, the momentum for investment, and very importantly, collaboration between public and private sector partners. And the Humber, with four ports, is the busiest ports complex in the UK in terms of tonnage and ideally located for this. It's very important that we can get raw materials in and important that we can reach the markets and customers that these investors need as well."
It's a privilege, she says but it is absolutely the right thing for the Humber to be chosen, and as mentioned above, a recognition of what the Humber has to offer. At Future Humber they’re hoping 2024 will be a year of encouraging businesses to get behind these opportunities and shaping the narrative of the region.
Another key focus is on the impact of climate change and what we can do about it. That’s why they launched another initiative in 2019; the Waterline Summit.
Staying above water
"When it comes to decarbonisation goals, the Humber is the largest industrial cluster of the UK, and the preeminent industrial cluster in north west Europe. But of course, having that privilege of being such an energy contributor for the UK, does mean we have a very large CO2 emissions footprint."
Fortunately, that creates an opportunity to do something about it and lead the way for other estuaries around the world.
“We launched the Waterline Summit five years ago in 2019 and we've just held the fifth summit in November. This was to bring together businesses, alongside the public sector, communities and academia, to transition to this new, sustainable economy."
Diana explains why this is so important and really brings home the threat we face, but also the opportunity. “We need to contain the rise in sea level and minimise the potential for flooding in our region. And this, she says, alongside the need to keep the energy flowing for the UK, “gives us added impetus to reach net zero.”
"With our industrial background it is really, really important that we embrace the renewable energy opportunities, carbon capture, hydrogen and all the new economies that will come alongside that.”
There are also other factors to consider in the fight against global warming. Diana mentions the role agriculture has to play and looking at how food is produced and processed.
“There are natural solutions which play an equally important role as well. It’s important that we address wildlife biodiversity at the same time as minimising the impact of water. If we're going to make a car park, how many green spaces can we make, how do we minimise tarmacked areas? Or how do we replace the tarmac with something semi permeable so that we are enabling water to flow away rather than flooding.”
"We're part of the Humber Forest, which when done will reach from the Humber over to Liverpool. We're planting millions of trees to create this forest that spreads across the north.”
Pondering all this activity led to the creation of the Waterline and it’s grown from there. “With every year that passes we are making a difference to the regional carbon footprint. But it needs to accelerate. And I think that is where we will be focusing Waterline in the future.”
They’re hoping to bring the community together under this mission to accelerate change and she says, “if we share the challenges, and the solutions as well, then I do believe we'll get there.”
The future of this region is inseparable from the climate, for better or worse. The impact of climate change will be keenly felt but the region also has the tools, skills, and resources to set a course for a more sustainable future.
“I have three sons. I want them to know that they can return from their studies and travels, and have a prosperous, sustainable, happy, healthy future, right here in their home.”