I will be supported by the recently appointed John Hodgkiss who will concentrate on marketing and events, as well as the newly formed JQ BID Management Committee. We are currently working with the Police to look for suitable combined office space in the area.

2013 will be the year for change in the Jewellery Quarter. The JQ BID Management Committee is committed to making sure that all our year one objectives are delivered effectively – on time and within budget.

Thank you to all the levy payers who paid their first instalment back in September. It’s early days yet and there is lots to be done in January to kick-start the BID campaign. However, some of that revenue has already been put to good use with our Christmas lights campaign as well as a marketing initiative, in conjunction with Marketing Birmingham, to promote the area’s Christmas offerings.

We will be constantly striving to improve the BID delivery service and I would appreciate your feedback and comments on how we’re doing.

It’s time to stop talking about it and make things happen, which is exactly what we intend to do.

We would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year, and I look forward to touching base with many more businesses next year.

Keith Stanley
Operations Director for Jewellery Quarter Development Trust and JQ BID
07890 709 827 / keith.stanley@jqdt.org

As a result of the Quarter becoming a BID area, the JQDT secured funding from Birmingham City Centre Partnership for an exemplar project to brighten up Ludgate Hill.

The pavement was deep cleaned, street furniture was repainted and artwork from Ann Wilkinson - a local artist - was installed on a derelict building on the corner of Ludgate Hill/Lionel Street.

The JQDT and University College Birmingham (UCB) – the landlord of the building and a major investor in the area – chose the seven large paintings to spruce up the main route into the Quarter from the city centre.

Routes into the Quarter need to be more welcoming and attractive. This initiative is an excellent example of one of the approaches that the BID needs to take.

Promoting the Quarter as a unique place to visit, live and invest, was a priority in the BID Proposal. The BID’s marketing group is already working on a sustained marketing campaign to raise the profile of the area. Working with Marketing Birmingham, the JQ BID has facilitated media visits from journalists whose features and reviews have appeared in publications across the UK and Europe. To optimise footfall and investment, we will also introduce a new calendar of events for 2013.

To make sure we get this right, starting in January, we will look to Jewellery Quarter businesses and residents to tell us what events they would like to see take place, in order to draw the most visitors to this unique and much loved part of Birmingham.

The BID Proposal clearly identified the importance and vitality of smaller, independent businesses located in the Jewellery Quarter.

Commencing in January 2013, we would like to showcase these businesses through the BID’s newsletter and website, to promote their services throughout the Quarter, across Birmingham and further afield.

Have you recently won an industry award or major client? Have you created new job opportunities as a result of business growth? Just set up a business in the Quarter? Then you’d be perfect for ‘Business of the Month’. Contact John Hodgkiss for more information.