More reasons to be cheerful about the future of Wolverhampton

The recent announcements of plans to improve Wolverhampton will be welcomed by all of us who are proud to be part of the city’s economy.

After years of seeing leading companies reduce in size within the area or disappear completely, it feels as if more positivity could be about to be generated as we begin to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wolverhampton and the Black Country region has, since the Industrial Revolution, shown it can adapt and innovate to bring business success yet in recent times it has gone off the radar for many.

Its historic large local employers including motor company Sunbeam, Goodyear, Tarmac and later Carillion were all household names, but the city has fewer standout names today.

With their Premier League profile Wolves are now probably the best-known brand from the city, followed by JLR and the University of Wolverhampton. Stone’s Throw Media is proud to have worked closely with all of them.

For those of us trying to establish high performing businesses, many in tech and digital fields, it is welcome to see a run of good news announcements which suggest we may be about to embark upon a path to future success.

The highlights include the Government announcement of plans to establish a second headquarters for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in Wolverhampton by 2025, with further increases in size by 2030.

With 500 roles expected to move up from London, the accompanying business links and networks will bring a welcome injection of government talent into the city.

As the former Springfield Brewery is now an eye-catching University centre it will soon be followed by the planned National Brownfield Institute, which will be home to state-of-the-art research and innovation plus commercial testing facilities and lab space.

Nearby, plans have been submitted for 370 new homes to be constructed on “canal-side” land off Lower Horseley Fields in the city centre, close to the new £150 million transport interchange.

The new railway station is a more welcoming destination for passengers, while Wolverhampton, along with Rowley Regis, West Bromwich and Smethwick are to receive around £25 million each from the Government’s Towns Fund in measures announced in the recent budget.

The closure of the Civic Halls for refurbishment for five years has left a gaping hole in the city’s night offer, so it is encouraging that AEG Presents, which runs London’s Apollo and the O2 area, is now to run the iconic venue when it reopens next year.

Working in the live events space, it is great to see the city will host the start and finish of the Commonwealth Games cycle time trials next year, on the back of which the council is embarking on a five-year events strategy.

The council says it “will work to identify external funding opportunities, draw up proposals for new events, further develop business relationships, particularly with hotels and restaurants, and build new partnerships”.

As a local business we want to see the city grow and thrive. Stone’s Throw Media has grown since my fellow founder Matt Weston and I met at the University of Wolverhampton. I grew up in the city and Matt shared mindset that, rather than taking up opportunities in London, Birmingham or Manchester, where there are bigger media hubs, we wanted to build something locally.

Growing a business in Wolverhampton, where there were fewer tech-based companies, gave us a chance to make a difference quickly.

While the set-up costs were lower than elsewhere, Wolverhampton and the Black Country has always offered to us a large economic region to build our client base.

We appoint staff from the local area where possible, with our latest addition to the team joining to bring digital marketing skills having worked for a leading local education establishment.

For us it is not a compromise to use Wolverhampton or Black Country talent as we believe the skills are here. We want to show that clients can use our talent rather than defaulting to use agencies from London or Manchester.

As well as working with the leading brands of the city, our clients include construction giant Redrow and university accommodation provider Student Roost.

In the Government standard industrial classification of economic activities ratings, Stone’s Throw sit in the top five per cent for video production and animation services in the West Midlands. Of the 710 companies registered under the 59 SIC Code in the West Midlands, Stone’s Throw is proudly one of only 35 with five or more employees.

Many other companies in the city will have equivalent badges of honour. For us, we want to be successful in the West Midlands and beyond while remaining here, not by moving to other cities to succeed.

The Covid-19 pandemic has opened people’s minds to new ways of communicating with audiences, whether that is Zoom calls through to digital live events, like the opening ceremony we staged online for the University when national and local figures opened the Springfield Brewery site.

The new investment in Wolverhampton will bring noticeable physical improvements to the landscape but the mindset needs to change locally to make the progress sustainable.

Basic steps to encourage local talent can make a big difference. Stone’s Throw has given more than 100 people work experience, including one student who went on to work for productions which appear on Netflix. Playing a small part in encouraging local talent is symbolic of the way we can all contribute to our region. If outside investment in improving Wolverhampton is matched by local know-how and support for our own talent, the new arrivals could soon be followed by further successes which widen the benefit for all.