Members of the business community in Hull line up for event

An event organised by Mercury Design and Marketing recently attracted more than 400 people from organisations that had expressed an interest in supplying services for Hull’s £465m Building Schools for the Future programme.

The Esteem Expo took place at Hull Truck Theatre and was arranged by Mercury at the request of Hull Esteem Consortium – a tripartite partnership between Sewell Group, Morgan Sindall and Robertson Capital Projects – to discuss Hull’s biggest ever regeneration project with local businesses. The consortium is responsible for delivering 19 projects on behalf of Hull City Council over the next four years, which will see the city’s education estate completely revamped.

Demand for the event was so high, that large queues formed from the entrance of Hull Truck Theatre for much of the afternoon, trailing down to the Holiday Inn Hotel on Ferensway.

Paul Brooke, a board director with Hull Esteem Consortium, said: “We are delighted with the number of people who attended the expo. We had a large amount of people who had pre-registered for the event through our website, and on top of those we experienced a large number of people who just turned up on the day.”

Peter Clark, sales and marketing manager of F.R.Scott Ltd, one of the organisations that attended the expo, said: “We went to the event so we could see what the process for building schools would be like. It was incredibly busy, especially with the long queues outside, but we managed to speak to a number of people about business opportunities and the scheme itself.”

Martin Shaw, joint managing director at D3 Office Group, said: “It was great for building business connections and although it was really busy, we were able to speak to the right people. The venue was perfect, it’s a fantastic venue and is ideal for this type of event.”

Andrew Acum, senior consultant at Mercury, said: “We planned the event in absolute detail. With over 400 people turning up, we certainly had our work cut out for us and it really did pay dividends. The feedback from both Hull Esteem Consortium and attendees a the event was fantastic. The fact that so many people did show up is testament to how hard all partners worked in promoting the event.”