Essex Chambers

Birkett Long LLP

Birkett Long LLP is one of the largest law firms in Essex with offices in Colchester and Chelmsford and has a total staff of over 160 including 19 partners.

The business is a full service firm advising business and individual clients.

Their reputation is for providing high quality, cost effective and practical solutions, locally, nationally and internationally.

Address:	Birkett Long LLP Essex House 42 Crouch Street Colchester Essex CO3 3HH
Telephone:	01206 217300
Website:	http://www.birkettlong.co.uk

Business Link East

Support for established Businesses

One-to-one advice for all your business and training needs

A Business Link Adviser can provide an external perspective and an in-depth analysis of your business needs, give you advice on skills needs, training and workforce development and, where appropriate, refer you to partners for additional specialised support. Partners may include UKTI for support with international trade, sector specific advisory services and grant funding bodies. The Business Advice team have sector expertise in construction, energy and the environment, social enterprise, leisure and tourism, rural and land based businesses, creative industries, life, biosciences/biotechnology and medical sciences.

Business Briefing Workshops

Our free business briefings will help you develop your skills as well as generating new ideas to help you grow or improve the sustainability of your business. Whether you want to find out more about developing your people, public sector tendering, sales and marketing, PR, IT and e-commerce or legislation we have a briefing to suit you.

Support for new businesses

Starting a Business Workshops

Our free start-up workshops are aimed at anyone who is thinking about starting a business, as well as those who are in the early stages of trading. They will give you all the skills you need to make sure that your business is built on a firm footing. Topics include ‘Starting a business - is it for me?', ‘Getting the basics right' and ‘Managing money and making a profit'.

Business Advice Voucher worth up to £200

If you are just starting up then you may qualify for additional support through our voucher service. The voucher will help you pay for additional advice in a specific area. For example, you may want to pay for some expert marketing input, someone to do your web design or an accountant to help with your finances. Whatever your needs your adviser can help you find a suitable supplier from our database of approved suppliers and you can use your voucher to pay for the first £200 of advice. To find out if you qualify for a voucher telephone 08457 17 16 15 and speak to an adviser.

High Growth Business Boot Camp

If you have an idea for a business with the potential to achieve from £500,000 to £1 million turnover in 3 years then our intensive, two-day, residential High Growth Boot Camp could be for you. It will introduce you to all the key skills and tools you will need to launch your business and grow it quickly and sustainably. To find out if you are eligible for Boot Camp, telephone 08457 17 16 15 and speak to an adviser.

Support for all businesses

Business Link Website

The Business Link website www.businesslink.gov.uk/east has a wealth of information on everything you need to know about running your business. With sections on tax, finance, employing people, sales and marketing and many more subjects, you can find what you need quickly and easily. It also has templates for business plans and other essential documents. The site also features up-to-the-minute information on issues such as the latest regulations affecting businesses.

Information service

If you can't find what you're looking for on the website a quick call to the information service on 08457 17 16 15 will put you through to an experienced adviser who will be able to deal with your question. The team can help with all sorts of enquiries from market information on particular sectors and geographical areas to signposting you to specialist help.

Address:	Business Link East Alexandra House 36a Church Street Chelmsford Essex CM2 7YH
Telephone:	0845 717 1615
Website:	http://www.businesslinkeast.org.uk

c2c Rail Limited

c2c is part of the National Express group and provides frequent rail services between Shoeburyness/Southend/Grays and London Fenchurch Street via Chafford Hundred, Upminster and Rainham. There are excellent links with the London Underground lines at Upminster and Barking (District), and West Ham (Jubilee), with the North London Line to Richmond at West Ham and with the DLR at Lime House. c2c runs a fleet of modern air-conditioned trains and is the most punctual train service in the country.

c2c aims to maintain its high levels of punctuality and reliability, to be renowned for customer service and be the first choice for travel in the communities it serves.

Address:	c2c Rail Limited 10th Floor 207 Old Street London EC1V 9NR
Telephone:	0207 324 8029
Website:	http://www.c2c-online.co.uk

Essex & Suffolk Water

Getting the best value from water and waste water services may not be at the top of your agenda, but many business leaders have found that there are valuable financial and operational savings to be made. It can be particularly helpful when you find an expert who understands your business, who you can trust to tackle your water worries and give you peace of mind.

This is what Essex & Suffolk Water do, and they can draw in the expertise of their sister's companies. They can provide clients with sufficient savings to give them a real competitive advantage. An increasing number of major companies are already working with Essex & Suffolk Water and are experiencing the benefits of lower costs, greater efficiency, regulatory compliance and peace of mind.

Address:	Essex & Suffolk Water Sandon Valley House Cannon Barns Road East Hanningfield Chelmsford Essex CM3 8BD
Telephone:	01268 664876
Website:	http://www.eswater.co.uk/

London Stansted

London Stansted is the UK's third busiest airport with nearly 24 million passengers a year - including over 4 million business travellers. The airport is central to the East of England's £100 billion economy with over a quarter of UK business located within its catchment area. With a total of over 160 domestic, EU and international destinations Stansted is currently making a substantial investment in plans for future growth and development.

Address:	London Stansted Communication Dept Enterprise House Stansted Aiport Stansted Essex CM24 1QW
Telephone:	08700 000303
Website:	http://www.stanstedairport.co.uk

NatWest Bank

Natwest is a member of The RBS group a large international banking and financial services company. Headquartered in Edinburgh, the Group operates in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Americas and Asia, serving more than 40 million customers. The Group provides a wide range of products and services to personal, commercial and large corporate and institutional customers through its two principal subsidiaries, The Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest, as well as through a number of other well known brands including, Citizens, Ulster Bank, Coutts, Direct Line and Churchill.

Across Essex we have a number of business centres that provide support to the SME market through our team of relationship managers who provide dedicated support to their portfolios of business customers, utilising the strength and availability of the wider group's product proposition. The centres are in Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Chelmsford, Clacton, Colchester, Maldon, Southend and Rayleigh. This is in addition to our significant retail branch network thorughout the county.

Address:	Natwest / RBS South Essex Commercial Office 3rd Floor, Phoenix Place Christopher Martin Road Basildon SS14 3GQ
Telephone:	01268 242622
Website:	http://www.natwest.com/business

West Ham United Football Club

West Ham United are delighted at the opportunity to become patrons of the Essex Chambers of Commerce. Essex is the clubs heartland and along with East London must be our priority in terms of strengthening our links with the indigenous business population. The club's new ownership under David Sullivan and David Gold has seen vast improvements to our offer at every level and this has opened up a number of opportunities for local organisations to become more involved with us. We are ambitious for the club and want to take our partners with us. There has never been a better time to engage with the club as it looks to a brighter future.