Huge Investment Praised By Print Yorkshire

Print Yorkshire, the partnership between Yorkshire Forward and the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF), has welcomed the major investment currently taking place across South Yorkshire.

Print Yorkshire, the partnership between Yorkshire Forward and the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF), has welcomed the major investment currently taking place across South Yorkshire.

Those developments are being led by Polestar, Johnston Press and Garnett Dickinson.

The scale of investment in the printing industry in Yorkshire and Humber is unprecedented, believes Print Yorkshire.

In addition to the growth in South Yorkshire, the organisation said it is also seeing substantial growth in Humberside through Northcliffe and in Leeds and Wakefield, through Polestar, John Blackburn and other companies, to add a welcome boost to the general printing and local economies.

Print Yorkshire's director, Mike Hopkins, said that he wants to make sure that the opportunities are optimised for all concerned and added: "Increasing the supply of trained labour ready to work in the print industry locally is seen as fundamental to optimisation, as new job opportunities create an inevitable shift in the employment market.

The BPIF, in conjunction with Print Yorkshire, has been working closely with Sheffield's development agencies and Polestar from the early part of this year, to agree a strategy that will benefit both new and existing businesses." An action team of all interested printers in South Yorkshire has now been formed, with contributions from BPIF Training, Leeds College of Technology, the Amicus GPMS trade union, the Learning and Skills Council, Business Link South Yorkshire and Sheffield First for Development.

Print Yorkshire's Robert McClements, added: "The initiative is a very tangible example of how Print Yorkshire has aimed to facilitate the sharing of resource, opportunities and best practice across the industry.

South Yorkshire will provide a template for action across the region and we have been delighted by the enthusiasm for this initiative, both from printing companies themselves and the training and development providers who can help us to achieve our objectives.

Amongst the key areas we are discussing are how we can improve the image and penetration of the printing industry in secondary schools, to ensure young people see the many and varied career opportunities the sector offers." He continued to say that another priority is to provide tailored and easy to access support packages for smaller print companies, to assist with their own development and training opportunities for their employees.

The Print Yorkshire initiative is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

The organisation believes that by sharing best practice, encouraging training and development, seeking out funding and enhancing networking opportunities it can create the most productive and profitable print cluster in the UK.

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