Why Jo Barnes, managing director of Hull-based Sewell Estates, is passionate about regeneration

It’s a city proud of its reputation for resilience, forged by centuries of stubborn independence.

Only a fool would fail to acknowledge the strength of Hull and its business community, especially when they are put to the test.

Jo Barnes, the managing director of Hull-headquartered Sewell Estates, is an outsider who soon fell for the city’s charms.

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"I came to Hull on an 18 month contract 25 years ago but very quickly the area got under my skin,’’ she said. “Our family was made to feel part of the community here.

Jo Barnes, Managing Director, of Sewell Estates, said:" I always say that people underestimate Hull at their peril." (Photo supplied by Sewell Estates)Jo Barnes, Managing Director, of Sewell Estates, said:" I always say that people underestimate Hull at their peril." (Photo supplied by Sewell Estates)
Jo Barnes, Managing Director, of Sewell Estates, said:" I always say that people underestimate Hull at their peril." (Photo supplied by Sewell Estates)

"Hull and the wider Humber is a place people often underestimate; but I always say that people underestimate Hull at their peril. Hull isn't an economic island; it's part of a wider area. With the emergence of the energy estuary we have to think about the Humber as a whole. The business community in this area is a force to be reckoned with; if somebody challenges the area people act as one.”

Economics graduate Ms Barnes wants to provide a long term boost for Hull and its surrounding communities by developing Sewell Estates, a collective of eight built environment businesses providing advisory services, property development and investment, construction, facilities management and data analysis.

“The key thing is developing a sustainable and resilient business; that continues to grow but sensibly and smartly, without losing our focus on customer service,’’ she said.

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Last year Sewell Estates, which is part of the wider Sewell Group, became part employee- owned. In a move to secure the long term future of the business, and protect its culture, majority shareholder and group chair, Paul Sewell, moved 25 per cent of the company's shares into an employee ownership trust.

"Some businesses can grow very quickly and they forget what they are about,’’ said Ms Barnes. “We want to keep our people and customers at the heart of everything we do. That's why we've gone for employee ownership; Paul and the rest of the board have always been clear that we want the people who own the business to work in the business. They look after each other and the customers and business."

Ms Barnes started her career working for public sector regeneration schemes in Scotland, the North West and Hull and she remains acutely aware of Sewell’s wider social purpose.

“We were at the forefront of some very exciting initiatives, with Government resources going into changing places with the focus on creating opportunities for people to help areas help themselves,’’ she said. “That marrying up of public and private sectors has been something that's been with me my whole career.”

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She joined the Sewell Group in 2008 as CEO of Citycare, a public private partnership with the NHS.

"We wanted to improve life chances by creating jobs,’’ she recalled. “When I started Shared Agenda, 12 years ago (a consultancy practice which is part of Sewell Group), the Humber area as a whole was under represented in terms of built environment professional services companies. Some of the big companies had pulled out and gone back to Leeds and Manchester. I thought it was a massive shame that we were having to pull people from along the M62 to work on these big programmes of work, like Building Schools for the Future, and the LIFT Programme ((Local Improvement Finance Trusts).

"I felt it was important that we built a professional services consultancy team here. That team is now well established locally, regionally and nationally too. We've also recently invested in a company called Community Ventures, which covers a broader geography but has a very similar skill set to the Shared Agenda team. About a year and a half ago we bought the whole business and brought them into our team.”

"One of the benefits of employee ownership is that if we do make profit, we will share some of that profit with the team. We're all members of the same family, we all get an equal split.”

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An inspirational academic helped to place Ms Barnes on the path to her current leadership role.

"One of the courses I did at university was urban and regional economics and I had a fantastic lecturer called Dr Ian Stone. He inspired me to get involved in urban regeneration. The bits of my economics degree I enjoyed the most were applied economics; I was more interested in this than economic theory. I'm a pragmatic person who likes to focus on delivery.

"Because he had real life knowledge about how things worked and how decisions were made I was absolutely fascinated. I knew when I left university it was what I wanted to do."

"We've had a period of acquisition,’’ she added. “Over the last six years we have bought three businesses. Settling these down and making them feel part of the team is still ongoing but going well.

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"We're open to other acquisitions. Some of our growth has been through internal start-ups, including a recently launched technical advisory practice.

The group is developing staff through an apprenticeship and graduate programme, known as GATEway which stands for Graduates, Apprenticeships, Traineeships and Work Experience.

"After the pandemic, I said we needed to triple our investment in young people and take on more trainees, apprentices, graduates and work experience candidates,’’ Ms Barnes recalled.

"We agreed that 15 per cent of our workforce needs to fall into that category in terms of full time equivalents.

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"We got to 12 per cent last year. A lot of our work experience people end up getting permanent jobs with us. We also work with people from more challenged backgrounds because social mobility is still a big part of what we do.”

Ms Barnes is determined to ensure Sewell Estates leaves a lasting, and benevolent, impression on its home city and beyond.

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