Pennie Hudson Ward: Sheffield gave Sean Bean to the world. Now let's do the same for Yorkshire

As my company, ArchformByte, is based in Sheffield, I have noticed a number of improvements that could be made to turn our city into the UK’s hub for manufacturing, exports and business excellence.

After all, Sheffield is geographically central, and at the moment, it finds itself losing out to its close friends Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool as the place to be, and most of the North is entirely eclipsed by the South-East. This is a real shame, as where we are is ideally placed. Sheffield, you need to enhance your brand.

Improvements must be made to rail and road to make commutes and the transport of goods easier. We heard
last year that the long-awaited
HS2 will run through Sheffield, as 
well as many other cities in the
North that do not have adequate transport links.

However will it be too little, too late? The earliest the route will be completed is 2026, with the Manchester and Leeds sections possibly due for completion by 2032 or 2033. By this time, we could find ourselves so far on the back foot we could struggle to catch up.

The motorways, too, should be better maintained and wider to make it a more convenient and desirable route from the South or from Scotland. No one wants to make an uncomfortable journey over potholes and being unable to overtake efficiently, they want a smooth trip with little delay.

A significant investment in the quality of our roads could ‘pave’ the way for more business parks, premium offices and big corporation headquarters. If Amazon was looking to build its headquarters in the UK, would its ‘head honchos’ instantly head for Sheffield, Rotherham, or Hull? I don’t think so.

We also need to establish ourselves as world leaders when it comes to technology. It’s 2018, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect every town and city in the North to have access to superfast broadband.

As businesses, we need to open
our virtual borders, and connect with our cousins across the globe to export our goods. It is almost impossible to do this if our connection speed is slow or, God forbid, the network goes down completely. Yet, like the dial-up days of the late 90s, there are still some firms that frequently find themselves 
without internet access, and it is not
good enough. It is a business essential, and companies should be able to
trust that it is ready and available for them, so they can focus on their
product.

Similarly all areas, particularly
office buildings and towns where there is a high business population, should expect a decent mobile phone reception, regardless of the network.

Many firms, particularly fledgling start-ups or one-man, or woman, bands have done away with clunky old
landlines altogether, and conduct
all their telephonic activity using a mobile.

Again, in this day and age, no one should find themselves renting 
an office space and finding that they
have to balance on one leg in the
westerly-most corner of the room in order to have a conversation. A clear line while sitting at your desk should be standard. You bet your iPhone X it is in London.

So I’m laying down a challenge
to us all – to the businesses in the
North, to the decision-makers, to Jake Berry and every single influencer in the Northern Powerhouse – let’s raise our profile.

Let’s show the rest of the country, and the rest of the world, our grit and our spirit. We are a region of state-of-the-art, progressive, innovative and dynamic industry. We are manufacturers, entrepreneurs, tech wizards and creatives. In Sheffield, we made and exported Sean Bean, which just goes to show what we can achieve when we put our minds to it.

The UK is a small island, but the North is a big part of it. Why don’t we show what a huge impact we can have?

Pennie Hudson Ward is chief executive of 
Sheffield-based of ArchformByte.