We would like to welcome CAF, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles as a new Patron of the Spanish Chamber.
Winners 0f our Annual Golden Award 2018 and with over 100 years since its establishment, CAF designs, manufactures, maintains and supplies equipment and components for rail systems throughout the world. The company boasts a workforce of 8,500 people across their main factories in Beasáin, Zaragoza Irún, Castejón and Linares; as well as others in the USA, Mexico, Brazil, France and the UK.
In Spain, CAF is one of the most prominent providers within the Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles (RENFE), providing metro units, trams and the latest innovative trains to cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Vitoria, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga and Granada.
CAF began to expand abroad as of 1992 and has been operating in the UK since 1994 when it won the contract to manufacture Heathrow Express trains. In 1997, it won the contract to make the train and carriages for the Heathrow Express; the fast train from Paddington station to Heathrow airport. Since then, they have worked on large scale projects such as the diesel trains for the NIR and the tram networks in Edinburgh and Birmingham. The firm is currently working with Arriva, First Group, Serco and West Midland Trains for the provision and maintenance of new trains that will operate on various routes covering the north of the country.
In 2017, CAF selected the Celtic Business Park at the Llanwern steelworks site near Newport in South Wales as the location of its future UK factory. The 46,000 m2 plant will be designed to accommodate the production of a range of different vehicle types, including diesel and electric multiple-units, trams and high speed trainsets. CAF is to invest £30m in the plant; a major economic boost to not only the surrounding area, but also to the wider UK supply chain through the development of a cluster of local and national companies to supply components. The project consists of the supply of 51 two-car units, 26 three-car units and the maintenance of the units until the end of the franchise in 2033.
CAF’s sales reached 1,447 million euros in 2017 and they achieved a net profit of 42.5 million euros. Moreover, the firm has undertaken projects in over 35 countries including providing metro units in Washington, Rome, Mexico City, Bucharest and Sao Paulo; as well as trams in Belgrade, Edinburgh, Nantes, Sydney and Stockholm. They have also built diesel and commuter trains in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and the USA and high speed trains in Turkey and Norway.
Should you want to know more about our new patron, please visit their website by clicking here.
On Tuesday 6th February 2018 the Spanish Chamber of Commerce held an event titled “Infrastructure and Procurement Opportunities in the West” in collaboration with Freeths LLP; member of the Chamber. Freeths is a major UK law firm with 11 offices in key cities, specialising in construction, energy, real estate and planning. The event took place at the firm’s head office in Manchester and constituted the Chamber’s first event to take place outside of London, marking the start of our efforts to carry out more sectorial events in different parts of the United Kingdom.
The event saw a great turn out of 30 guests from approximately 25 companies from sectors ranging from construction to engineering, with many having travelled from cities such as London, Birmingham and Darlington. After an early start, guests had the opportunity to meet each other over a coffee before being asked to take their seats. They were then welcomed to the event and a series of introductions were made by James Driver, Partner at Freeths, who explained the structure of the day’s event.
Steve Burns, Head of Economic Development at Bolton Council, was then the first to speak. He spoke about the town’s ‘Bolton 2030’ strategy for growth which focuses on factors such as employment, health, business growth, housing, embracing a digital future and the Bolton Vision partnership. He spoke about the scheme’s challenges but also the opportunities it brings, including housing and employment growth, before going on to describe Bolton’s town centre framework and the recent investment in this.
Martin Lawton of Blacc Consulting LLP spoke next on the topic of manufacture led construction. He began by introducing his firm and what they do, detailing how they are construction, project, programme and portfolio management specialists who have a great deal of industry experience. He then described Blacc’s vision for revolutionising the construction industry and the evolution of the modular assembly toolkit, before providing a variety of case studies; looking principally at the layout of schools.
David Fisken, Head of Business Attraction at the West Midlands Growth Company was the next to speak. He spoke of the company’s 7 remit areas before giving an introduction to the West Midlands and their recent major developments. He then spoke of the firm’s regional economic plan and the transformational and enabling sectors that this involves, highlighting the vital importance of digital in this. He highlighted the opportunities with transport, energy, life sciences and healthcare, housing, the High Speed 2 project and transformational regeneration projects. He finished his talk by highlighting the main motivations for investing in the West Midlands, which include connectivity, its rich and growing talent pool and the fact that it is the most successful UK region for FDI.
Following a coffee break in which guests had the opportunity to share their impressions of the speakers, Andris Bankovskis spoke on the subject of UK energy. He began by highlighting that the three objectives of UK energy policy are the security of supply, sustainability and least cost before going on to speak about new energy technology and the opportunities developing in refurbishment, smart technologies and waste management to name a few. He finally went on to speak about several of the current energy projects in the UK.
The final speaker of the morning was Jason Richards, Partner at Freeths, who spoke about the legislative framework for Public Private Partnerships and the UK Organisational Structure. He described the key features of a PPP framework, giving examples, before speaking about the main features of the UK’s organisational framework. He finally spoke about the Five Case Model, touching on Brexit, before providing a summary of the issues faced by investors.
Following the last talk the guests had the opportunity to network with each other over lunch. As the attendees discussed the talks it was clear to see that they had found them useful and highly insightful. The success of this event was promising and we look forward to organising more events of this nature in the future.
If you would like to know more about this kind of events and others organised by the Chamber, do take a look at the Upcoming Events section of our website or subscribe to our electronic newsletter for biweekly updates.
On Tuesday 27th September we organised a session on “Best Practices on Construction and Opportunities in the UK” aimed at Spanish companies from the construction and infrastructure sectors and subsectors. The event was hosted at the premises of Blick Rothenberg, member of our Chamber.
This activity took place as part of an inward trade mission our institution had been organising in collaboration with Asturex to receive a delegation of Spanish companies from the above sectors. Thus, the event provided first-hand information on specific aspects related to their line of business, such as CIS (Construction Industry Scheme) requirements, insurance and health & safety procedures, or available opportunities in the country in the near future.
Jesús Agra, Foreign Trade Manager at the Spanish Chamber, introducing Dennis McGlynn, from the Department of International Trade.
Jesús Agra, Foreign Trade Manager, and Cristina Carmona, Head of External Relations and Communications, were in attendance to represent the Spanish Chamber. Mr. Agra welcomed attendees on behalf of our institution and introduced the speakers for the session.
First in line were Simon Wagman, Partner, and Alex Altmann, Director, both from Blick Rothenberg. They covered whether the activities in the UK of a Spanish company create a permanent establishment, the status of their employees for tax purposes and how they need to register for VAT and the CIS. Also, both Simon and Alex highlighted the importance of receiving professional advice when it comes to tax obligations for foreign companies to avoid hefty fees due to lack of information.
Simon Wagman, Partner at Blick Rothenberg, explained the key challenges in tax matters.
After this, it was the turn of Alicia Ferrero, from the International Desk at Santander UK. She covered the range of financial services the bank can provide to foreign clients and briefly introduced the Santander Trade portal. This new tool is being currently improved to help Santander clients access market information in the countries the bank is present and, building-on this tool, the Santander Trade Club would allow companies to connect with other Santander clients.
After the coffee break, Dennis McGlynn, Investment Adviser at the Department for International Trade, took the floor. His presentation offered an overview of the main projects that are expected to be carried out by 2020 involving infrastructure and construction. His insights were particularly relevant as he presented specific projects already on the government agenda and which will generate new opportunities for companies in the next 5 years.
The session welcomed a delegation of Spanish companies from the construction sector among other representatives.
The last speaker of the session was David Lucas, Commercial Account Executive at Bluefin. During his presentation, he explained briefly key differences between Spain and the UK in terms of insurance policy. He highlighted the importance for Spanish companies to check the requirements made by British clients in the contract and whether it includes specific insurance clauses.
As David explained, quite often Spanish insurance is not sufficient to be fully covered against potential claims in the UK and thus the importance of ensuring the right coverage. He also touched on the recently approved Insurance Act (effective from August 2016) and Health & Safety procedures that companies must implement to comply with UK regulations.
The Q&A session gave attendees the opportunity to elaborate further on the topics previously discussed.
To round up the session, we had two case studies from two Spanish companies from the sector and already established in the UK: Desamianta and López Landa. To begin with, Luis García, Operations Director, and Fernando Santiago, Business Development Manager, from Desamianta explained that despite being one of the leading companies in Spain in their area of expertise (asbestos removal), they faced a series of challenges, such as needing to get a licence to operate here as their Spanish one was not recognised.
To conclude, Guillermo Lázaro, Managing Director at López Landa Interiors, highlighted the importance of joining associations relevant to one’s sector as it works as a seal of approval for potential clients. As he explained, belonging to an association shows British clients that the company is here for the long-term. Creating trust is one of the main challenges for Spanish companies, he went on discussing, and one way to do so is by being part of the right networks, which potentially would lead them to projects.
Attendees had the opportunity to network over lunch.
The Q&A round that followed the case studies proved a fantastic opportunity to elaborate on the different topics previously covered during the morning. After a highly participative session, both speakers and attendees could engage in further conversation over a networking lunch that was served on the premises.
We would like to thank our members Bluefin, Desamianta, López Landa Interiors, and our Patron Santander for sharing such insightful and valuable information with the companies who were in attendance at this event, and especially our member Blick Rothenberg for kindly hosting this event at their premises.
If you would like to be updated on future activities, please subscribe to our weekly newsletter or visit the UPCOMING EVENTS section on our website.
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