Design Council cuts sustainability post

The Design Council is to axe its sustainability project leader post.

The decision came as a surprise to the design community, following assertions that sustainability is ‘the defining issue’ for the organisation at its ‘Wake up to sustainability’ event, held at the London Design Festival only last month.

Design Council chief executive David Kester (pictured) declined to comment on the decision to terminate the role, but said that sustainability would underpin all of the organisation’s programmes going forward. Although sustainability will not have a dedicated programme, Kester says, it will be a common element to its programmes for business, skills and public outreach.

I believe this is a significant event. Sustainability should be intrinsic in all aspects of a business, and nominating a champion, and/or treating it as a special project based role sends the wrong message to staff, who then believe that sustainability is someone else’s responsibility, when in fact we should all consider sustainability as part of our management responsibility.

What do you think?

Design Council warns designers about increasing overseas competition…

The UK design industry is facing more intense competition than ever according to new research from the Design Council published today.

“UK Design: Buying and Selling for a Global Industry” was research carried out among almost 300 designers facing international competition.

Eight out of ten designers surveyed say they are up against overseas competition for UK business, the findings show. More than half (56 per cent) say the main competition for the work is from Asia, with digital and multimedia designers singling out India (52 per cent), and product and industrial designers (42 per cent) being mainly concerned with China.

A narrowing gap in quality between home-grown and overseas design is one reason mentioned for design buyers looking abroad, as clients become less willing to pay premium prices for UK design. Growth in the number of Design Graduates from Asia is likely to increase competition further in the next 10 years.

The survey also shows that there is still a strong performance for the UK industry, that more than six out of ten designers have changed their services in response to the international competition, and that, as well as the competition, the overseas market has also led to increased opportunity for designers.

For the full research survey see: www.designcouncil.org.uk/internationalcompetition.

Do you buy design? if so let us know if you intend to look abroad for future suppliers?

Entrepreneurs in the UK working longer hours

As new EU rules on statutory leave are introduced, research carried out on behalf of Abbey Business Banking shows over half the UK’s entrepreneurs are working more than the European recommended standard of a 48-hour week.


The report has been published following research from 300 small-to-medium business owners in May of this year. Key findings showed:

• Entrepreneurs in the South West work the longest week clocking up 57.9 hours; 

• London entrepreneurs work the least hours averaging 44.2 per week;

• Agriculture and Mining entrepreneurs work on average 62.1 hours per week; and

• 40 per cent of entrepreneurs in the South East feel their health has suffered as a result of long hours.


Abbey’s research found that South West entrepreneurs were putting in the longest hours whilst entrepreneurs based in London were working the shortest week. The average entrepreneur in Britain works over 50 hours every week.

28 per cent of all entrepreneurs felt their health had suffered due to working long hours; this increased to 40 percent in Greater London whilst only 15 per cent of entrepreneurs in Yorkshire and Humberside felt their health had been affected.

The findings also varied greatly from sector to sector. No entrepreneurs in the financial sector felt their health had suffered whilst 42 per cent of manufacturing entrepreneurs felt their health had deteriorated due to their work.

Ian Wilson, Managing Director of Abbey Business Banking, commented:

“Entrepreneurs in the UK are working longer and longer hours. It is a testament to their dedication and work ethic that they are prepared to put in the extra effort to ensure their businesses succeed. However, working hard comes at a cost and as our research has shown over a quarter of Britain’s entrepreneurs feel their health has suffered due to the amount they are working.”

Despite these findings, most entrepreneurs still feel that working alone is preferable to working for someone else, despite the long hours they have to put in.

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts on why entrepreneurs put in so many hours – is it by choice or neccessity?