Director’s Statement 2025

January 6, 2025/in Inudstry/by iDC

We’re now officially into our second decade. I don’t think anyone who knows us could possibly have escaped our 10-year anniversary celebrations last year – and I make no apology for that. I’m proud of what CLM has achieved; I’m incredibly proud of our team and I feel I honoured that so many respected companies and industry contacts choose to work with CLM as their landrights services provider – so our celebrations were well deserved.

On a more serious note though, one of the attributes of CLM which has driven this success, is our desire for constant improvement and evolution. So, as we embark on a new year, you won’t be surprised to hear we have plenty in store.

Improving communication

Many of our clients are kind enough to commend us on our communication – but there is always scope to improve. Across 2025 we’ll be rolling out a number of projects with this in mind:

· The launch of a new, purpose-built customer portal. This will be an exclusive cloud based platform which will enable the ICP and/or adopting networks to see where a project is at, monitor progress, track key milestones and have access to information when they need it

· The development of our customer journey. Our customer requirements can vary considerably and to best serve individual needs we want to clearly understand what support and positive impact we can provide from contract to completion. We’ll be running workshops later in the Spring with the CLM team and will of course be asking for customer input too

· We’ll be investing in strategic external marketing and communications for the first time. A big step forward for us, but we have a lot of knowledge across our team and we want to share it with others, helping the industry to get to grips with everything there is to know about the landrights sector.

The journey to net zero

I’m pleased to see the UK’s priorities for achieving net zero haven’t changed with the new Government. So, our role in supporting our customers remains strong – though I will use this opportunity to issue a reminder about the improvements we identified for EV landrights, which have sped up the process immeasurably for so many of our customers.

I also wanted to comment on how the journey to net-zero is changing the landscape as we know it, or knew it, for the electrical sector. There is a definite shift in the nature of roles and career opportunities out there now and with this, is the expectation of how companies should be looking to develop their staff – something which I am personally very passionate about.

Employee engagement

And on the subject of employee development, our continued investment in the team at CLM remains my highest priority. Our four-day week is now part of the furniture, and over the past year we’ve dedicated time to mental health awareness, wellbeing days and on how retain an atmosphere amongst the team which reflects how they want to work. In 2025, we’ll take this further with our ‘25 in 25’ Wellbeing Strategy. This initiative will deliver 25 impactful programmes aligned with our Four Pillars of Wellbeing, promoting health, happiness, and balance for every team member.

Financial performance

A huge thank you goes to all our team members for the hard work they put in to help us achieve our 23/24 target ahead of schedule. However, that means we’ve set ourselves some bold growth targets for 24/25, but with such a strong team in play, I know we can achieve this.

Working with our customers

I’ve already touched on how we’re working to improve our customer communications in terms of our new portal and our customer journey, but we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. So, I wanted to make of point of saying, please continue to provide us with feedback, tell us how we’re doing, what we could do better etc, because we really want to be the best we can be.

2024 highlights

Before I sign off, I need to shout about some achievements which we’ve celebrated at CLM this year:

· We’ve been crowned the Peterborough Business Awards, Small Business of the Year 2024 and I’ve recently been shortlisted as a Finalist in The BusinessDesk.com’s East Midlands’ Leadership Awards – winners are to be announced in March

· Amongst our significant completions for the year were: the bp pulse Gigahub^TM at Birmingham’s NEC Campus; Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority’s new state of the art training facility; AFC Bournemouth’s new training facility; and ARK data centre’s Longcross Park.

· And from our team: Nicky has seamlessly transitioned within the business from office to home-based working; Chris has developed a training presentation to introduce ICPs to landrights and the support CLM can provide; We’ve trained more MHFAs this year; Kat has successfully trained two new admin starters and transitioned two existing team members to trainee PCs. Overall, an excellent picture of how CLM has performed.

And I think that’s about it.

Thank you once again for your valued custom. We look forward to continuing our relationship with you.

Happy 2025,

Laura Wilson

Director

RECRUITING: Consultant Land Agent

March 17, 2021/in Uncategorised/by iDC

About us

Connections Legal Management (CLM) is an award winning, family-owned company established in 2014, who act on behalf of statutory undertakers and landowners to negotiate and manage the relationship and legal processes involved in new electricity, gas and water connections. The role that CLM play in this specialised field is demanding and rewarding with no project ever being the same.

Due to the continued growth being experienced within the business, there is a need to recruit an experienced Consultant Land Agent to take on an active case load, managing legal agreements between stakeholders to aid the delivery of easements, wayleaves and transfer/lease agreements.

Job Title:	Consultant Land Agent	Travel Required:	Yes
Location:	Ketton, Rutland	Position Type:	Self employed – part time with option of future full time employed position
Level/Salary Range:	Flexible hours, paid on an hourly basis Incentive bonus to be discussed

Duties would include, but are not limited to:

Carrying out land searches and reviewing the results
Liaising with adopting networks and reviewing their policies against draft designs to determine legal requirements on a project
Email correspondence and general administration of projects
Review newly allocated instructions
Instruct internal CAD team to prepare the legal plan
Review legal plans
Locate third party landowners and initiate contact
Meet with landowners to discuss connection proposal
Draft Heads of Terms in line with industry standards
Draft Construction License agreements
Negotiation with third party landowner – to include consideration payments, disturbance payments and compensation
Preparation and submission of legal instruction to network solicitor/Preparation and submission of DNO Heads of Terms/Wayleave documents to landowner’s solicitor
Liaising with solicitors, landowners and other stakeholders involved in the coordination of projects
Updating key project stakeholders and ensuring delays are managed to meet key timescales
Regular milestone reporting
Chasing completion – advising client of timescales
Client updates
Updating Client portals where applicable

The main requirements of this role will be:

Previous experience of the utility industry and land rights consents
Legal or Surveying background
Efficient worker who is able to deal with multiple sites and agreements
Excellent communication and written skills
Ability to work on own initiative
Attention to detail

Additional Notes

CLM prides itself on its friendly, relaxed and supportive working environment where the focus is working together as one team to ensure the highest level of service is delivered to its clients. It is imperative that the right candidate possesses the behavioural qualities needed to fit in with an established and growing team. The behaviours that are essential for success within this role include, but are not limited to:

Passionate
Self-motivated
Enthusiastic
Completer finisher
Organised & efficient
Keen eye for detail
Methodical in approach
Able to prioritise

To Apply: Please send your CV and covering letter to [email protected]

CLM win Small Business of the Year award!

January 15, 2021/in Awards/by iDC

There is no better way to start the year, than with a very special award win!

Connections Legal Management (CLM) is thrilled to have been awarded the prestigious title of ‘Small Business of the Year’ as part of the 15^th annual Mercury Business Awards.

Kerry Coupe, editor of the Mercury, said: ‘We are proud to announce the winners of the 2020 Mercury Business Awards today and would like to congratulate all of our winners, and nominees.

‘The pandemic means it has never been more important to celebrate the fantastic businesses which are at the heart and soul of our area and doing amazing things.’

Having turned 6 in 2020, CLM is a thriving business specialising in land rights. The team of 13 are an incredible group of individuals who care, not only about their clients and projects, but also each other. As Investors In People, the team have demonstrated their resilience and capabilities both in and out the workplace; supporting, inspiring and empowering each other.

In February 2020, CLM was presented with the Small Business Sunday Award by Theo Paphitis and Mercury Business Award judge, Ashley Sutherland from Hegarty Solicitors clearly agreed that CLM are worthy winners of such an accolade.

Throughout Covid19 the CLM directors have been overwhelmed by the professionalism shown by the CLM team who have truly risen to the challenging times with aplomb. CLM has instilled confidence in clients and has seamlessly delivered on projects regardless of the unprecedented times. Laura Wilson, director said, ‘This award means the world to us. We are a small business who make a big impact. The team have worked incredibly hard to establish us as the go to Land Rights service provider and we would like to thank them and our loyal clients who continue to support us.’

CLM Win SBS Award!

March 4, 2020/in Uncategorised/by iDC

CLM have recently been awarded the prestigious Theo Paphitis’ Small Business Sunday award.

The SBS Twitter campaign, launched by former Dragon’s Den Theo Paphitis, promoted CLM to his half a million followers, which highlighted the outstanding services offered to their clients.

Connections Legal Management (CLM) act on behalf of statutory undertakers and private landowners, negotiating and managing the seamless legal completion of easements, land acquisitions and consents associated with new utility connections. Being recognised for their outstanding work raises the profile of Land Rights and the integral part CLM play in energising developments.

Directors, Laura and Hamish Wilson, attended the SBS 2020 Event in February, meeting Theo and attending a variety of talks discussing innovation, brand alignment and marketing projection as well as a ‘Fireside Q&A’ session with Theo Paphitis himself and fellow Dragon, Sara Davies.

CLM director, Laura Wilson said, “We are thrilled to join the engaging #SBS community, who have made us feel so welcome. We all support each other via various social media platforms and the weekly #SBSwinnershour so the #SBSevent2020 is a terrific opportunity to meet other business owners over lunch and strengthen those relationships.”

Hamish Wilson, director of CLM added: “There is real value in events such as these, whereby likeminded businesses leaders can take time out of their organisations to share successful strategies with each other.

“At CLM we help our clients by taking the stress out of land rights and our aim for 2020 is to help even more clients by delivering an efficient, reliable and seamless service.”

CLM turns 5!

August 20, 2019/in Uncategorised/by iDC

August 20th 2019 saw CLM turn 5 and what an exceptional journey it has been! Specialising in the consenting of electric and gas connections to developments of all sizes, CLM has already grown the team to 13 people.

Director, Laura Wilson, started our niche business in 2014 from her home and CLM’s growth has seen the company expand from the Grey House and Willoughby House in Stamford to the prestigious Ketton Design House, where we host a contemporary space within the historic Grain Store.

CLM has a lot to celebrate as we have achieved some tremendous milestones over the last 5 years and set process precedents which others now measure themselves against. The team, including project co-ordinators and a CAD technician, are proud to have worked on some of the most prestigious and valuable sites in the UK including; the redevelopment of Wembley Park, Olympic Park as well as the largest commercial, industrial and new residential developments in the UK.

It is no wonder that CLM is such a desirable place to work. Passionate about investing in people, we have introduced an abundance of wellbeing initiatives such as a Golden Ticket, entitling each team member an extra day away from the office to celebrate their birthday in style, optional standing desks and a replenished fruit hamper each week.

CLM is acknowledged for ground-breaking ethics as Laura has been nominated for Business Woman of the Year and shortlisted for UKCW Role Models of 2019, for her outstanding work within the construction industry. The accolades don’t stop there as CLM has been nominated for Small Business of the Year at the Mercury Business Awards as well as Employer of the Year at the Peterborough Excellence Awards.

Such worthy recognition of CLM is demonstrated in the company ethos, ‘the only way to do great work is to love what you do’!

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