From 1996 to 2009 the City Fringe Partnership delivered major initiatives to improve the prospects of residents and support London's small businesses.

  1. About the CFP
  2. Achievements
  3. Project case studies
  4. In pictures

Download CFP research on the area and key employment sectors, as well as sector investment plans and evaluation reports of its programmes.

  1. Research

CFP projects, project delivery partners and links to organisations at the heart of CFP activities.

  1. Projects and links

Achievements:

The legacy

  • Stimulated a greater degree of environmental awareness among local printers.
  • Strengthened agency links with businesses, bringing the lead industry association into greater contact with businesses in London.
  • Hundreds of thousands of pounds of printing work won by City Fringe printers.
  • Improved opportunities for women and people from minority groups to develop businesses.
  • Hundreds of school students from the City Fringe encouraged to consider careers in the industry.
Funds for Print website City Fringe printer City Fringe printer

New business models for a traditional industry: Funds for Print

The CFP's Print & Publishing Sector Investment Plan, branded Funds for Print, programme helped local printers and small publishers improve their business performance. Business diagnostics were conducted with around 100 local firms to assess what areas could be improved - from sales to marketing and environmental performance. Read about how the CFP's Funds for Print programme resulted in new business for one local printer here.

Corporate commitments to better environmental working practices mean that print buyers often consider costs to the environment when selecting printers for large jobs. Funds for Print encouraged City Fringe printers to adopt new policies of environmental management. Everything from waste management to water consumption, transportation and the use of materials was analysed and, with specialist advice, improved to the benefit of the company itself.

The programme was supported by an industry group made up of local business leaders as well as leading suppliers in the industry. McNaughton Paper Merchants, named as one of the top 60 environmental companies in the UK in the 2009 Sunday Times ranking, led industry seminars on environmental policy and the business benefits of demonstrating environmental credentials to customers.

Small grants to local print and publishing firms widened the support of Funds for Print to Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority- and women-owned enterprises, which mainstream public service providers and industry trade associations had found difficult to reach. As the British Print Industries Federation noted, "Funds for Print has broken down the silo mentality of the industry."

The CFP's support for the Newspaper Education Trust helped educate young people about the careers prospects of the print and publishing sector, giving them exposure to the world of newspaper production from their 'newsroom' facility at Westferry printers in Tower Hamlets, modelled on the new Daily Telegraph newsroom.

www.fundsforprint.org.uk

In 2008, the new Funds for Print website was launched to encourage printers to improve their environmental impact, to put print buyers in contact with local print suppliers and to offer guidance to those considering a career in the industry. The website was designed to raise the profile of the cluster of print businesses and small publishing houses based in the City Fringe - particularly with buyers from one of the world's biggest print markets, covering financial, professional and legal service companies in the City of London and Canary Wharf.

After advertising it to over a thousand City-based print buyers and procurement managers the site was launched in December 2008 with notable success. Over a hundred businesses registered for the free directory, using the site's own Green Rating to show what improvements they had made already to their businesses. The system is self-maintaining and allows print buyers to post tenders that are available to all registered printers. In the first six months of operation major contracts had already been posted on the site, facilitating the retention of tens of thousands of pounds of printing business within the City Fringe.

To see this work in action please visit the dedicated Funds for Print website.