Tees mayor Ben Houchen spoke at the launch of This Is Tees Valley , along with representatives from SeAH Wind , Double Eleven , Casper Group and AV Dawson .
SHOUTING LOUD
Ben Houchen stars at launch of national publication
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen used the 2023-24 launch event for This Is Tees Valley to say there ’ s a growing economic momentum on Teesside that ’ s attracting interest from around the world .
Mayor Houchen was special guest at an event to launch This Is Tees Valley 2023-24 – a magazine , produced by Aycliffe Business sister publication , Tees Business , with the support of Tees Valley Combined Authority , which shouts loud and proud about the benefits of living , working and investing in this region .
More than 150 people attended the Wynyard Hall event , which was sponsored by Teesside-based critical power specialists Durata , and featured a Q & A session with a panel of local business leaders from SeAH Wind , AV Dawson , Casper Group and Double Eleven .
And Mr Houchen said the success of such key local firms , as well as the ability of the Tees Valley to attract the likes of SeAH ’ s giant wind turbine monopile factory to the Teesworks site , showed how much the region had to offer .
He said : “ That ’ s the reason behind This Is Tees Valley . We ’ re a region that wasn ’ t talked about at all a few years ago but we ’ re now being talked about a lot .
“ Up until recently , it ’ s been extremely positive but we ’ ll deal with the other stuff – and we will continue to grow and become stronger as a result of that .
“ With the cluster on Teesworks with companies like SeAH , we ’ re now seeing other countries coming to Teesside to understand what we ’ re doing .
“ Countries are literally sending delegations from their governments over to Teesside to look at how we ’ re managing to cluster those new technologies , how we ’ re managing to work with a company like SeAH and get them to invest .
“ There is a lot underneath that ’ s creating that groundswell and starting to change those perceptions . What we ’ re getting now is a momentum – I think over the next 12 to 18 months , we ’ ll be in a place where it takes on a life of its own and you probably won ’ t need politicians and people like me trying to drive it from the centre .
“ That clustering effect and that private sector momentum will massively take over and then whatever happens politically , hopefully the local economy and local businesses are insulated from the nonsense that ’ s sadly increasing in politics locally .”
Adding that a lot of work continues to go on
Aycliffe Business director Martin Walker was one of the hosts for the launch of This Is Tees Valley , attended by more than 150 delegates in the Conservatory at Wynyard Hall .
“ under the radar ” in bringing more investors to the Tees Valley , Mr Houchen told the audience : “ It ’ s sometimes very easy to do my job when it comes to investors because I can just point to the sort of people we have on this panel and in the audience , and I don ’ t have to explain myself .
“ I couldn ’ t do what I do , and we would not have achieved what we have achieved , without everyone in this room helping each other and speaking positively about the fantastic things that are happening .”
10,000 copies of This Is Tees Valley are now being circulated around the country , with thousands going to a national mailing list made up of companies from sectors including investment , real estate , manufacturing , technology , energy and biochemicals .
You can read the digital version by searching for This Is Tees Valley online .
34 | Aycliffe Business