10 | Aycliffe Today Business
The Aycliffe Business Park Community board( left to right) Lee Harris( Mitchell Gordon), James Goodliffe( Formula Plastics), Pamela Petty( South West Durham Training), Sarah Slaven( Business Durham), Kerina Clark( Xcel Centre), Emma Little( Gregg Little Testing Centre), Rachel Townsend Green( Thrive Marketing), Chris Hyde( JDP Contracting), Steve Robson( South Durham Enterprise Agency) and Martin Walker( Mantis Media).
Business park’ s new identity set for‘ Big Reveal’ at celebration event
An exciting new identity for Aycliffe Business Park Community( ABPC) will be revealed at a major event being planned on the business park in September.
High-profile keynote speakers, including Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson and Crafter’ s Companion founder Sara Davies among others, are due to talk at the celebration seminar at the Xcel Centre on Friday September 8.
The event, which will be open to all businesses from the region, comes 12 months after ABPC was formed as an official limited company with a board of non-executive directors, who have been busy working on a number of projects which are just starting to come to fruition.
ABPC is currently undergoing a rebranding process – with new colour schemes and a new logo already approved – while a more user-friendly website is currently being designed and built by Aycliffe-based Thrive Marketing, with content being produced by Mantis Media.
The new website and branding will be revealed during the celebration event on September 8, while guests will see a presentation on its new functions and how businesses can best make use of it.
Spread across 400 hectares, and with future expansion plans, Aycliffe Business
Park is already home to an estimated 500 companies and 10,000 employees.
ABPC was officially set up a year ago to formalise the group after its predecessor had been run as an unofficial entity for more than three years.
The organisation is marking its first year of operation by embarking on a number of new initiatives, designed to boost community engagement and communication.
Chair Kerina Clark, managing director of the Xcel Centre, said:“ It has been a really encouraging first year for the board and we’ re very happy with its direction.
“ We’ re seeing more and more new faces at our regular news and networking meetings, which is pleasing. Attendees are getting to know their neighbours and many are doing business with one another as a result, which is fantastic.
“ Of course, we want to see more engagement and we’ re looking at ways of increasing that, and we’ re hopeful the company’ s rebrand and new website will help.
“ We’ re looking forward to the relaunch event on September 8 and hope to see