Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 40 | Page 12

12 | Aycliffe Today Business
FUTURE
PROOFING
How Business
Durham is helping
Aycliffe Business Park
to fulfil its potential
An aerial view of the sprawling
400-hectare Aycliffe Business Park.
Aycliffe Today editor Martin Walker on the critical role Business Durham, the economic
development arm of Durham County Council, is playing in Aycliffe’s future success…
A
ycliffe Business Park really is somewhere
that is ‘making its mark.’
Increasingly it’s recognised for what it is,
a major economic driver, not just for County
Durham but for whole of the North-East
region.
Its importance is being further enhanced
by the latest development at Forrest Park,
where Durham County Council are part of a
joint venture to develop a 48-hectare green-
field site which is expected to create 3,200
manufacturing, logistics and office jobs.
It’s a perfect example of the role of
Business Durham who, working on behalf
of Durham County Council, aim to deliver
the environment for business and economic
growth. It means getting everything right for
any business whatever their size or sector.
To help turn this into a reality Business
Durham have a business support team who
act as a knowledgeable and trusted guide,
actively supporting businesses to grow.
They can connect businesses with the
right funding, advice, access to training,
exporting, and networks they need to grow
and thrive.
It has delivered programmes exclusive to
Aycliffe Business Park such as the Business
Improvement and Growth workshops,
delivered through the Durham Business
Opportunities Programme (DBOP).
A number of Aycliffe businesses have
also benefitted from the Incubation Zone
project, another DBOP project, supporting
businesses that were keen to showcase
their products and services to potential
new customers but who didn’t have the
experience to do this.
They were helped to present at EMCON
(formerly known as Oktoberfest) in 2017
and 2018, and for those who are interested
businesses are now being recruited for the
third phase of the support programme.
Business Durham also works closely
with partners to encourage an enterprise
culture, helping entrepreneurs to turn bright
ideas into successful reality and students
to develop enterprise skills to become our
future business leaders.
An example of this is the Future Business
Magnates competition. This exciting and
fun competition is open to secondary
schools across the county, it aims to build
enthusiasm in young people and introduces
them to the basics of starting and running a
business.
School teams are supported by a business
partner from a local firm who work with the
team throughout the competition, lending
their experience and expertise and guiding
them in their first business venture, and a
number of Aycliffe firms are long-standing
supporters of the competition
Business Durham also supports ambitious
entrepreneurs with the vision to start and
scale up their business in Durham through
the Durham City Incubator (DCI).
DCI was recently launched by Business
Durham in association with Durham
University and New College Durham.
It’s a six-month accelerator programme for
entrepreneurs and growing businesses in
County Durham, with a particular emphasis
on encouraging student and graduate talent
to apply.
But Business Durham’s support doesn’t
end there. The DBOP team deliver strands
of intensive support to businesses in the
childcare, creative, food and drink, and
engineering and manufacturing sectors.
Earlier this year a new strand ‘routes to
success’ was launched to provide businesses
with access to new and existing tenders in
the private and public sectors.
Every business needs a place to call home,
and Business Durham can also provide that.
Ranging from virtual offices, incubator
space, industrial units, office space of varying
sizes and modern laboratories. Business
Durham manages a portfolio of business
property and excels in finding the right space
for businesses to grow.
For companies who are looking to grow
in the county Business Durham can provide
funding through the Finance Durham fund.
Businesses can apply for funds range
between £200,000 to £700,000 and need to
be based in County Durham or be relocating