Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 43 | Página 31

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 31
Adam Steel takes a look back at some of the stories
making the headlines on aycliffetoday.co.uk during
another eventful 12 months for Aycliffe Business Park...
by recruiting an apprentice joiner and
business admin assistant.
• Award-winning creative agency Lemon
Top Creative hopes to “break the ice”
with new companies after expanding to
new premises in the Incubation Centre on
Aycliffe Business Park.
J & C Coaches reveals £100,000 investment
in fleet of vehicles.
• Newton Aycliffe’s only surviving coach hire
firm J & C Coaches looks to the future
after investing £100,000 in their fleet of
vehicles.
• Miller Homes announce the opening of a
new regional office on Aycliffe Business
Park to support the company’s strategic
regional growth plans.
• Newton Aycliffe’s only specialist electrical
and plumbing wholesaler Upex Electrical
Distributors aims for future growth after
appointing new manager Craig Slater.
J U LY
• Durham County Council’s economic
development arm Business Durham hosts
the South African Trade Mission launch at
Ramside Hall Hotel, in conjunction with the
Department for International Trade, to help
businesses take advantage of burgeoning
export opportunities.
• TransPennine Express officially welcome
the first of its brand new Hitachi Rail-built
Nova 1 trains following formal acceptance
from the Office of Rail and Road.
• Aycliffe Today’s sister company, Resolution
Media and Publishing, announces plans
to launch a new annual publication, This Is
Tees Valley, to promote the region to the
rest of the UK and beyond.
• Software innovators Excelpoint appoint
four new staff members – Loraine
Henderson, Costner Brown, Sarah Orton
and Caine Longstaff – to further strengthen
its team.
• Abellio UK, awarded the new eight-year
East Midlands Railway franchise by the
Department for Transport, confirms that it
has awarded a £400m contract to Hitachi
Rail to build a pioneering new fleet of
intercity trains.
• Plans to create £140m business park
Forrest Park – with the potential to create
up to 3,200 jobs – are approved, with
outline planning permission granted to
develop a 55-hectare site at the south east
of Newton Aycliffe.
AUGUST
• Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston
says a 685-tonne construction built using
steel from Aycliffe firm Finley Structures
in Middlesbrough’s Centre Square
development marks the beginning of a
new era for the town.
• Global craft supplier Crafter’s Companion
toasts the first half of an impressive year
by hitting the 200 staff mark.
• Tekmar Energy signs a multi-million pound
contract with the world’s largest offshore
wind developer – Dutch firm Ørsted – to
provide cable protection systems.
• Shower screen manufacturer Roman
secures £2m funding from HSBC to
potentially double the size of its production
facilities on Aycliffe Business Park.
• Family-run firm Newton Press converts its
former premises into smaller workspace
units, housing up to 11 small businesses,
by using grant funding to leverage private
investment.
SEPTEMB ER
• Aycliffe-based Fleet Recruitment expects
turnover to grow by 40% in the next year
after opening an office in the Republic of
Ireland to meet rising demand for its new
training division.
• A £6,000 sensory room opens at ROF
59 activity centre on Durham Way South,
providing children and babies with autism
and other learning disabilities with a space
to enjoy and embrace the calming and
soothing environment.
• Fast-growing powder coatings company
GT Coatings plans further expansion after
major investment as part of a drive to
attract more larger orders.
OCTOBER
• A developer is hoping to secure a multi-
million-pound deal to deliver 50,000 sq
ft. of business space in Newton Aycliffe
– after Durham County Council agreed to
a 30-year head-lease on Merchant Anglo’s
Station Place phase of the Merchant Park
industrial scheme on Aycliffe Business
Park.
• Leading logistics provider Stiller
Warehousing and Distribution makes the
move to the cloud with a fully-managed
solution from award-winning IT specialists
razorblue.
• Vegan food tycoon Heather Mills stars as
the keynote speaker at Aycliffe Business
Park’s 2019 EMCON event, with dozens of
businesses pledging to return for EMCON
2020 as they pursue leads made to new
business.
• Tekmar Group signs a sale and purchase
agreement for the acquisition of Pipeshield
International from its founder Steven
Howlett.
• Teesside University lead Professor
Jane Turner, OBE DL, receives the
Outstanding Contribution Award at the
Tees Businesswomen Awards 2019, held
at Wynyard Hall and organised by Tees
Business publishers Resolution Media
and Publishing, co-owned by Aycliffe
Today editor Martin Walker.
N OV E M B E R
• Rockliffe Hall recruits a new corporate
sales and events executive – Angela
Lowe, from Newton Aycliffe – to focus
on further enhancing relationships with
local companies and securing new
business.
• Sara Davies MBE, founder and creative
director of Crafter’s Companion,
is named the first Great British
Entrepreneur of the Year for the North
East region at the NatWest Great British
Entrepreneur Awards.
• Newton Aycliffe’s biggest employer
Gestamp Tallent invested £43m into the
business during 2018 but blamed Brexit
for a slump in sales as it posted a 5.6%
fall in turnover to £482.4m. Operating
profit also fell, from £7.7m to £6.4m.
• New Bridgegate Tyres, based in Newton
Aycliffe and Barnard Castle, opens a new
depot on Tyneside to maintain its fast
response times throughout the North
East.
• Newton Aycliffe-based BTS Facades and
Fabrications and Hartlepool-based The
Expanded Metal Company collaborate
on a joint project which sees the launch
of a new expanded mesh frame system
for protecting exterior spaces – the first
of its kind in the UK.
• Software innovator Excelpoint appoints
two additional members of staff - Curtis
Brown and James Smith - to be based at
its head office on Aycliffe Business Park.
DECEMBER
• Extra-long trailers form part of Stiller
Warehousing and Distribution’s latest
investment in its future as the logistics
specialist invests £382,000 in 11 new
vehicles.
• IT firm razorblue enjoys a technical
makeover of its own with a new website
launched on the back of continued
expansion and success - and working
with Aycliffe-based Thrive.
Aycliffe Today editor Martin Walker launched
a new business magazine for the Sunderland
and Durham region, Wear Business, with
partners Dave Allan, Colin Young and
Graeme Anderson.
• The creators of Aycliffe Today Business
launch a new quarterly publication for
the Sunderland and Durham region,
Wear Business.