/ NEWS The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 7
£ 250k investment helps OneGym ’ s Tees expansion
County Durham-headquartered fitness business OneGym is continuing to grow across the region , opening its latest gym on Teesside following a £ 250,000 investment . The 12,000 sq ft fitness facility on the border on Ingleby Barwick and Thornaby has created six new jobs , with OneGymnow employing 22 staff across Bishop Auckland , Newton Aycliffe , Redcar and now the new site .
Brothers Paul and David Pearson set up OneGym in 2012 to offer users access to all the latest fitness equipment and classes without costly add-ons like swimming pools that they don ’ t necessarily want to use .
Each of its previous gym openings have been funded through investments from the Finance For Business North East Growth Fund , which is administered by regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers , as well as with capital from NatWest Bank and the firm ’ s management team .
And NEL has once again backed OneGym ’ s plans , with a further £ 250,000 Growth Fund investment enabling the new Teesside Estate facility , which includes a range of state-ofthe-art fitness equipment , two studios which
The Tees Valley Combined Authority and Darlington Council have launched a transformational vision for Darlington Station .
An event held at CPI National Biologics Manufacturing Centre set out a vision for Darlington 2025 , which include remodelling the station and creating dedicated platforms for local connections and future high speed services .
The ambitious programme will enhance rail connections across the North , on the East Coast Main Line , as an integral part of the HS2 network , and across the Tees Valley .
Benefits of the plans are set to include
OneGym joint owner / director Paul Pearson with Jonathan Luke of NEL Fund Managers .
host over 40 classes every week , dedicated space for spinning classes and changing room saunas , to open .
Managing director Paul Pearson said : “ We ’ ve been looking at increasing our Teesside presence for some time , but wanted to make sure we found exactly the right site to suit our requirements before moving in , which we think we now have .
“ We ’ ve kitted out the new gym with the types of equipment and facilities that we know our members want , and have designed it to ensure they know they will be able to do the workouts they want at the times they want to do them .
“ All the OneGyms are performing very well , and we ’ re now scoping out which other North East towns might be suitable as the locations for our next gyms .
“ Our relationship with the NEL team has been excellent over many years – they know how we work and fully understand our business model , while we know what we need to do to demonstrate that our plans are robust enough to earn their backing , so it made clear sense to renew our relationship on our latest gym .”
Darlington ’ s £ 130m plan to become rail hub for region
a £ 130m boost to the economy annually , amounting to up to £ 1bn overall , more than 3,000 direct and indirect new jobs , 98,500 square metres of commercial space , 1,500 new homes and improved journey times . Read more at aycliffetoday . co . uk
BUSINESS BRIEFS
FUNDING SEMINAR
Business Durham has joined forces with Tait Walker and Swinburne Maddison LLP to deliver a funding seminar aimed at helping Durham businesses to grow .
Get going , get growing funding seminar – to be held on Tuesday April 4 ( 8 – 10am ) at Ramside Hall Hotel near Durham – will be packed with tips and insight that will help you to generate the cash you need to expand .
Topics covered will include the types of funding available to you , including Jeremie 2 ; what a funder will want to know ; the impact of Brexit on fundraising ; the legal process around receiving investment ; and what legal housekeeping will be required .
The event is FREE to attend and includes a full English breakfast buffet .
For more details and to register go to aycliffetoday . co . uk / category / business
JOBS GROWTH HIGH
County Durham ’ s economy has continued to grow despite a challenging economic environment , according to a report .
The report will ask council members to note that latest estimates show there are now over 200,000 jobs in Durham , showing an increase of 4.7 % between 2014 and 2015 .
This is higher than the equivalent growth for the North East ( up 3.6 %) and Great Britain ( up 2.5 %).
BETTER HEALTH AT WORK
Hitachi Rail Europe has committed to investing in the health and wellbeing of its staff at its site on Aycliffe Business Park by signing up to the Better Health at Work Award ( BHAWA ).
Aycliffe-based Pioneering Pioneering Care Partnership ( PCP ) manage the County Durham sub region of the North East BHAWA and are working with Hitachi to help them achieve the award .
PCP programme manager Lindsay Sheridan said : “ This is a huge developing area for employers as we need to support our employees in becoming healthier and happier at work .”
Aycliffe Today
Business .
Aycliffe Today Business is the magazine for Aycliffe Business Park – delivered and mailed exclusively around the park six times a year .
We ’ re now working on our 28th issue – due out in May – so contact us today if you want to book space .
Call us on 01325 728024 or email martin @ aycliffetoday . co . uk