DARLINGTON NEWS
LUXURY HOTEL
CERTIFIED AS
READY TO ROCK
Five-star resort Rockliffe Hall launched
a Healthy Hospitality Charter and
was certified as “good to go” by a
national tourism agency ahead of its
reopening in July.
Visit Britain’s “We’re Good to Go”
consumer mark is a UK-wide campaign
which aims to provide a “ring of confidence”
for tourism as the sector works towards
reopening.
It means businesses across the industry
can demonstrate that they are adhering
to the respective government and public
health guidance, have carried out a Covid-19
risk assessment and have all the required
processes in place.
These include deep cleaning regimes,
dining in the restaurants to be pre-booked
and shared facilities only accessible
to one household at a time, one-way
systems, clear floor markings and queue
management systems to maintain social
distancing.
In addition, Rockliffe Hall’s Healthy
Hospitality Charter has been introduced to
communicate to guests the measures in
place across the resort, to ensure they feel
safe during their visit.
It explains the new guest journey,
from check-in to check-out, including
temperature checks on arrival, so visitors
know what to expect.
The charter also gives information on
the new Rockliffe Hall app, which will work
on smartphones and tablets and has been
developed to make a guest’s stay almost
touchless, while also introducing additional
benefits.
These include pre-arrival check-in, access
to restaurant and room service menus, a
reservation request service for tennis, meals
and the Curious Cabins in Mischmasch,
as well as complimentary use of digital
newspapers and magazines.
CPI joins national
task force to develop
vaccine
Experts from CPI have joined
the national drive to identify and
produce effective vaccines for
Covid-19.
As part of the High Value
Manufacturing Catapult, CPI is
supporting efforts to manufacture
and formulate novel mRNA
vaccine candidates from its
facilities in Darlington, using its
extensive skills and capabilities
in the development of biologic
pharmaceuticals, formulations
and medicines manufacturing.
CPI will play a key role in the
mRNA workstream, focusing
on the development, scale-up,
manufacture and supply of
the mRNA vaccine candidate
under development at Imperial
College London as part of the
government’s Vaccine Taskforce
response.
Work completed on
£8.5m Feethams House
development
Work is complete on £8.5m town centre
office complex Feethams House.
Construction of the five-storey building,
funded by Darlington Borough Council, the
Tees Valley mayor and Combined Authority
and the European Regional Development
Fund, continued throughout the coronavirus
lockdown after contractor Wilmott Dixon
put stringent safety measures in place.
The first tenant for the site will be subsea
innovator DeepOcean, which has signed
an agreement to take 7,000 sq ft of space
across the whole of the top floor of the
building.
The company hopes to move into its new
home this summer.
NEW APP
REVOLUTIONISES VIDEO
CALLS FOR HARD OF
HEARING
A digital
company
founded with
the support of DigitalCity has created a
revolutionary new app to improve virtual
communication for those with hearing
difficulties.
Combining video with real-time
automated transcription and described
as FaceTime with live subtitles, HearClear
proved particularly helpful through the
Covid-19 lockdown.
The app allows users to access sound,
subtitles, speech reading and signs to
support them in making telephone calls.
The innovative idea came from Desifa
– a tech company with an ambition to
harness smart technology to improve
telephone conversations.
MEMBERS UP AFTER
STRONG YEAR FOR
BUILDING SOCIETY
Darlington Building Society says
it has continued to perform well
despite ongoing political and
economic uncertainty.
Its membership has increased
and now stands at over 86,000.
Savers were supported in a low
interest rate environment, leading
to an increase in savings balances
of £52m.
Total assets increased by just
under 9% to £665.8m and £138m
was lent to help people purchase
or refinance their homes,
including £9m assisting first-time
buyers in the region.
But profits were slightly down
for the society, which cited
investment and an increase in the
average rate paid to savers.
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