BUSINESS BITES
NEWS
£ 200K INVESTMENT SECURED FOR TOWN HALL A £ 200,000 cash injection will help Middlesbrough Town Hall develop its role as the beating heart of the town ’ s cultural life .
The historic venue has been hit hard by the pandemic , with its 2020 programme halted .
But new plans – including cinema and live streaming – are now in the pipeline .
The funding from the government ’ s Cultural Recovery Fund will help the Town Hall find new ways of operating until the spring when it is hoped a gradual return to normality will be under way .
NET ZERO TEESSIDE GETS GOVERNMENT BACKING
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has
welcomed the government ’ s backing for Net Zero Teesside , the UK ’ s groundbreaking carbon capture , utilisation and storage ( CCUS ) project . New funding of £ 200m was announced for two carbon capture clusters by the mid- 2020s , with another two set to be created by 2030 .
CCUS is key to achieving the government ’ s target of reaching net-zero by 2050 .
The announcement puts Teesside at the forefront of the UK ’ s efforts to reduce emissions and paves the way for the creation of thousands of well-paid jobs .
This additional £ 200m takes the total amount invested to £ 1bn , supporting 50,000
Logistics centre will create thousands of Tees jobs
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has
welcomed a huge investment that will see a state-of-the-art logistics and distribution centre built in Stockton , creating up to 3,000 good-quality , well-paid jobs during construction and when it is operational in September 2022 .
To secure the development , mayor Houchen signed-off a £ 5.8m investment for the scheme in July . Without this funding , the development would not have been able to get under way .
Planning permission for the development has been submitted to Stockton Council by Helios Properties for the new facility in Wynyard , which will offer over 2m sq ft of space – similar in size to the recently opened Amazon fulfilment centre in Darlington . jobs across the UK . Net Zero Teesside aims to develop the UK ’ s first decarbonised industrial cluster and it will be established at Teesworks , the UK ’ s largest industrial zone .
The project is being delivered by a consortium of the world ’ s largest oil companies , led by BP , and will be operational by 2030 .
Last month , Net Zero Teesside signed a partnership with Zero Carbon Humber to accelerate the development of offshore carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure in the North Sea .
The scheme is estimated to bring £ 450m in annual gross benefit to the region and could support up to 5,500 direct jobs during construction alone .
Mayor Houchen said : “ Logistics is a hugely important sector with huge potential for growth , that ’ s why the sector is playing an important role in my plan for jobs – a plan that is delivering good-quality , well paid jobs for local workers .
“ With the deepest port on the east coast that ’ s also the fifth largest port in the UK right on our doorstep , we are well positioned to take advantage of the explosive growth in the sector that will come over the coming years .
“ My number one priority is always attracting the businesses and investment to the Teesside , Darlington and Hartlepool that will create the good quality well-paid jobs we all want to see come to our region and that ’ s why I am backing these plans .”
MATERIALS PROCESSING INSTITUTE AGREES £ 10M DIGITISATION PROJECT One of the world ’ s leading Internet of Things specialists has signed a deal with the Materials Processing Institute to play a crucial role in a £ 10m project to explore how digital technologies can be implemented in brownfield manufacturing sites .
PTC will work with the Tees-based research and innovation centre to implement its ThingWorx Industrial Internet of Things platform at three steel plants .
The £ 2m project is being funded by Innovate UK through its Manufacturing Made Smarter challenge , part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund .
REDCAR TOWN PLAN GETS £ 750K BOOST The government has agreed to grant Redcar £ 750,000 towards a major leisure project including a new hotel , adventure golf site and play area .
Plans for the 42-bed hotel and leisure scheme have been under development for the former R-Kade skate park site in the Coatham area and the council is in talks with a hotel operator .
The multi-million-pound project also includes creating adventure golf and play facilities .
The grant is from the Towns Fund , which is open to towns with a proud industrial past .
QUEEN ’ S AWARD-WINNING FIRM CREATING JOBS DURING CRISIS A Teesside company that is helping global pharmaceutical companies find a solution to the coronavirus pandemic has nearly tripled in size since March . Absolute Antibody has taken on three new laboratories at the Wilton Centre , near Redcar , and recruited more than a dozen permanent and temporary members of staff .
Absolute Antibody specialises in antibody sequencing , antibody engineering and antibody recombinant production . It works with companies based in dozens of countries and earlier this year received The Queen ’ s Award for Enterprise in International Trade .
The voice of business in the Tees region | 13