THIS IS TEES VALLEY
This Is Tees Valley 2026-27 Launch Event
TEESSIDE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Panel – Tees Business director Dave Allan( left) hosted the discussion with( from left) Sharon Davis of the Northern Endurance Partnership, Dan Kitchen of business IT specialists and event sponsor razorblue, Jerry Hopkinson of PD Ports, Sarah Walker of Tees Valley Combined Authority and Rachel Dolby of Anglo American.
THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
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high-profile panel of business leaders left magazine launch delegates in no doubt that now’ s a great time to invest in Tees Valley.
More than 200 people gathered at Teesside International Airport for the launch of This Is Tees Valley 2026-27 – the sixth annual edition of a magazine, published by Tees Business, that spreads the message, nationally and internationally, about why Tees Valley is such a good place to do business in and with.
And in one of two panel discussions, delegates heard a range of positive messages from people at the sharp end – bosses whose businesses rely on Tees Valley success.
The‘ Why Tees Valley? Why now?’ discussion heard from Jerry Hopkinson of PD Ports, Sharon Davis of the Northern Endurance Partnership, Sarah Walker of Tees Valley Combined Authority, Rachel Dolby of Anglo American and Dan Kitchen of business IT specialists razorblue, who also sponsored the event.
And when event co-host Dave Allan asked them what people from outside the Tees Valley should know about, they neatly summed up just some of the area’ s key selling points.
Dan, founder and CEO of razorblue, said:“ I won’ t profess to be an expert in any of the amazing things that are going on here – things like net zero and clean energy – but what I can say is that the engineering heritage the region’ s got, and the way the people think, is an absolute asset to the
34 | Tees Business
Why invest in Tees Valley? Panellists provide host of compelling reasons
PICTURES: CHRIS BOOTH region and has been instrumental in how we’ ve grown our business here.”
Jerry told delegates:“ I’ d tell people about the extraordinary heritage of Teesside, the region’ s almost endless capacity for reinvention and that reinvention in terms of the very exciting prospects we’ ve got in front of us that need to be brought to fruition, particularly revolving around energy transition.
“ I’ d also be talking about some of the great projects that don’ t necessarily sit in that particular bag but are nonetheless absolutely groundbreaking.”
One of the key ground-breaking developments, he said, was the Anglo American polyhalite mine near Whitby – and its representative at the event, Rachel, was keen to talk up Teesside, which will receive the polyhalite through a 37km tunnel from Whitby before exporting it.
She said:“ We will be bringing a huge materials handling facility to Teesside, an operations centre and shipping 13m tons per annum from Teesside, so it’ s a massive export opportunity.
“ We’ re so excited at the prospect of realising this in a region which has this heritage of innovation and engineering.”
Noting Tees Valley’ s willingness to embrace the clean energy transition, Northern Endurance Partnership’ s Sharon said:“ I don’ t think it’ s an exaggeration to say that there’ s a bit of an industrial revolution going on in Teesside.
“ It’ s so exciting to see what is happening – and that’ s whether you’ re a 17-yearold who has opportunities ahead of you, somebody who’ s seen it all or even someone coming back to the area for their last hurrah, their last job having travelled the world – it’ s amazing that a place like Teesside has that capacity.”
And when asked why investors should choose Tees Valley ahead of other areas, nationally and internationally, the TVCA’ s Sarah stressed how the area is“ playing to its strengths”.
She said:“ We’ re not trying to‘ out Manchester, Manchester’ or‘ out Leeds, Leeds’. What we’ re doing is being genuine and explaining what Tees Valley has to bring.
“ We’ re small, mighty and agile. Return on investment here is much higher economically, commercially and socially. And we can provide the critical infrastructure.”
In a second panel discussion, bosses who built their businesses on Teesside explained the advantages of starting up in Tees Valley – and give tips for success.
Tees Business director Martin Walker hosted a discussion between Alisdair Beveridge( The Build Directory), John Taylor( Parker Barras), Jessica Gwaringa( Moonrise 24hr Recruitment) and Jo Davies( HR Alchemy).
Teesside Airport MD Phil Forster also gave an exciting update on the airport’ s progress, including its business park.