The voice of business in the Tees region | 113
/ MIDDLESBROUGH NEWS
FUNDS
APPROVED
FOR £14.5M
ART SCHOOL
BUILDING
Port Clarence-based Wilton Engineering was
this year named as one of the UK’s top 100
exporters in a prestigious league table ranking
small and medium-sized private businesses
with the fastest-growing international sales.
Wilton was ranked 13th in the annual Sunday
Times WorldFirst SME Export Track 100.
#TalkingUpTeesside #TalkingUpTeesValley
F
unding for a multi-million-pound
new building for the Northern
School of Art’s further education
campus has been approved by the
Tees Valley Mayor and combined
authority cabinet.
The £14.5m scheme will see
the school’s college-level campus
relocating from its existing Acklam
base to an architect-designed,
purpose-built, three-storey building
in the centre of Middlesbrough.
It will create new teaching space
for the north’s only specialist art
and design college, which provides
a range of arts, design, theatre and
film courses and is recognised as
a pre-eminent institution with an
Outstanding Ofsted rating since
2009.
The creation of the planned new
facilities is set against the backdrop
of a vibrant creative sector in the UK,
which has outperformed all other
sectors nationally in employment
and GVA growth since 1998.
A boom in TV and film production
across the country and the sector
– which is growing more rapidly
in the North-East than any other
English region excluding London –
was recognised in the Tees Valley
Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) as
offering significant opportunities
for growth in the economy and
employment.
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen
said: “I’m delighted to have been
able to provide funding so that the
Northern School of Art can relocate
its Acklam campus from the old,
outdated buildings it currently
occupies to a state-of-the-art,
purpose-built building in the centre
of Middlesbrough.
“The school is hugely important
to the whole of the Tees Valley, and
its reputation as a national centre
for excellence in the art, design and
creative sectors will be strengthened
thanks to the new facility this
funding will provide.”
Progress on the road to
becoming ‘Digital Hercules’
Middlesbrough’s
booming digital
sector workers
are being given
a sneak preview
of the latest
advance in the
Boho developments.
The proposed Boho 8 was unveiled by
designers Seymour Architecture ahead of a
planning application being lodged.
Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston has
declared his intention to make Middlesbrough
the digital city of the UK.
Boho 8 is a £2.5m development of modular
units which will create flexible, adaptable
accommodation for the changing needs of a
dynamic digital and creative industry.
The location of the site is directly behind
Boho 1 and manufacture of the units is
scheduled to commence in early March 2020.
TRANSPORT FIRM BACKS T
LEVEL STUDENT PLACEMENT
Middlesbrough
College has
chosen AV
Dawson as
a partner to
deliver the first
trials of the new
industry-backed
T level qualifications for the region.
AV Dawson has welcomed engineering student
Joshua Richards to join its team as part of the
initiative.
T levels – a new programme starting in
September 2021 – were developed to follow on
from GCSEs and will be equivalent to three A
levels.
The two-year course has been designed in
collaboration with businesses and employers
to make sure the course meets the needs of
industry and prepares students for the world of
work.
£1m sales boost delivers
perfect 121st birthday gift
A leading provider of engineering
solutions is celebrating a major birthday
in style after announcing a £1m boost in
sales and creating eleven new jobs.
Deritend Group, which repairs and
replaces electric motors, pumps,
gearboxes, electronic controls and
induction equipment, is 121 years old
and has marked the big anniversary with
a string of new contracts.
The Middlesbrough-based company
has come a long way since it started as a
small electrical maintenance business in
London in 1898, primarily repairing street
lighting in and around the capital.
Second store for
independent coffee shop
The owners of an independent coffee
shop say investing in Middlesbrough is at
the heart of who they are after opening
their second outlet in the town.
Rounton Coffee Roasters have taken
over the prime café space in Debenham’s
– previously occupied by Patisserie
Valerie – and named it The Corner, with
the creation of 16 jobs.
The business opened its first coffee
shop on Bedford Street in March 2016 as
part of the major Baker/Bedford Street
regeneration project.