Thriving – Darlington is home to a diverse range of growing businesses .
Investment in projects and infrastructure is breathing new life into Darlington ’ s economy
A BUZZING TOWN
Darlington Borough Council chief executive Ian Williams outlines an ambitious vision for the town
Darlington is thriving .
In the last few years , as we ’ ve seen unprecedented levels of investment in our town and as our regeneration projects continue to develop , Darlington continues to grow .
Our new Rail Heritage Quarter and regenerated Head of Steam Museum , due to open in 2024 , are both taking shape , along with the £ 140m railway project to transform Bank Top station .
Add to that the arrival of the Darlington Economic Campus – seven government departments with more than 1,400 roles , the vast majority being filled by local people – and you ’ ll soon see that exciting things are happening .
Physically , Darlington ’ s landscape is changing , too . Take Central Park , once
66 abandoned rail sidings , now transformed into a 30-hectare science park that ’ s key to our economic development .
A mix of housing , education and commercial developments , it ’ s home to exciting developments such as the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre , which is a world-leader in next generation life sciences and vaccine development , and Teesside University ’ s National Horizon Centre .
Ready-to-build plots within Central Park are currently available but not for long , as interest in the site is rife .
Alongside our two business incubator hubs – Business Central and Innovation Central – Central Park has become a thriving area full of high-quality businesses and jobs .
Development – Darlington ’ s Central Park has been redeveloped from industrial wasteland to a 30-hectare science park .
Elsewhere in the town , Ingenium Parc is an upcoming development site complementing the array of sites for industrial development in the borough .
The site – which is ideally placed to support manufacturing , engineering , logistics and distribution companies – will provide up to 100,000 sq m of employment space and support more than 2,000 jobs by 2036 .
New industrial units at Barrington Way and Faverdale , which both benefit from excellent transport links , provide further opportunities on the edge of town for a wide variety of businesses .
These developments add to the viability and vibrancy of our town centre , one of our key priorities as a council .
We ’ re investing £ 25m from the Towns Fund into bringing tired parts of the town back to life and creating more commercial office space .
We ’ re thinking outside the box and replacing unused spaces with new exciting projects , such as a new adult skills centre in the historic Northern Echo building .
This innovative project complements