On track- with a strong railway heritage, Darlington is moving in the right direction.
A place that’ s on track and going places
Destination
Darlington
This year is a special year for Darlington as it celebrates the bi-centenary of its internationally recognised status as the birthplace of the public passenger railway. In 1825, a railway journey changed the world forever. Locomotion No. 1 became the first steam locomotive to haul a passenger-carrying train on a public railway – the Stockton and Darlington Railway was born.
Darlington is not just about the past, however- it has an exciting future and offers a perfect opportunity for businesses in a range of sectors to develop and grow.
Darlington’ s intrinsic association with the railway is undisputed, with the railway at the town’ s heart for 200 years. Rail has been a major part of Darlington’ s economy for much of this time. Companies based in the town benefit from easy access to the railway with a first-class combination of location, supply chain, skilled workforce and training facilities.
But it’ s not just about reflecting on the past – Darlington is a modern, bustling town with new economies, new industries and new opportunities emerging.
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Over recent years, Darlington has enjoyed unprecedented levels of investment from the public and private sectors. Against a challenging business and economic backdrop, this North-East town continues to thrive and grow.
Targeted, strategic investments have seen the development of a number of highquality business parks and facilities suitable for a range of industrial and commercial requirements.
Take Central Park. Once abandoned rail sidings, this 30-hectare site is the flagship regeneration project in the town, transforming the area into a new Darlington Science Park, attracting life science, biologics and pharmaceutical enterprises. The overall site combines a mix of commercial research and academic uses. In addition to the education campus, which is home to Darlington College and Teesside University, significant investment has been made with the development of the National Horizons Centre and the Centre for Process Innovation.
Darlington Science Park benefits from excellent transport connectivity via rail, road and air links, along with close proximity to Darlington town centre. It has a unique position in the Tees Valley, being immediately adjacent to the east coast main railway line( connecting London at a journey time of just 2hrs 20mins).
A £ 125m project led by a partnership of Tees Valley Combined Authority, Darlington Borough Council and Network Rail is currently underway to transform the capacity and quality of the rail station and its environs. This work will overhaul Darlington Station, and also includes a new multistorey car park integrated within the bigger entrance area that is the station’ s gateway to the town. Two new platforms will also be added to improve rail connections both within the Tees Valley and beyond.
Elsewhere on the park, new business incubation and growth space has been developed at Business Central and Innovation Central – just minutes from one another on the park – providing a choice of carefully designed coworking, office and lab space, all joined together by the support services today’ s entrepreneurs need to innovate and thrive. Business Central