Parcel delivery firm DPD signed up for a major distribution centre at a new £100m business park.
Richardson Barberry, the joint venture developer and investor, has agreed a 25-year lease with DPD for a 63,000 sq ft warehouse unit on an eight-acre site at Forrest Park, located next to Junction 59 of the A1(M) at Newton Aycliffe, Durham. The new parcel hub is expected to secure 125 jobs for County Durham and create an additional 250 jobs as part of the new warehouse being built specifically for DPD at Forrest Park.
The deal comes two years after Richardson Barberry obtained planning consent for eight warehouses at Forrest Park, as part of efforts to provide 1.8 million sq ft of industrial space and create over 3,000 jobs in the next decade, boosting County Durham's economy by nearly half a billion pounds. The partnership has already obtained reserve matters planning consent and plans to submit a minor amendment, specific to DPD's building, with the aim of commencing construction on site at the beginning of next year.
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Jon Robinson, development director for Barberry, said: "This is a major pre-let to DPD, an internationally recognised occupier, demonstrates the quality of our proposed development at Forrest Park, it's connectivity and proximity to the motorway junction and nearby demographic and availability of labour. The pre-let will allow us to open up the site and create additional estate infrastructure and development plateaus. This is an exciting moment for the North East, Richardson Barberry and Forrest Park ."
A growing cyber security business is launching a new recruitment after sealing investment to continue its expansion.
Earlier this year Leeds-based Precursor Technology Group launched its new secure operations centre in Newcastle – which is open around the clock 365 days of the year – creating 10 initial jobs. The company, established six years ago, provides solutions to help businesses stay secure, with its 24-hour managed defence and response service offering cloud security, continuous security testing, backup and restore solutions, compliance services, incident response and penetration testing.
Now Precursor, which has its Tyneside base at Portland House, has announced a six-figure investment from the North East Fund, after working with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to bring in the funding. The business will use the funds to continue to attract the expertise needed to meet growing client demand.
A further eight new jobs are expected to be created by the end of the year, taking the total team to 18 people, while the business is also using the investment to introduce a number of detection and monitoring systems to further boost its capabilities. The Security Operations Centre based in Newcastle has already gained certification from CREST (Council of registered Ethical Security Testers), the 海角视频’s leading cyber security accreditation body.
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A North East developer is creating new family homes in County Durham following investment through FW Capital.
Dan Greener has secured a six-figure funding package from the North East Property Fund (NEPF) to create the three new homes at Station Town near Durham – his second regional development. Work is being carried out to include sustainable features such as triple glazing, solar panels and EV chargers, and the homes will also include home office space. The properties are due to be completed late this year.
The North East Property Fund is an investment programme managed by FW Capital and backed by the North East Combined Authority (North East CA).
Mr Greener said: “This is my second development, having previously completing a one-off new build housing project. The Station Town site is a small but perfectly formed site of three homes, positioned with fields at the front and rear of the plots. The backing of FW Capital has helped me to get the development off the ground and I’ve been impressed with Lewis’ support. We’ve built up a good relationship and I consider FW Capital to be a development partner rather than just a funder. I’m looking out for other developments to progress and hope to work with FW Capital on these.”
A fast-growing North East gym chain is set for further expansion after securing funding to launch new sites. OneGym, run by brothers David and Paul Pearson, has grown from its original site in County Durham to 11 gyms across the region in towns such as Darlington, Stockton, Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe, Redcar, and Durham. The pair wanted to give gym users access to all the latest fitness equipment and classes without costly add-ons such as swimming pools which they don’t necessarily want to use.
The family firm’s gyms offer flexible low-cost memberships which give access to all gyms at no extra cost. Now ThinCats, an alternative lender to mid-sized SMEs, has provided undisclosed but significant growth funding to the brand for the acquisition of new sites.
In 2022, the business received investment from Newcastle-based Middleton Enterprises to aid its recent expansion, which has seen it add six sites to the chain in the last 18 months. Further investment has seen the team grow to over 70 employees, while new software has been used to root out the most suitable sites to build new gym operations.
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With the ThinCats funding in place, the management team is looking to acquire three to four sites per year, targeting units in the heart of local communities in the North, with several sites already in the pipeline and set to open in the coming months. Earlier this year the company took on the 20,000sqft former Wilko unit in Chester-le-Street, which closed its doors for the last time in September last year after the 海角视频 retailer collapsed into administration.
A £500m investment by North East transport operator Go Ahead is set to create up to 500 new manufacturing jobs. The Newcastle-based bus and rail business has announced the major investment as part of moves to decarbonise its fleet, a strategy which includes creating a new manufacturing line and partnership with Northern Ireland-based bus manufacturer Wrightbus.
The investment is set to fund up to 1,200 new zero emission buses over the next three years for Go Ahead, accelerating its transition to greener buses across the country. For every vehicle manufactured, 10 trees will be planted by Go-Ahead and Wrightbus in the towns and cities where the buses are deployed.
Go-Ahead Bus CEO Matt Carney said: “This multimillion-pound investment and partnership with WrightBus will accelerate the transition to zero-emission fleet across the 海角视频. We are proud to be working in partnership with the 海角视频 Government and local authorities to deliver transformational environmental change for communities, while supporting 海角视频 jobs and the growth of the country’s supply chain.”