Business park communities and networks in County Durham.
Aycliffe Business Park Community
The private sector-led Aycliffe Business Park Community represents the largest industrial estate in the North East and is very active, holding regular networking events and business-led best practice training sessions and an annual awards ceremony.
Some of the park’s biggest employers include high-profile businesses such as Gestamp Tallent, Hitachi Rail Europe, 3M, INEOS Group, Husqvarna and PWS.
While engineering and manufacturing remain at the core of Aycliffe Business Park, a number of new developments in recent years have brought dozens more SMEs from the services and leisure sectors to the park, creating a vibrant, busy employment hub and a wide variety of industries.
Located just off the A1(M), Aycliffe Business Park is located at the heart of the North East with key road, rail, air and sea links on its doorstep.
Drum Business Park Group
Drum Business Park Group meets on a regular basis to discuss issues facing businesses on the estate and to work together to find solutions.
With a multitude of external risks and pressures facing businesses, it’s essential to make the most of opportunities and be adaptable and versatile. This is exactly the aim of the Drum Business Park Group.
Joining the group is your chance to establish relationships with others based on the Drum Industrial Estate.
Together we develop opportunities for businesses located on the park through networking and sharing information, inter-trading, addressing common concerns and issues, as well as accessing support, expertise and specialists from the Business Durham team.
Bishop Auckland and Shildon Business Community
Bishop Auckland and Shildon Business Community is a dynamic network comprising various companies situated within the Bishop Auckland and Shildon area.
Formed relatively recently, this community has swiftly become a hub of collaborative endeavors and shared goals among its diverse members. Central to its ethos are the regular networking events, which serve as invaluable platforms for fostering connections, exchanging ideas, and delving into pertinent business matters through engaging discussions led by industry experts.
Through its multifaceted approach, the Bishop Auckland and Shildon Business Community stands as a testament to the power of collaboration and collective action in driving sustainable growth and prosperity within the local business landscape.
East Durham Business Network
A new business group to drive forward growth in the area has been launched. East Durham Business Network replaces the Peterlee and Seaham business park groups and will look to engage with employers in a far wider geographical area. It comes after the success of the original Peterlee and Seaham Business Park Groups, which were founded in 2014 and 2016 respectively, and the launch of the area’s flagship magazine, East Durham Business in the summer of 2019.
Fast forward another five years and East Durham Business Network was born, following the successful launch of the East Durham Business Magazine, which replaced the previous PBP & SBP newsletters
Aycliffe Business Park Community
Represents the largest industrial estate in the North East and is very active, holding regular networking events and business-led best practice training sessions and an annual awards ceremony.
BNI Durham & Teesside
BNI Durham & Teesside is a global business networking and referral organisation. It operates several ‘chapter’ groups across County Durham.
Bishop Auckland and Shildon Business Community
Bishop Auckland and Shildon Business Community is made up of companies located in the Bishop Auckland and Shildon area. Holding regular networking events with business-led discussion topics. The group aims to share best practice and generate new business opportunities, as well as highlighting local issues.
Bubbles Ladies Networking Group
Bubbles Ladies Networking Group operates across Bishop Auckland area and is aimed at female entrepreneurs and professionals. It holds regular events throughout the year.
Derwentside Business Network
Derwentside Business Network operates across the North Durham area. It has an active programme of events held throughout the year. Their primary aim is to help your business grow through networking.
Drum Business Park Group
Drum Business Park group meets on a regular basis to discuss issues facing businesses on the estate and to work together to find solutions. Businesses have benefited greatly from working together to create a louder voice on the estate. Business opportunities have included joint marketing campaigns, networking and business referrals.
Durham Business Club
Durham Business Club holds informal breakfast and evening networking events throughout County Durham and the wider North East.
East Durham Business Network
East Durham Business Network replaces the Peterlee and Seaham business park groups and looks to engage with employers in a far wider geographical area.
Network B2B
Network B2B is a UK wide network, with its origins firmly in County Durham. It holds regular meetings across the County of Durham.
Andrea McGuigan
Team Manager - Business Engagement & Account Management
Chris Perry
Business Engagement Officer
Guy Bashford
Business Engagement And Account Manager
Jo Martin
Business Engagement Officer
Lisa Mullen
Business Engagement & Account Manager
Lisa Wall
Business Engagement & Account Manager
Michelle Mann
Business Engagement Officer
Stuart Armstrong
Business Engagement Officer
Some of the businesses we've helped
Marmax Products
We have been delighted with the support that Business Durham and their partners have provided our company and with additional funding, we hope to further develop our working practices to safeguard our existing business and expand our capabilities to meet new customer demands and expectations.
Dave Johnson
Managing Director
Redditch Medical
NETPark is a fantastic place to do business in terms of facilities, potential for growth and for collaboration.
Steve Brown
Managing Director
Tekgem
The facilities and ancillary business services here are second to none and the campus feel of the science park suits the culture within the company.
Ian Gemski
Director
SEEDS
The ecosystem in NETPark is just right for us; SEEDS first came here because of its partnership work with the CPI and now our vision is to have a busy lab facility developing various applications and licensing them out to companies.
Peter Chalder-Wood
Head of Strategic Partnerships
Magnitude Biosciences
We expect to more than double the team in Sedgefield to 45 over the next two to three years, with a larger commercial team allowing us to expand our global footprint.
Dr Fozia Saleem
CEO
Wootzano
At a time when the fruit packing labour market is very challenging across Europe and North America, compounded by Brexit, Covid, and the movement of people, Wootzano’s robots are providing a niche solution using game-changing, world-class technology that has been developed here on NETPark.
Jesse Opoku
Chief Operating Officer
Teescraft Engineering
Teescraft Engineering has been a major employer in County Durham for a number of years and I’m delighted that, with grant support through the County Durham Growth Fund, the company is embarking on ambitious plans to significantly expand.
Hazel Sykes
Business Durham
ATT Fabrications
We knew we had the space to add new machines which would not only improve productivity and efficiency but also allow us to add new products and processes, the County Durham Growth Fund helped this happen.
Andrew Devlin
ATT Fabrications
AAA Caring Caretaker
The Caring Caretaker is a company that’s grown from one to a team of 41 and is now, with grant support from the County Durham Growth Fund, in the process of taking its business journey to the next stage, moving to much larger premises and creating a further 10 jobs, cementing its long-term future here in County Durham.
Sarah Slaven
Managing Director, Business Durham
Renovo Solutions
We’ve been incredibly lucky to have secured financial investment from Business Durham which really has been crucial to the growth of the business and fast-tracked our plans in such a short space of time.
Antony Gray
Founder
Ashgarth Engineering
The grant we’ve received from the County Durham Growth Fund has been invaluable to us as without it we probably would have only been able to purchase one machine.
Niall Ash
Director
TO Mounter
We were looking at investing in new machinery which would enable us to expand our client base, and our accountant mentioned the County Durham Growth Fund to us.
Lisa Mounter
General Manager
Creator
Investing in this additional space means we now own our future – we’re not in anyone else’s hands and that’s a fantastic position to be in.
Ryan Carter
Founder
E Catering
We took on more space than we needed to, allowing for our planned growth over the next five years, however with the grant support we’ve had from the County Durham Growth Fund, we are now looking at achieving our projections in the next three years.
Reece Ingham
Head of Finance
Tridonic
It has been a testing couple of years due to the pandemic and this support has been invaluable. Going forwards, we intend to invest further in technology and skills to strengthen our position in this competitive marketplace.
Ben Kennard
Manufacturing and Supply Chain Manager
Newton Press
We’ve got a great team now and looking ahead this year, for us it’s about building on what we have, and then expanding with new orders and further investment at the right times to propel this business forward in this new space.
Stuart Howarth
Sales Director
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Business Durham is the business support service for Durham County Council, helping to deliver more and better jobs and a strong competitive economy.
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