The latest addition to the business landscape, Innovation Central, has formally opened its doors with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The £8.3m building houses 45 serviced offices and five lab spaces – all at Grade A standard – and is designed to encourage and support the growth of start up and innovative businesses in the town.
The availability of laboratory or ‘clean space’ is aimed at small or medium enterprises looking to join the success of the wider Central Park site as a growing life sciences sector hub.
Innovation Central joins a growing cluster of activity on Central Park, bringing high-quality jobs and higher and further education opportunities to people in Darlington and the wider region.
Councillor Jonathan Dulston, leader of Darlington Borough Council, was joined at the formal opening by Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, Darlington MP Peter Gibson and representatives from North East Bic and site construction firm Wilmott Dixon.
Innovation Central is a sister site to Business Central, a few minutes’ walk away across Central Park, with both sites operated by the North East BIC. The two sites will share facilities including meeting rooms, a gym and a micro spa.
This project has been jointly funded by Darlington Borough Council, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), £3.55million from the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority, and the Government’s Getting Building Fund.
Councillor Dulston said: “Growing Darlington’s economy and providing the right conditions to help businesses start up and develop is one of our key priorities as a council.
“Innovation Central provides a supportive environment for any small business – whether looking to take the first step in finding premises or perhaps looking to expand. Business Central has proved a tremendous success in terms of helping SMEs to grow and establish themselves, and with the same ethos behind Innovation Central we’re positive that new tenants can flourish in the same way.
“These are exciting times for the town, with the arrival of the Government economic campus, the revamp of Darlington Station about to begin and the continued success of Central Park and the wider town. Darlington is open for business.”
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “We know that Darlington is home to innovators and job creators from start-ups to high growth potential businesses, and now Innovation Central will bring yet another boost to the growing cluster of activity on Central Park and our world-leading life sciences sector, helping to take these innovative ideas from concept to reality.
“We invested £3.55million to help make this project happen and unlock even more opportunities for our local businesses and create good-quality, well-paid jobs in the industries of tomorrow. I can’t wait to see first-hand the brilliant businesses, projects and collaborations that will result from this investment.”
Peter Gibson, MP for Darlington, said: “It’s been great to see yet another development signed off ready for tenants, this just shows that Darlington is growing, and businesses have confidence in our journey, where we are delivering good quality jobs, apprenticeships, and opportunities so that our residents and businesses have access more opportunities.
“There are already over 100 businesses occupying premises on Business Central and it’s great to see Innovation Central complement our wider offer, Darlington’s golden mile of opportunity just keeps getting better.
“Levelling Up is more than just a slogan, here in Darlington it is being delivered at pace”.
Paul McEldon OBE, chief executive at the BIC, said: “Following the success of Business Central, we have first-hand experience of the incredible demand for quality space in Darlington for new and growing businesses.
“We are delighted to be operating Innovation Central on behalf of Darlington Borough Council, providing a unique opportunity to bring these neighbouring facilities together, to work as one creative and collaborative business community so tenants can easily go between them and make the most of everything we have to offer”.
Nick Corrigan, North East director for Willmott Dixon, said: “Innovation Central is such an exciting project, which will support and enable growing businesses to thrive, and create vital employment opportunities, right here in Darlington.
“The people of Darlington have been instrumental in delivering this brilliant building. We invested more than 45% of our project spend with local supply chain partners based within 20 miles on the site and over 50% of the entire team live in the same area.
“Since 2013, when we started on the very first of our 11 projects alongside Darlington Borough Council, we have delivered 430 weeks of apprenticeships for local people, and we’re proud to say we supported 14 apprentices over 89 weeks on Innovation Central alone.”
As well as the completion of Innovation Central, a complete transformation of Central Park is well underway. Work is ongoing to remediate and landscape the whole area, creating a high-quality environment with business-ready plots for future companies and investors.
Works will be completed by March 2023, leading to approximately six plots – some in excess of 10,000m3 – becoming available. Any interested parties are encouraged to call Guy Metcalfe, the Council’s Head of Property Management on 01325 406725 or email invest@darlington.gov.uk or business.support@darlington.gov.uk for further information.