AN ENTREPRENUER who helped transform an aging set of factories into a modern, eco-conscious business park has revealed the secrets to its success.

Under John Orchards watch, property development company Marchday have managed to turn the set of buildings housing the former Paton and Baldwins wool factory, as well as the Rothmans cigarette manufacturing plant, into office and leisure space housing dozens of firms.

Despite these two major employers leaving the park - and the North-East area - with the loss of hundreds of jobs, Lingfield Point is now home to 2,000 employees: double the number Marchday inherited when it bought the site.

Clear gains have been made in the past six months, in sharp contrast to this weeks conformation the UK had dipped back into recession.

Yarn, the sites newest space, opened in November and 12 of the 15 units have already been occupied.

The site, which gives a nod to its history in the buildings interiors and names, has allotments, bees producing Lingfield Point honey, its own eco-bus service, bikes for hire, electric car points, a concierge service and an events programme so workers from all the different businesses can come together as a community.

Housed at Lingfield Point are businesses ranging from PR companies to a nursery and a caf, along with one of Darlingtons largest employers, The Student Loans Company.

The vast site, which also has warehouse space, is still expanding and companies can lease anything from desk space for four people to a 74,000sq ft open plan office, which would hold up to 800.

Marchday has also managed to win a plethora of awards for the quality of design and the environmentally-friendly ethos of the development.

These achievements are made all the more astonishing considering the developers have been contending with an extremely difficult commercial property market over the past four years due to the deepest recession the UK has seen for decades.

Coupled with the abundant available office space in Darlington and nearby towns and cities, it really does beg the question of how they have done it.

There are two reasons, said Mr Orchard. First, we offer really great buildings. We never scrimp on that.

And second, we offer really good value for money. Those two things you cant waver from - you have got to get your buildings right and you have got to get your deal right.

We combine that with something fun and different, things which make it a bit special.

Maybe we are in better shape for a recession because we have a few things going on which put us at an advantage. We really value our customers. We work very hard to attract customers and we work very hard to keep them.

Next on the list is a development of housing.

The whole idea is building a community, so people can walk or cycle to work. That will be fantastic to see.