THE new owner of a North-East business park has unveiled a £30m masterplan to create hundreds of jobs, build houses and new industrial buildings, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Lingfield Point in Darlington, which has been called the business gateway to the North-East, is home to thousands of workers at businesses including the Student Loans Company, Amec, NFU Mutual, and Capita.

Property investor Clearbell Capital LLP, which bought Lingfield Point from Marchday last year, has ambitions to take the former Patons and Baldwins wool factory site “onto the next level” by attracting more blue chip businesses with improved infrastructure.

The company also plans to build houses on the site as well as new offices and warehousing.

“Marchday did a superb job with this site and it has been a great success story, but we feel that we have the funding to take things further and make it an even greater success – we have big plans” said Dominic Moore, Clearbell’s asset management director, who said Darlington’s transport links and growth potential made the investment “too good to ignore.”

“With commercial property prices in London or Manchester rising fast, we have to look farther afield for hidden gems,” explained Mr Moore, whose firm also bought The Gates shopping centre in Durham last summer.

“As soon as we saw Lingfield Point and looked at Darlington – with its close proximity to major truck roads and the East Coast Mainline - we knew it had something special.

"Marchday have created a site with quirky feel which sets it apart. The one thing it was perhaps lacking was better infrastructure, so we will be investing in new utilities to make it an even more compelling proposition for potential occupants. Some of the utilities date from the original (wool) factory site, so they are desperately in need of upgrading.

“We are writing a new chapter in the story of Lingfield, he added.

"Our strategy in these cases is to plan over a five year period. We expect to invest about £30m. There will be a mix of industrial buildings and some areas for residential development

at the northern and eastern parts of the site.

Mr Moore added: "Exact details are still to be firmed up and they will develop over time according to the demands of potential occupants. We have already had interest. With the likes of Aycliffe Business Park pretty much full the demand is there for the type of high quality space that we can provide here.

"We regard this as a long term investment. It is great for Darlington and the North-East. We are very excited."