HIGHLY-SKILLED workers from across the UK are clamouring to move to the North-East to support a £38m centre focused on the next generation of medical treatments, it has been claimed.

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) says it has received significant interest from people wanting to head North to its Darlington-based National Biologics Manufacturing Centre.

The site will provide firms with technical support to research and develop potentially life-saving cures and vaccines, including cancer remedies.

The announcement is confirmation of a vow the organisation made to The Northern Echo last year, when senior CPI boss Dr Chris Dowle said it would deliver scores of top jobs while helping Darlington and the wider region become a European innovation leader.

The centre is expected to officially open in September, though CPI already has a number of projects waiting to start at the site.

Jonathan Robinson, head of business development in CPI’s biologics division, said those agreements, and its blossoming team, which stands at more than 20, were a reflection of what it will eventually deliver.

He said: “The centre will have a team of between 40 and 50, and we have already attracted some very senior people here, who believe in what we are doing.

“We’ve got 27 people at the moment, and about 20 of them have come from major players in the industry.

“At least ten to 15 of them have relocated, to go with those who are locally based.

“There are some pretty significant people wanting to come and work with us.

“But we always take on a number of graduates too and they will go into the industry, because one of our remits is to get people through the door.”

The CPI development, which is now in the latter stages of its construction phase, will cover a raft of conditions under its biologics remit, from antibodies used to treat cancer cells, to vaccines aimed at fighting flu.

The building, on Darlington’s Yarm Road, will also be covered in glass panelling, which Mr Robinson said was a deliberate tactic.

He added: “We want people to see what we are doing; we are trying to demystify science.

“We want people to get involved in the industry because there is a shortage of skilled workers.

“People do not think it is a sexy thing to be involved with, but it is, and that’s the message we want to get across.”

Darlington was chosen to house the centre ahead of other UK sites, including Cambridge, which is renowned for its scientific reputation.

Speaking last year, Dr Dowle said the decision was swayed by the region’s strong links to universities, as well as manufacturers, such as GlaxoSmithKline, in Barnard Castle, County Durham.

He added: “We haven’t always found it easy to attract people to the North-East, but we are now getting senior figures from around the country.

“They appreciate CPI as a good employer and look as this area as having good momentum.

“Being in Darlington, it’s a bit like moving from trains to strains.

“There is the sense the town has a can-do and will-do attitude, and it has a real hunger for new things.

“Some of those were around places like Cambridge, but, by a good whisker, Darlington was chosen.

Last week, The Northern Echo reported how CPI already had various projects lined up for its £38m centre, including an agreement with Midatech Biogune, which is focused on insulin patches capable of delivering slow release treatments through mouth strips.

The development will be followed by a sister £20m research centre.

That site is expected to open in 2017 and has the potential to test and make technology to deliver medicines for specific diseases and patient cases.