Booming company praises Durham's enlightened approach to business

WHEN it came to choosing a location for a second business base, the number one priority for Nic Marshall was a workforce with a positive attitude.

Mr Marshall is chief executive officer of customer contact company ResQ, which had reached full capacity at its site in his home city of Hull, where it employs 670 people.

The company considered various sites within a two-hour travelling time of Hull but, as Mr Marshall puts it: “We fell in love with Seaham.”

It is not so long ago that Seaham felt unloved following the shattering decline of the coal industry, but the seaside town is now seen as a vibrant place to do business. Mr Marshall described it as perfect for the needs of a fast-growing family-owned company like ResQ.

“It was really important to us to have access to the right workforce, and the people of Seaham had exactly the kind of attitude we were looking for,” he said. “Attitude is more important to us than skills because if people have the right attitude, we can give them the skills they need.”

Mr Marshall sees a lot of similarities with the people of Hull. They too have had their dark times, due to the decline of the fishing industry and the docks, but hardship has engrained in them a determination to do well.

“Those hard times in Seaham and Hull have led to people wanting to better themselves, and that gives them a real pride in the job.

“We strive to be a good employer – it’s really important to us. Our employees do a cracking job for us and they are rewarded with a good living.”

When ResQ expanded to Seaham’s Spectrum Business Park this summer, the company announced that its objective was to employ 1,200 people by the end of 2018. That ambition makes it one of the county’s largest inward investments.

The jobs tally at the company is already up to 160 and will be around the 200 mark by the end of the year.

For ResQ, the fantastic positivity of the workforce has been matched by the excellence of the facilities it found at the Spectrum Business Park. “If you had to draw the perfect site for a call centre, you’d draw what was available to us at Seaham,” said Mr Marshall.

The positive workforce and perfect facilities were underpinned by the openness and flexibility of Durham County Council and Business Durham, the economic development company for the county, working on behalf of the council.

Once the initial discussions were over and ResQ had more or less set its heart on Seaham, it was a question of asking what Business Durham could do to ensure the smoothest transition possible.

Mr Marshall was delighted with the response. “The attitude was ‘What can we do to help you?’ It was so refreshing that our minds were made up. Of course there were barriers, but there was always a will to find ways to overcome them.”

One example of that flexibility was the need to find a solution to the transport needs of the new workforce.

ResQ’s blueprint was to be on a bus route but the business park didn’t initially meet that requirement. Business Durham immediately set about opening doors and starting discussions with the bus companies. The result is that several bus routes are now in operation.

“From the people who work for us to those who helped to bring us to Durham, it has been a positive experience from the start,” said Mr Marshall.

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