DAVID Land is running late for a meeting.

He’s just left the site of a £10m development aimed at delivering the region’s workers of tomorrow.

The South Durham University Technical College, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, will open next year, with the aim of providing a production line of talent for local companies.

For now, that development stands as stakes in a field, with a digger beginning to claw at the earth.

While it does that, Mr Land is busy plotting further work to strengthen the region’s business landscape.

One such area is the County Durham Engineering and Manufacturing Network (CDEMN).

As interim chairman, Mr Land says the organisation aims help businesses’ growth through better engagement, while supporting the supply chain.

He said the key aim is to help companies, of all sizes, realise their potential, and hopes to have a board in place by the end of the year, wherefrom members will provide support to businesses.

Sitting in Aycliffe’s Xcel Centre, in the shadow of train builder Hitachi Rail Europe’s £82m 730-job factory, he said: “We do not want to compete with anyone.

“We want to help organisations, such as the North East Automotive Alliance, and work with them.

“If people want help, we can point them in the right direction.

“We have got some good companies here and there is a great work ethic.

“They get on with it and do a good job.

“For us, it’s about what we can do to help them, and we hope to ride on the crest of the Hitachi wave.”

Mr Land, who also heads up Durham Oktoberfest, the region’s manufacturing and engineering expo, said CDEMN will provide a service that won’t tread on the toes of bodies such as the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) and the CBI.

He added: “We are the meat in the sandwich

“We know a lot of companies in County Durham, but CDEMN is a way of getting them all together.

“It is all about getting that awareness.

“We would like to get facts about what they want and can use the NECC and CBI, but we don’t want to be overlapping what they do.

“We have got a lot of smaller companies that can become medium-sized companies, and medium-sized companies that can become larger organisations.”

With that, he's off to that meeting, and off to take further bolster the region's manufacturing and engineering prowess.