2021 has been a really busy year for Business Durham. As the business support service for Durham County Council our main focus has been to help businesses to recover from the impact of Covid through our ongoing business engagement and range of business support programmes.

County Durham businesses have displayed significant resilience in rising to the challenges, many of them have demonstrated tremendous agility and innovation, which has enabled them to adapt how they work or diversify to survive.

It has been crucial throughout that businesses have been able to get the right support, which is where Business Durham has been able to help.  From early in the pandemic businesses were being bombarded by information from government and many other sources.  One of the first things we did was to use our existing links with businesses to direct them to the information they needed to know and the support available.

In January, Durham County Council launched the Durham Business Recovery Grant, designed and delivered by the team at Business Durham.  The grant scheme has supported 339 businesses across County Durham to overcome the challenges caused by the pandemic and helped safeguard over 3,500 jobs.

As companies applying for the grant had to put together a clear and credible recovery plan, the grant was able to offer something extra to businesses to move forward, enabling them to adapt and thrive while securing jobs.

County Durham is an exciting place to be right now with so much investment taking place across the county, driven by both the private sector and Durham County Council. 

Plans were approved earlier this year to expand the North East Technology Park (NETPark) at Sedgefield.  Backed by £50 million investment from the council the plans include an ambition to create more than 1,200 jobs. NETPark is one of the UK’s premier science, engineering and technology parks and is a hugely important innovation asset for County Durham and the North East. 

The park provides world-class infrastructure, facilities and support to enable companies engaged in science and R&D to be able to compete with the best in the world. 

We are seeing a real demand for the specialist facilities on-site from companies that want to grow, scale-up and commercialise their operations.  The expansion will enable us to accommodate the growing demand, both from businesses already established in the park and from companies looking  to be part of the collaborative innovation community at NETPark.

The next phase of growth will bring more well paid, highly skilled jobs in our region, help to retain graduate talent, increase research and development opportunities, including commercialisation of innovation from our universities and businesses, and will cement NETPark’s reputation as one of the UK’s leading science, engineering and technology parks.

As well as this investment in NETPark development continues at Station Place, Milburngate and Aykley Heads, creating exciting new business and industrial space to enable businesses to grow and thrive in the county.

Throughout the year we have continued to experience strong interest in our programmes designed to support the business community which demonstrates a confidence, and a determination to grow.

To support business growth and expansion, our Finance Durham Fund offers flexible debt and equity finance. The fund has invested in a wide range of projects, in the last year this has included: boutique hotel, Hotel Indigo; project management software company, Project Control Tools and Industry leading threat intelligence company,  Intelligence Fusion.

The County Durham Growth Fund celebrated its second anniversary, having awarded £5.4 million in grants to 21 companies and helping to create over 500 jobs in its first two years. The capital grant scheme, which provides grants to small and medium enterprises in County Durham to accelerate their growth, also levered a further £8.66 million in private sector investment.

The importance of innovation has been highlighted during the pandemic more than ever.  Through our innovation and enterprise programmes we have worked with businesses that are willing to innovate and business owners and leaders with ideas and ambition.

Durham Future Innovation Building Programme, Durham Ambitious Business Start-ups and Durham City Incubator programmes continue to help innovative and enterprising individuals and companies to establish and grow in County Durham.

Our team have welcomed new tenants to the portfolio of business property we manage, helping to find the right space for businesses to grow from commercial office space, modern laboratories, to industrial property units.   

At our newest industrial development, Jade Business Park, we welcomed; architectural glass and aluminium specialists ARGLA, innovative solar film manufacturer, Power Roll and modular housebuilder, CoreHaus.

Looking ahead to 2022 there are plenty of opportunities on the horizon for businesses, particularly in emerging sectors such as the green economy and the space sector and through increasing digitalisation. However, there are also lots of challenges currently facing businesses as the global economy recovers from the pandemic. 

In working with businesses across the county, we see at first-hand how they have coped, with many adapting and as a result thriving through the most challenging economic conditions in living memory. That determination to succeed against unprecedented challenges puts many of the county’s businesses on a firm footing as they look to grow and prosper. 

At Business Durham we continue to review and adapt the support we offer businesses in County Durham to help meet these challenges and take forward opportunities.

To find out what support is available visit www.businessdurham.co.uk.

Sarah Slaven, Managing Director, Business Durham