News | Page 19

Three new housing schemes comprising a total of 1,100 new homes have been given a conditional go-ahead by the local borough council. The development on land at Wynyard Village will include 500 houses, a primary school, community facility and more than 5,300 sq ft of space for retail use. The scheme was approved subject to satisfactory comments from the environment agency and the secretary of state, a news report in the local media can reveal.

Banking giant HSBC has announced plans to set up a huge £6bn fund for finacing small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and £100m of the pot has been earmarked for businesses in the North East, a news report in the local business media can reveal.

Multiple jobs have been created in Newcastle following the refurbishment and reopening of a local eatery, a news report in the local media can reveal. The 15 new appointments were created following a £250,000 refurbishment of City Tavern by pub and coffee shop entrepreneur David King. Following the improvement works, City Tavern has been reopened under the Bar Hound brand.

A Teesside local enterprise partnership has revealed plans to create up to 700 new jobs in the area after securing a £7m investment from the BIS regional growth fund. The Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU) enterprise partnership has developed the Tees Valley Jobs and Skills investment Scheme that aims to provide businesses with 12 month wage subsidies of up to 50 per cent in a bid to encourage companies to take on trainees, apprentices or graduates of any age, a news report in the local media has revealed.

Starting construction work on the first phase of a 193-home scheme in Birtley has marked the official beginning of a very ambitious £350m Gateshead regeneration programme, a news report in the local media has just revealed. The Gateshead Regeneration Partnership (GRP) has started work on the site off Mount Pleasant Road having secured planning permission for the first 47 homes. The development is part of the wider plan to build 2,400 new homes across Gateshead over the next 20 years.

Highbridge, a building developer specialized in creating modern business parks, has revealed plans to create a new 82-acre employment site in the Newcastle area, with the potential to create 1,000 jobs. The future Indigo Park site will be located at Gosforth Park and will comprise of 1.3 million sq ft for business to use as manufacturing and distribution space. The space is available for immediate development for companies to create bespoke premises.

The 21,000 sq ft Blyth Workspace area, located on the vacant Commissioners Quay site in Blyth, is set to undergo a major redevelopment process as part of a wider scheme to regenerate the whole Blyth Estuary and town centre by building a mixed-use retail and residential development on the site. According to a news report on the matter, a range of office spaces are set to be built in the area, most of them being targeted at companies from the energy sector.

Civil engineering business the Owen Pugh Group has decided to take a step further in its development and invested £100,000 in its Marsden Quarry materials testing laboratory, creating 5 new jobs in the process, a media news report on this topic has recently revealed.

The installation of a new multimillion-pound crane by Able UK at its base in Seaton Port will create 40 new jobs and will enable the company to expand even further in the Teesside region, a news report in the local business media can reveal. The Billingham-based marine redevelopment business acquired the latest-generation piece of equipment in a bid to bolster its presence in a range of market segments, including the maintenance of offshore oil and gas drilling rigs.

The former Swan Hunter shipbuilding yard in Wallsend is being redeveloped by the North Tyneside Council in a bid to help it become a major manufacturing site within the UK, a news report in the local media has recently revealed.

Technology company Northgate Public Services is set to create 235 new tech jobs in Hartlepool, after the town council decided to enter a partnership with the company, a news report in the local media has revealed. As part of this 7-year agreement (that also features a 3-year extension option), Northgate is set to establish a new Regional Business Centre in Hartlepool, creating anywhere between 235 and 300 jobs in the area.

Live Theatre in Newcastle has proposed a £10m development scheme after purchasing a plot of land on the town’s Quayside, a brand new report in the local media has revealed.