Member Article

West Midlands driving instructor training provider relocates to Tees Valley

SmartDriving is moving from the West Midlands to the Tees Valley to take advantage of a cutting-edge innovation centre.

The driving instructor training provider is relocating its head office from Coventry to Fusion Hive at Stockton’s Northshore, a purpose-built environment for innovative companies in the creative and digital sectors. This will see jobs created in the area.

The company, in business for over 35 years, has seen rapid growth in its digital operation, leading it to move to Fusion Hive.

SmartDriving provides novel driver instructor training using the latest digital techniques, both online and through mobile devices.

SmartDriving now operates with over 60 driving tutors and an operational and commercial team, which includes three directors.

Managed and operated by Teesside University, Fusion Hive’s purpose-built, flexible workspace offers the ideal environment for business collaboration.

Adam Bragg, Marketing Director of SmartDriving, said: “With any established business you need to innovate to grow and move to the next level.

“That is what we at SmartDriving are doing with our increased innovation and diversification into the digital market. This has allowed us to not only increase the quality of our service, but also to continue on a very cost-effective basis.

“We can’t wait to move into the state-of-the-art Fusion hive, this will give us the prime opportunity for business growth as this will be an environment that will encourage innovation and will drive potential opportunities for our digital offer, which will only help those learning to drive and the instructors that use our products.”

Laura Woods, Director of The Forge, Teesside University’s new business hub, said: “SmartDriving are an extremely innovative company, using the latest digital technology to turn a traditional industry on its head.

“We’re delighted to welcome them to Stockton’s Northshore, and we’re sure that the collaborative nature of Fusion Hive will help their business to grow even further.”

Fusion Hive is part funded by The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The ERDF’s Competitiveness Programme 2007-13 is bringing over £300m into North East England to support innovation, enterprise and business support. It will help create and safeguard 28,000 new jobs, start 3,000 new businesses and increase the productivity by £1.1bn per annum.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .