Member Article

Aspire's key role in expansion of 'media village'

ONE of the region’s leading IT companies has played a key role in the expansion of a Tyneside creative and business hub.

Award-winning Aspire Technology Solutions was chosen to provide superfast connectivity for 40 new managed offices in what was a factory for the famous Maling pottery within Hoults Yard in Ouseburn.

The transformed Maling Exchange Building is now a ‘front door’ to Hoults Yard, which already had 90 creative and high-tech businesses employing more than 500 people on site. More than 45,000 sq ft of modern office space has been created and facilities include loft-style space for 20 small units for businesses of up to three people.

Charlie Hoult, who runs what is in effect Newcastle’s media village, said the speed and efficiency of connectivity will be important to the new development’s success: “There isn’t another business centre or working environment offering what we do here, nor is there one that understands the benefits of IT as we do.

“The nature of the businesses here means that connectivity is vital, so we’ve spent more than £250,000 on the IT infrastructure to make sure it’s the very best and delivers our businesses what they need.

“Aspire understood straight away how important their role in the redevelopment was and how complex and complicated our needs were; but they have been very helpful from the outset and have delivered exactly what we needed.

“I’m very grateful to Aspire and to Redwood Cable Projects, who they worked closely with, for their work. We knew we’d need a bespoke solution created for us, and that’s exactly what we’ve got.

“We’ve been working with Aspire for 18 months now and we’ve learned a great deal from them,” he added.

As well as supplying connectivity for the Maling Exchange redevelopment, Aspire has also provided superfast broadband connectivity for the whole Hoults Yard site through a dedicated data centre.

Justin Godfrey, account manager at Aspire, said: “The Aspire team has really enjoyed working on the Hoults Yard project. It was something a bit different, but the provision of superfast connectivity was vital in the development because of the nature of the businesses that Hoults Yard attracts.

“It’s an important hub for Tyneside’s creative and business sectors and we were delighted to have won the tender process.”

The Maling Exchange project was awarded more than £1.5m from the European Regional Development Fund’s Competitiveness Programme towards redevelopment costs. Businesses located in Hoults Yard include many operating in television and film, public relations, fashion, design, iPhone app development and web development.

Aspire has sites in Gateshead, Hebburn and London, and last year entered The Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 league table for the first time. In 2014 the company recorded an increase in turnover of almost 60 per cent, and predicted further growth of at least 25 per cent for the current financial year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section