Plans progress on 3700-job 'innovation district'

Plans for a 3700-job ‘innovation district’ have taken a step forward. 

Councillors have agreed to seek a joint venture delivery partner to create an “internationally significant” employment hub in Durham City.

They say the venture – which would see the demolition of Durham County Council’s headquarters in Aykley Heads – will be “a driving force for economic growth”.

A home to research and green jobs, they add the site would also be a hotbed for the electronic, digital and creative, fintech, life science and satellite application roles of tomorrow.

According to the authority’s blueprint, the endeavour would include Durham University’s Business School and a planned data centre, and the Durham Light Infantry Museum and Art Gallery.

It is also planned to feature the city’s riverside-based Milburngate residential and commercial scheme, with councillors having agreed to progress a deal to snap up the freehold on the development.

Councillor James Rowlandson, the council’s cabinet member for resources, investment and assets, said the plans represent an “exciting time” for the city.

He said a joint venture would see the council deliver and operate Aykley Heads and the ‘innovation district’, with its partner providing skills, networks, investment and associated expertise.

He added: “It is a long-standing goal to develop an employment site at Aykley Heads, and moving to the next stage of the process of entering a joint venture delivery partnership shows we remain committed to delivering on that ambition.

“The site has the potential to deliver in the region of 3700 quality jobs for our residents and be a driving force for County Durham’s future economic growth, as well as the wider North East.

“Together with the university’s business school, the reimagined museum and gallery, and the potential progress at Milburngate, we want Durham to have an innovation district of regional, national and international significance, that will make it a great place to live, work, visit and invest.”

The North East Combined Authority has invested £9.2 million on infrastructure work at Aykley Heads – designated a key site in the north of the region’s devolution deal – in anticipation of its redevelopment.

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