The power of the Tees Valley - Event write-up

July 6th 2022

Members and guests gathered at the Kirkleatham Marquee for the Tees Valley Business Club’s seventh event of the year to hear of the bright future for everyone connected to Redcar and Cleveland.

We heard from Andrew Carter from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, David Jack from SeAH Wind Ltd, Darren Winter from Redcar Town Deal Partnership, Rachael Conisbee from Shorty's Gin and Cllr Karen King from Redcar and Cleveland Business Network.

Chair of the Club, Jane Reynolds MBE welcomed members and guests to the fabulous event held in the Redcar region and expressed her excitement to see the investment plans for Redcar and Cleveland come into fruition. Jane went on to introduce the first speaker of the evening Andrew Carter, assistant director of the Growth and Enterprise Department, at Redcar and Cleveland Council to the stage.

Andrew welcomed the crowd and introduced the Redcar and Cleveland Regeneration projects that are taking place in the Loftus, Redcar and East Cleveland area. Andrew gave an overview of the Council’s development plans, detailing their aims to create an inviting street scene, a sense of arrival in the area and a direct high street intervention in the tourism, private, commercial and employment sector.

David Jack, global sales manager at SeAH Wind Ltd spoke next providing the audience with a snapshot of the company’s history and where they are currently with their new £300m monopile facility on Teesworks.

David spoke about how their 90 acers of land at the Teeswork site, which in size is equivalent to 14 football pitchers, will change the landscape of South Bank when construction is completed in June 2023.

David explained that the factory is future proof, and they are looking to work with key talent in the area for the construction and development of the facility. 

David shared that the company plans to work with educational providers to provide factory equipment and teach students welding skills that are needed within the factory. Apprentice schemes will also be offered to those in Teesside as SeAH wants to provide as many jobs as possible for those local to the area.

David revealed that the company will break ground on the seventh of July 2022 and will start commissioning October 2023.

The floor was then passed over to Darren Winter chair of the Redcar Town Deal Partnership board who began by discussing key aspects of the Town Deal initiative and their ongoing projects. Darren spoke about their ability to bid up to £25m from the government for investments to level up the community.

Darren went on to detail that the money would be spent on a Clean Energy Hub, Culture and Leisure Anchor Attractions, a Costal Activity Hub, and the Town Centre Transformation.

Darren discussed how the clean energy hub received £2,415,000 in funding, the Culture and Leisure Anchor Attractions received £9,265,000 in funding, the Costal Activity Hub received £600,000 in funding and the Town Centre Transformation received £9,776,000 in funding.

The Redcar Town Deal partnership are looking for a new board member from a small local business, preferably in retail.

Next up, local business owner based in Guisborough Town Hall, Rachel Conisbee, discussed the history of her business Shorty’s Gin and her passion towards the Redcar and Cleveland area.

Rachel reminisced on her time as owner of Shorty’s Gin and took the audience on her journey through the years. Rachel expressed her gratitude towards her business' location and its ability to host a 100-litre copper still. Thanking the Redcar and Cleveland Council for their continued help Rachel finished up her speech and left the stage.

Cllr Karen King, founder of the Redcar and Cleveland Business Network then took to the stage to highlight the network’s intentions of looking to expand to other areas in the borough. She announced to the members and guests that the group is open to a range of businesses, and they are currently open for new members to join.

In addition to our speaker line up, we heard from, Catherine Kay from Katnip Studios Ltd, Jenni Di’Niro from Ruffled Flowers, Amy Crust from Geoff Crust Furniture and Lynne Young from Lynne Young Millinery. Each of the local business owners provided the members with a brief description of their business to conclude the evening as part of the business showcase.

Jane thanked the speakers, the venue and the Tees Valley Business Club team for another brilliant event. We look forward to our next event on Thursday 21st July 2022 at Crathorne Hall.