A £4m public investment for the Tyne Dock Enterprise Park aims to boost its position as a major offshore wind hub.
The North East Local Enterprise Partnership has made the investment into the Port of Tyne’s Dock Enterprise Park from the Getting Building Fund, topping up the £2.1m which has already been invested by the Port of Tyne into the site. The grant funding has delivered improvement to the site’s quayside, including quay strengthening, allowing multiple offshore wind vessels to berth alongside Tyne Dock Enterprise Park.
It has also funded the creation of a new access road, linking Tyne Dock Enterprise Park to the Port of Tyne, and modern services to site. The 7.1-hectare site, which has 550 metres of direct riverside frontage, is home to the newly-opened Port of Tyne Operations and Maintenance base for Equinor, a hub for operations for the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank.
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North East LEP chief executive Helen Golightly said: “Tyne Dock Enterprise Park is playing a leading role in helping the North East attract investment and high quality employment in the offshore energy sector. It is also supporting the region’s drive to deliver net zero. As a strategic site for Dogger Bank, it provides a unique investment opportunity in the region; one that will bring significant growth to the North East’s advanced manufacturing and engineering sectors.
“Tyne Dock Enterprise Park will create hundreds of new jobs in South Tyneside as businesses move onto the site, as well supporting job creation across the region’s wider supply chain too.”
Tyne Dock’s Enterprise Zone status gives it access to incentives designed to help businesses grow. The 21 Enterprise Zone sites that make up the wider North East Enterprise Zone programme were selected because of the opportunity they provide to attract investment from key sectors, supporting the aims of the North East Strategic Economic Plan to deliver 100,000 more and better jobs, while also creating a more productive, competitive, resilient and inclusive North East economy.
Matt Beeton, chief executive of the Port of Tyne, said: “The modernisation of Tyne Dock – and the creation of Tyne Renewables Quay –provides a major wind hub to support the region’s role in the green industrial revolution taking place in the North Sea. Tyne Dock sits at the centre of a growing clean energy cluster that is supporting businesses build out and maintain the country’s major offshore wind farm development areas at Dogger Bank and Sofia.”
South Tyneside Council leader Coun Tracey Dixon said: “South Tyneside is at the forefront of the UK’s offshore renewables industry and this investment will strengthen the Port’s operations, ensuring we can continue to innovate and drive forward growth at both regional and national level. Tyne Dock Enterprise is a key strategic site, housing world-class facilities like the Dogger Bank Operations and Maintenance Base, and presents a fantastic opportunity to boost job creation and bolster UK energy security.”
The Getting Building Fund was established during the pandemic to help kick-start the economy, create jobs and help areas realise growth opportunities. The North East LEP is managing £47m awarded through the fund to support capital investment across the North East.
Other schemes to be backed by the fund include the £300m Gateshead Quays conference centre and arena plan, the recamp of Northumberland Square in North Shields, the conversion of Newcastle city centre office Portland House, as well as work at business and industrial parks including Hownsgill Industrial Park in Consett and AirView Park close to Newcastle Airport.
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