WELCOME
The North East has no shortage of announcements, but they sit at very different distances from delivery. This week's stories run the full range: forecast jobs and investment at the AI Growth Zone, studio funding that is partly provisional, a Metrocentre sale still waiting on conditions, a firm SpaceX order for Filtronic and a £12m allocation that may not be new money.
Politics has the same gap. The region now has formal seats at the table, but who makes its case before the meetings begin?
THE LEAD
North East AI Growth Zone: projects, funding and progress
The site of the old Blyth Power Station at Cambois is being prepared for one of the largest proposed data-centre campuses in Britain. Together with Cobalt Park in North Tyneside, it anchors the North East AI Growth Zone, which the government says could bring more than 5,000 jobs and up to £30bn of private investment.
Those are forecasts. Foundations are going in at Cambois, but Cobalt Park's future is less certain since Stargate UK was paused.
Mayor Kim McGuinness wants more than server halls: "It also has to be about us being a region that creates the technology, not just adopts it." A £5m local programme is the first test of whether it will.
THE NUMBER
£38.5m
The public money behind the first phase of Sunderland's Crown Works Studios: £25m in capital funding, £11m in repayable funding for Sunderland City Council and up to £2.5m to help run the studios for five years. The last two depend on a full business case.
THE WEEK
Metrocentre sold to Landsec in £516m deal
Six years after its owner Intu collapsed, Metrocentre has a buyer. Landsec, which already owns Bluewater and Liverpool ONE, has agreed to pay £516m for the Gateshead centre, which draws more than 16m visitors a year and has 95 per cent of its units let.
The deal would give Landsec three of the UK's ten biggest shopping centres, and it plans to spend about £30m on Metrocentre's shops, food and leisure. First, a leftover Intu company has to be wound up and Metrocentre's bondholders have to approve a debt restructuring. Completion is expected by the end of October.
Who speaks for the North East at No10 North?
Asked on BBC Politics North whether the North East needs its own Number 10, Prime Minister Andy Burnham replied: "Well, it's got its own Number 11." He meant the Treasury's Darlington campus.
The region also has two mayors at the new National Economic Council in Manchester. But formal seats are not the same as influence. As London lobbyists and consultancies set up in Manchester, who is making the North East's case before the meetings begin?
Filtronic wins record $68.1m SpaceX order
A single order from SpaceX is worth almost as much as everything Filtronic sold last year. The Sedgefield company's $68.1m (£51.3m) order for satellite communications amplifiers is its largest yet, equal to about 92 per cent of last year's revenue. It also shows the risk. SpaceX still accounts for 68 per cent of Filtronic's sales, although that is down from 83 per cent a year earlier.
British Business Bank allocates £12m to North East innovation cluster
The British Business Bank has announced £12m for North East businesses with high growth potential, to be invested by PXN Ventures, Mercia Ventures and Maven Capital Partners. What it hasn't said is whether this is new money. Last year the Bank announced £100m for the same kind of programme, and this week's release doesn't explain how the two relate, how the £12m will be split or when firms can apply.
IN THE CALENDAR
Monday 12 to Friday 16 October. Sunderland Business Week runs across venues in the city, with presentations, panels, workshops and networking for businesses from Sunderland and beyond. Programme
Tuesday 20 October. The ONS publishes its next regional labour-market update, including employment, unemployment and economic inactivity data. It is the next official checkpoint on the North East’s labour market. ONS release
MORE FROM REVIEW NORTH
£2bn Teesside jet-fuel refinery enters planning
Lighthouse Green Fuels has applied for consent to build a sustainable aviation fuel refinery at Seal Sands, with a final investment decision due at the end of 2027. Read more
RMT Technology expects 50 jobs from new cyber security division
RMT Technology is launching a new cyber security division from Gosforth, with plans to create eight jobs in its first year and around 50 over five years. Read more
Finance software firm iplicit opens Newcastle office to tap Sage talent pool
iplicit has recruited almost 30 former Sage staff and is building a Newcastle sales team, but has not said how many of those recruits are based in the city. Read more
FROM AROUND THE NORTH EAST
Grand Central secures trains for proposed Newcastle-Brighton service
Grand Central has agreed to lease four additional Class 180 trains as it moves closer to launching its proposed Newcastle-Brighton service. The route, which would run via Durham, Darlington, York and Gatwick, remains subject to approval by the Office of Rail and Road. Read more
Lookers opens £5m vehicle repairs hub in North Shields
Lookers has opened a 66,000 sq ft vehicle repairs hub at Tyne Tunnel Estate. The £5m investment was shared with UK Land Estates with the centre expected to create up to 15 specialist roles, alongside its existing North Tyne team of more than 65. Read more
Until next week,
Stephen
