Strong Infrastructure & Manufacturing Sector
From its early market town roots, Darlington became a significant Victorian centre of railway manufacture; the landmark clock tower, which has sister bells to London’s Big Ben, and the town’s Grade II listed civic buildings all date from this period, and the town’s role in the birth of the railway is celebrated in the Head of Steam museum.
While it may no longer be building railway stock, regeneration and levelling up strategies mean employment prospects in the town are thriving. Major employers such as the Student Loans Company and EE have been joined by retail giant Amazon, whose first fulfilment centre in the North East will bring 1,000 new jobs to the area. The new Treasury Office in the North of England will be established in Darlington, opening up 1500 civil service positions across six government departments.
The number of high-tech firms operating in the town is why international telecommunications company BT Group have identified Darlington as economically important enough to be included in their BT Infinity superfast broadband rollout, installing underground fibre-optic cables. The nearby Teeside Freeport is expected to create more than 18,000 new highly skilled jobs and bring billions to the local economy.
Transport Links
Darlington boasts solid transportation links just 30 minutes south of Durham City Centre.
The town lies on the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh, with the journey taking less than 3 hours to reach King’s Cross and 2 hours to Edinburgh Waverley. Newcastle is half an hour on the same line, and Durham is just 15 minutes away. Darlington is the mainline interchange for Middlesbrough and also serves the Tees Valley line for local journeys.
By road, Darlington is well-connected to the A1(M), the North East’s major trunk road, and as a Sustainable Travel Demonstration Town, it has a network of bike routes for sustainable travel. Similar good transport links can be found at new development properties in locations such as The Mercantile in Liverpool, which is a stones throw away from Lime Street train station.
