Doxford International Business Park

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Doxford International is a 125 acre (50 hectare) business park located at the A19 / A690 interchange on the outskirts of Sunderland, in the North East of England. Previously a greenfield site, it was designated as an Enterprise Zone in 1990 in response to the decline of the area's former ship building and coal mining industries. A partnership between Sunderland City Council and Goodman Property (formerly Akeler Developments Ltd.) has seen the creation of 1.35 million sq.ft. (125,000 sq.m.) of high specification offices, with the private sector partner investing around £200 million. The first buildings were completed in 1992, providing accommodation for a range of new employment opportunities that have played a key role in the regeneration of the City.

The availability of leading-edge telecommunications and a skilled workforce has been instrumental in the success of Doxford International, which is now one of the UK's main locations for corporate HQs and contact centres serving the financial and customer service sectors. Around 8,000 people are now employed by a range of blue chip companies.

One business that located on Doxford International is mobile phone operator T-Mobile, part of Deutsche Telekom, which took advantage of the advanced telecommunications facilities to create a customer support centre that now employs around 1,000 people. The site operates as a switching centre, underpinning the company's network between Leeds and Edinburgh.

Also on Doxford International, EDS has established a secure data centre that provides information solutions for worldwide clients, exploiting the site's global connectivity. Citifinancial - part of the USA-based CitiGroup - is one of the businesses that has reinvested in Doxford International, with an expansion project that brought additional jobs to Sunderland. Global connectivity and the availability of a high quality workforce encouraged the company to continue to invest in the City, where it undertakes a wide range of business processing activities.

Doxford International has been at the forefront of developments in business property. For example, the award-winning 38,750 sq.ft. (3,600 sq.m.) Solar Building makes extensive use of photo-voltaic technology to minimise energy consumption. The 25,500 sq.ft (2,370 sq.m.) Regus Centre offers flexible workspace, with fully equipped, work-ready offices and meeting rooms, including broadband access. The most recent development at Doxford International is Signature House, which was developed in 2007 to provide a new HQ for Wilcomm Homes, and incorporates speculative office suites for small businesses.

In order to ensure that companies can attract skilled employees, a specialist training facility operated by City of Sunderland College known as the North East Contact Centre Academy is located among the businesses on the site, offering employer-led training in customer service, call handling and line-management, as well as technical skills such as administering IP telephony and voice and data cabling.

Doxford International has been developed to provide an attractive working environment for employees, helping to minimise staff turnover. As well as small retail outlets, the Sunderland Health & Racquet Club operated by Esporta provides leisure facilities. Whilst highways access is a key asset for the site, there is also a high level of public transport access, with bus penetration into the heart of the business park.