Business support in Newcastle

Business support in Newcastle

Our business offer is all about ideas, energy and the brave new world of data. Our industries are fuelled by knowledge. From sub-sea engineering to life sciences and digital.  Each is hardwired into our strong local talent base, centred around our two great city centre universities. And that’s because we know that people are our most important asset.

We want Newcastle to be the best city in the UK for growing businesses.  We are one of the fastest growing cities in northern England, and offer a world class mix of skills, locations and support to help businesses achieve their growth potential. 

Support for Business Growth

Help to find property for your new business

Recruitment, Training and Workforce Development

Funding Opportunities for Business

Support for Business Growth

There is a wide range of advice, practical support and potential investment available to help businesses in Newcastle to grow.  Visit the North East Growth Hub website to find out what is available from local, regional and national business support providers and explore routes to investment for growth.  

The Business and Intellectual Property Centre, (based within Newcastle City Library) provides a free information and advice service to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) grow, innovate and explore new markets. Businesses can benefit from:

  • specialist help to understand intellectual property and how to protect your ideas, business identity and creativity
  • an extensive range of databases and periodicals, and support to research new markets, products and market trends
  • exclusive workshops and events delivered by sector experts, exploring growth potential and new opportunities
  • advice from our ‘Experts in residence’ on a range of business topics

In addition, our ‘Pathways to Innovation’ project can support businesses to grow by providing one-to-one innovation and intellectual property support and access to grant funding to part-fund additional external expertise that you may need to bring in to support your growth journey.

We also suggest you consider the following opportunities for business help and advice:

  • The Business Energy Saving Team (BEST) can help businesses in Newcastle to save costs and improve their environmental performance through free energy-saving audits, advice and potential grant funding to install energy-saving measures.
  • PNE Enterprise, Newcastle’s award-winning local enterprise agency, who offer a business growth programme and a fully-funded 3-day residential Boost Your Business course.
  • TEDCO deliver Start & Grow, providing tailored start up support, mentoring and funding advice for growth-focused businesses across the North East region 
  • Scaleup North East provides specialist mentoring and peer-to-peer support for businesses that can demonstrate both the hunger and potential to achieve high levels of growth.

Help to find property for your new business

We provide a huge range of property that could be just right for your new business, including shop units, light industrial workshops and managed offices.  This includes our flagship centres:

Toffee Factory

Located in the Ouseburn area of the city, the Toffee Factory is a beautifully refurbished building providing high quality, contemporary serviced office space for a range of digital and creative businesses, from start-ups in a shared workspace to larger offices for established companies.

The Core

Located at the entrance to the exciting innovation zone Newcastle Helix, The Core provides dedicated office space for new and growing knowledge-based businesses.  

The Lumen
The Lumen is Newcastle's newest Grade A office building offering accommodation finished to a very high standard with contemporary feel and panoramic views across the city.

The Biosphere

Also on Newcastle Helix, the Biosphere offers bespoke lab space for life science-based businesses.

Other Council owned commercial property

If these properties are not right for you, we also run four dedicated Enterprise Centres offering ‘easy in-easy out’ office and light industrial units, as well as a wide range of other office, retail and industrial property.  Full details of how to find the right property for your businesses can be found on our property enquiries page.

Recruitment, Training and Workforce Development

Finding and retaining the right employees is fundamentally important to the success of any business, while providing quality job opportunities is a valuable role for businesses in the city.  We can help bring employers together with suitable candidates through the training and advice we provide for young people and unemployed people.

Employers can promote their job opportunities via the Skills Hub, which brings careers and employment services together in a joined-up service, available from the Skills Hub site in the City Library, or via telephone and internet access. As part of our support for employers and businesses to re-emerge from Covid-19, we are providing a free service, Jobs@SkillsHub, for employers to advertise local vacancies to local jobseekers. To find out more, contact skillshub@newcastle.gov.uk.

The Council’s in-house training provider, City Learning, provides courses, apprenticeships and other learning opportunities for those aged 16 and over, and can support employers with their training and development needs.  We offer a wide range of Apprenticeship opportunities, help to find alternative providers, and practical help to take on apprentices. To find out more, contact the Employment and Skills team on 0191 277 3506.

Newcastle Futures offers an impartial recruitment service that can help:

  • Match your vacancy to the right candidate
  • Promote your vacancies in the local area
  • Identify and source recruitment and training support to meet your needs
  • Manage your recruitment process
  • Source interviewing facilities

Funding Opportunities for Business

We can provide advice and support to businesses who are considering accessing resources from a range of public grant funding programmes, particularly European funds and the Local Growth Fund. 

If you are a small or medium enterprise business looking for support either directly or in partnership with other businesses or third sector organisations, contact us to see if we can help.   Contact businesssupport@newcastle.gov.uk.

Current funding opportunities that we can help businesses to access include:

Did you know?

Our city is home to nearly 8,000 businesses, has one of the fastest growing tech sectors and is recognised as the UK's best city to work in.

 

Need more information?

For more information on BIPC services, visit www.bipcnewcastle.gov.uk or contact bipcnewcastle@newcastle.gov.uk.

If you want to discuss your growth opportunities with the team directly, please contact businesssupport@newcastle.gov.uk.

For information on support from the Skills Hub, contact us on  0191 277 4125 or skillshub@newcastle.gov.uk

For information on business grants, please email businesssupport@newcastle.gov.uk.

Is this page useful?
Is this page useful?