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º£½ÇÖ±²¥ joins the best of Darlington

º£½ÇÖ±²¥ has been shortlisted in three categories in the Best of Darlington Awards 2013.

The University is a contender in the categories of Bringing Business Success to Darlington, Contribution to the Environment and Putting Darlington on the Map. Since º£½ÇÖ±²¥ – the first and only modern University to be awarded the Times Higher Education title of ‘University of the Year’ – opened its landmark campus at Darlington’s Central Park, it has become the catalyst for the raising of aspirations in business partnerships, professional development, and economic growth in the town.

The campus has become an integral part of Darlington with a number of key initiatives to promote business, bring a higher education offer to the west of the Tees Valley and work in partnership with other organisations to put Darlington on the map.

There have been a number of key contributions and achievements that º£½ÇÖ±²¥ Darlington has made over the last 12 months. These include two Darlington companies - Populus Select and Mech-Tool Engineering bolstering their workforce through º£½ÇÖ±²¥â€™s innovative Graduates for Business internships scheme and º£½ÇÖ±²¥ is a key partner, hosting the Programme Manager, Katie Blundell, for Darlington Cares - the town’s leading employers committed to working with charities and community projects to make Darlington a better place.

The University has also established the ‘Business Balcony’ incubator facility on the new campus at Haughton Road and the development of the first three start-up businesses is supported through mentoring by University staff and a programme of development seminars.

The actual campus, which is striking and distinctive, sits alongside the East Coast mainline railway and acts as a beacon to promote Darlington as a University town. The design maximises short-term flexibility and medium-term adaptability while ensuring a highly efficient and low energy building. It provides a flexible and stimulating higher education teaching environment with facilities for corporate business and conference activity, reinforcing the zoning of educational facilities on Haughton road with Darlington College.

The building also focuses on ecological improvement with specially designed cycle storage to encourage green travel. The creation of event spaces, notably an external amphitheatre for performances and planting to encourage increasingly rare Skipper butterflies, is a contribution to local and national biodiversity.

The awards take place on Friday 22 March.

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