Business, financial and professional services
The service sector is growing across the North East. It has experienced the highest growth outside Greater London, generating around 25% of the region's wealth. Knowledge-intensive businesses underpin and enable other industries to compete in a global market; including those in professional services, contact centres and shared service centres.
Gateshead is at the heart of the North East region, with excellent transport links via the Tyne and Wear Metro system. This system provides direct links to the area's airport, rail stations, ferry ports and more. Our mainline rail system means you can reach London within three hours, while Edinburgh in less that one and half hours away.
Distinctive attributes make Gateshead an ideal location for business services' activity, including low turnover of staff and a highly-skilled workforce with multi-lingual capabilities.
These are only some of the reasons why global brands have set up roots in the borough. Teleperformance, one of the world's top 20 business process organisations, and Wordplay, the FTSE 100 global payment processing group, already have significant operations in Gateshead.
The considerable investment we have made in the modernisation of our call centre reflects our continued confidence in Gateshead, where we are proud to have a base. It also underlines our commitment to provide the best environment for those who work for us so that we can deliver the world-class service that our clients expect." Matt Sims, Chief Executive Officer, Teleperformance
Supporting the large workforce employed by the sector, is our booming retail industry. We're home to Europe's largest indoor retail and leisure complex, intu Metrocentre.
With over 350 stores and an annual footfall more than 21 million shoppers, intu Metrocentre contributes around £176.2 million GVA into the economy and is a real asset to the region.