Team Valley is a trading estate located in Gateshead. It is home to the Retail World retail park, with many large, international companies are based in the area's trading estate. In 2017, there were approximately 700 companies on the estate, employing approximately 20,000 people.History of Team Valley
/ref> The residential area known as the Teams is adjacent to Dunston.

History

In the 1930s, the Government decided to spend nearly £2 million on this part of Gateshead, establishing the Team Valley Trading Estate as a well-planned industrial environment. The

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

in charge was

William Holford William Graham Holford, Baron Holford, (22 March 1907 – 17 October 1975) was a British architect and town planner. Biography Holford was educated at Diocesan College, Cape Town and returned to Johannesburg. From 1925–30 he studied arch ...

, with Hugh Beaver as chief engineer. It included a central headquarters, now used by English Partnerships, a bank, post office, and some modestly scaled industrial buildings, as well as some smaller industrial units for start-up ventures. These facilities were laid out along a wide central artery, known as ''Kingsway'', almost long. Work on the estate began in May 1936, and the first factory opened in the October of that year. The construction, which was undertaken by Wimpey Construction, took several years, and was completed in 1938. The estate was officially opened by

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...

on 22 February 1939. The southern end used of the Team Valley was the former location of the National Coal Board's regional headquarters. However, following the closure of the mines in the area, this was replaced by a

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, de ...

supermarket (now Sainsbury's). The River Team runs directly through the centre of the trading estate, hidden in a culvert.

Transport

To the east, the Team Valley is bordered by the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain runni ...

– the main railway line between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is a ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Until 1952, the area was served by a rail station at Low Fell. Currently, the nearest rail station is Dunston as well as the Tyne & Wear Metro being accessible at

Gateshead Interchange Gateshead Interchange is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the town of Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network on 15 November 1981, following the opening of the third phase of the network, between Haymarket and Hewor ...

.Gateshead Bus & Metro Interchange
/ref> Local bus company Go North East serve Team Valley with their regular 93 and 94 Gateshead loop services. Nexus subsidises peak-time services that include: 90, 91, 929, 933, 937, 939 and 941.

References

Sources

* {{Land Securities Business parks of England Economy of Tyne and Wear Geography of Tyne and Wear Industrial parks in the United Kingdom