An Innovation Village is being added to County Durham-based NETPark, to allow firms based at the site's incubator to expand into larger premises.

Five bespoke units, dubbed NETPods, have been specially designed to cater for the needs of high-tech firms.

A spokesman from One NorthEast, one of the scheme's backers, said:

"Innovation Village has the potential to create hundreds of high quality jobs and support the creation of new companies, as well as attracting investment from leading companies looking for skilled people, access to technology, close proximity to a leading research university and a high quality business environment, which is fantastic news for North East England."