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18th July 2007.  Garlands is delighted to announce a major business expansion, with the creation of a new contact centre in South Shields, South Tyneside in North East England.

The centre will comprise two new office buildings totalling 47000 sq. ft. within a two acre site.  Construction of the new eight hundred seat centre will be carried out by Mandale Commercial Ltd. and work will start immediately.  The centre is expected to open in February 2008.  Over a thousand people could eventually work at the site.

The centre is at an attractive waterfront location on Market Dock North on the southern bank of the River Tyne.  It will be designed to compliment the historic warehousing buildings along the Tyne, and will have an 'excellent' BREEAM rating and high quality landscaping.  The centre will be fully equipped to the same high standards as Garlands' existing centres in Hartlepool Marina, Middlesbrough and Stockton, including state-of-the-art voice and data technologies, advanced training facilities, and café and rest areas serving hot and cold food.  Music from Radio Ga Ga, Garlands' in-house radio station will be played at the new centre. 

"This is great news for Garlands as we enter a new phase in our expansion plans" said Chey Garland, Chief Executive of Garlands Call Centres.  "We very carefully considered a number of locations and opted for South Shields because of the quality of the local workforce, the fantastic location, and our commitment to grow within the local area.  South Shields is only 35 minutes drive from our headquarters on Hartlepool Marina.  The assistance we have received from South Tyneside Council and One NorthEast has been tremendous."  

"We very much look forward to opening our doors next February" she adds "when we will be offering local people the opportunity to work - and develop their careers - with one or more of the blue chip UK companies who partner with Garlands."  
   
The development is an important element of South Tyneside Council's regeneration programme, which is being supported by One North East, the regional development agency.

Welcoming the news of the creation of up to a thousand jobs to the Borough, Council Leader Councillor Paul Waggott said: "This is tremendous news and represents a great vote of confidence in South Tyneside.  We are in the midst of a massive regeneration and transformation programme that is changing the face of the Borough and the Riverside from Shields right down to Hebburn. We are confident that this is only the beginning and we will attract many thousands of jobs in the coming years with new companies or established businesses expanding in the Borough."

Councillor Eddie McAtominey, the Council's Lead Member for Jobs, Enterprise and Regeneration, added: "Creating jobs for local people is our number one priority, and make no mistake - this is a fantastic coup for the Borough. In Garlands, we have attracted a highly reputable, award-winning company, with an enviable reputation as one of the leaders in its field.

"The new purpose-built customer contact centre in the Market Dock area will result in the creation of a wide range of quality 'family-friendly' jobs, bringing a great boost to the local economy."

One NorthEast owned the land at South Tyneside where the new Garlands contact centre will be built and has worked closely with architects and planners to ensure the building is sustainable. Garlands also received an SFI grant of £600,000 from the regional development agency to help establish the South Tyneside base.

"We are delighted to be able to support this project and help Garlands establish another base in the region," said Margaret Fay, Chairman of One North East.  "The announcement of the new contact centre comes at an exciting time for South Tyneside with the recent launch of the large-scale regeneration programme along the Riverside."

The Contact Centre industry in the region employs more than 53,000 people, which equates to almost 5% of the working population. This dynamic sector is forecast to grow by some 14% between 2005 and 2008. One of the fastest growing segments of the market is outsourced service provision and Garlands is one of the biggest providers of such services in the North East.

In addition to working in partnership with Garlands to develop the site, South Tyneside Council will also be upgrading local infrastructure to provide easy pedestrian access from the new Garlands' centre to the local Metro station and new taxi rank pull-in facilities.  Contractors, Garlands and the Council will be working with local ward members and residents to minimise disruption during construction and operation.

People who wish to register their interest in jobs at Garlands new centre in Market Dock North, South Shields, should call 01642 733998, email recruitment@cjgarland.com or apply online at www.garlandspeople.com.

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About Garlands
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Garlands is a leading UK provider of outsourced customer contact services via phone, email and the Web.

Garlands' services range from customer service to outbound customer acquisition, debt collection, customer retention, technical assistance, cross-selling, upselling, staff accounts, activations, credit management, customer registrations, customer lifecycle management and many other back office functions.

Garlands believes that people are the key to delivering superb customer service.  It provides comprehensive and innovative programmes with a holistic focus to develop the skills of its staff - programmes that extend beyond the call centre and into the local community.

The company owns eight prestigious contact centres, three in Hartlepool Marina, one in Middlesbrough town centre and four at Garlands' Contact Centre Village in Stockton.  Garlands was named 'North East Company of the Year' at the 2005 National Business Awards.  Together with Vodafone, Garlands won top prize in the "Best Work by a Contact Centre" category at the 2006 Marketing Direct SMART awards.

In December 2006, Garlands was named the UK's second largest inbound contact centre agency by sales turnover in the 2006 Precision Marketing Contact Centre League Tables.