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Future is bright for The Light following opening weekend 

People standing at the Light exhibition with rainbow colours in the background

Visitors of all ages took their first steps into The Light, Durham’s brand-new cultural attraction, as it officially opened its doors to the public.

An unforgettable programme of activities was held across Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August to celebrate the launch of our venue, which serves as the region’s latest destination for culture, creativity and community.

Officially opened by our Chairman, Cllr Robbie Rodiss, the building’s celebrations brought live performances, including music from Pittington Brass Band, acrobatics by Cequin Circus, and live sets from some of the North East’s talented singer-songwriters.

Children and their families also got to explore new sights and experiences with science inspired lawn games.

Inside The Light, visitors made their mark on the venue by contributing to a collaborative illuminated sculpture inspired by moths drawn to light.

They were also invited to experiment with fluorescent materials within a glowing creative playground, where their drawings and messages will become part of an ever-changing light installation.

And guests got to see the venue’s inaugural exhibitions for the very first time – We Are The Durhams: The Durham Light Infantry Exhibition and Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light.

A huge success

Cllr Rodiss said: “This has been a long-anticipated day for Durham City and I’m pleased to say that the opening celebrations for The Light have been a huge success.

“The Light is a venue that not only honours the building’s past, but showcases its future as a centre for art, innovation, and history. This has been a significant investment into Durham’s cultural offering, and we are delighted to have already received an incredibly positive response from visitors.

“We can’t wait to welcome more people into The Light and inspire them through an amazing programme that is planned for the rest of the year and beyond.”

Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light brings together groundbreaking works by artists who use light in extraordinary ways, including Tracey Emin, Dan Flavin, Olafur Eliasson, and Chila Burman. Running until Sunday 17 January, it explores light as both subject and material, sparking questions of perception, nature and the cosmos.

Visitors to The Light will also have the chance to discover more about the DLI at a fascinating new permanent exhibition. Featuring images, sounds, hands-on activities and rich sensory experiences, We Are The Durhams builds upon the venue’s military heritage to tell a deeply human story of identity, belonging and community.

The celebrations continue

The opening weekend celebrations will continue into the final weeks of the summer holidays with a packed programme of artist-led workshops and creative activities inspired by light, colour, perception, and imagination.

Details of The Light’s autumn/winter programme will be announced soon.

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Visit County Durham shortlisted for Travel For Every Body Awards 2026 

Everybody logo

Visit County Durham has been shortlisted in the Destination category at the Travel For Every Body Awards 2026, recognising its work to make County Durham a more accessible and inclusive destination.

The awards, organised by travel industry publication Selling Travel, celebrate organisations and initiatives helping to make travel more inclusive and accessible. 

Visit County Durham is shortlisted alongside destinations from across the UK and around the world, including Experience Grand Rapids, New York State, Spanish Tourist Office, Tenerife, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Travel Oregon, Visit Austin, Visit Düsseldorf and VisitEngland. 

Michelle Gorman, managing director of Visit County Durham, said: “We want County Durham to be a destination where everyone can enjoy the experiences, attractions, landscapes and hospitality we have to offer. Being shortlisted for the Travel For Every Body Awards is fantastic recognition of the work taking place across the county to improve accessibility and create a welcoming experience for all visitors. It also highlights the importance of working together with our tourism businesses and partners to make inclusive tourism part of everything we do.” 

The recognition highlights County Durham’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that visitors with a wide range of access needs can enjoy the county’s attractions, accommodation, experiences and landscapes. 

The winners will be announced at the Travel For Every Body Awards ceremony at voco Manchester on 1 October 2026. 

View the full Travel For Every Body Awards 2026 shortlist: Finalists for Travel For Every Body Awards 2026 – Selling Travel

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A new mark of excellence: Seaham Hall celebrates landmark Michelin Key achievement

Seaham Hall Hotel with the Michellin logo

Seaham Hall, the five-star luxury hotel and spa based in County Durham, has been awarded a coveted MICHELIN Key by the MICHELIN guide, in recognition of its outstanding hospitality and commitment to exceptional guest experiences.

The MICHELIN Key is a highly selective accolade and is the hotel equivalent of the MICHELIN Star, celebrating hotels that demonstrate excellence across design, service, character, value and sense of place.

Awarded following rigorous, anonymous inspections, the Key recognises hotels that deliver an exceptional overall stay and showcase distinctive character, high-quality service and a strong connection to their surroundings.

Seaham Hall, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, is the only hotel in County Durham to be awarded with the prestigious award and is now one of two MICHELIN Key hotels in the North East region. The hotel joins the highly exclusive list of 18 new Key hotels added across the UK and Ireland, with now only 150 hotels holding the title across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Seaham Hall is highly decorated, with a recent recognition in the prestigious La Liste, where it claimed the top spot in the North East and placed number 51 in the UK. The hotel has also recently been shortlisted in the AA Spa and Hospitality Awards for its commitment to delivering exceptional wellness experiences, outstanding facilities and exemplary service.

The hotel holds a reputation as one of the North East’s leading coastal hotels, spa and wellness destinations and has undertaken a number of significant refurbishments over the past year in its commitment to offering exceptional guest experiences. In April the hotel re-opened its Zen Garden within its world-renowned Serenity Spa following a major £1 million investment. Alongside this, Seaham Hall has also launched two refined hospitality offerings including Japanese-inspired spa restaurant, Geko, and Harvey’s Bar, a modern speakeasy inspired by the hotel’s remarkable history. 

Ross Grieve, Managing Director of Seaham Hall said: “Receiving a MICHELIN Key is a fantastic achievement for our entire team at Seaham Hall and something we are incredibly proud of. To be recognised among just two hotels in the North East is a real honour and reflects the care and attention that goes into every aspect of the guest experience, from our outstanding levels of hospitality to our approach to food and our connection to the region. It is incredible to see that commitment recognised by the MICHELIN Guide, and we look forward to continuing to build on this achievement.”

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Magnitude Biosciences secures £1.3m to scale breakthrough drug discovery platform

Magnitude Biosciences secures £1.3m to scale breakthrough drug discovery platform

NETPark-based Magnitude Biosciences secures £1.3 million to scale drug discovery platform

Magnitude Biosciences, a Durham University spinout based at NETPark, has secured £1.3 million to accelerate the commercialisation of its VivoScan™ drug screening platform.

The specialist contract research organisation will use the investment to scale its technology, expand its work with global pharmaceutical companies, invest in new equipment and automation, and recruit additional staff.

Developing faster approaches to drug discovery

Magnitude Biosciences works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to identify potential treatments for ageing, longevity and neurodegenerative diseases.

Its VivoScan™ platform provides high-throughput drug screening using C. elegans, a microscopic nematode worm, as a biological model. It allows researchers to evaluate potential treatments in a whole organism at an early stage of the drug discovery process.

By combining this model with advanced imaging, machine learning, artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, Magnitude Biosciences can produce detailed biological data in weeks rather than years.

The approach gives researchers a faster and more cost-effective way to assess thousands of compounds while supporting the pharmaceutical industry’s move towards non-mammalian research models.

Dr Fozia Saleem, CEO of Magnitude Biosciences, said:

“Our ambition is to become the first company to provide a platform to screen millions of compounds in a whole organism. This investment in VivoScan™ gives us the opportunity to turn that ambition into reality and fundamentally change the scale and speed at which drug discovery can be done.
“We are building a platform that can move beyond simply screening more compounds. VivoScan™ generates rich, whole-organism biological data that can help researchers understand how potential therapies affect health, ageing and disease. “By making data generation faster and more cost-effective, we will be able to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies identify better drug candidates earlier and ultimately accelerate the development of new treatments.”

Finance Durham Fund backs company’s growth

Northstar Ventures led the investment round, committing funding from the North East Spinout Inspire Fund, North East Innovation Fund and Northstar EIS Growth Fund.

The £22.5 million North East Spinout Inspire Fund is backed by the universities of Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside, as well as the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority through the North East Fund. It was established to help commercialise research emerging from the region’s universities.

Maven-managed regional funds also participated in the round. These included NPIF II – Maven Equity Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, and the Finance Durham Fund, established by Durham County Council and overseen by Business Durham. New angel investors also provided funding.

The investment will also enable Magnitude Biosciences to access a £217,000 Innovate UK Investor Partnership grant.

Cllr Joe Quinn, Durham County Council Cabinet member for planning, investment and assets, said:

“Magnitude Biosciences is a strong example of the ambitious, science-led businesses the Finance Durham Fund was established to support. “This investment will help the company scale its technology, reach more customers and create skilled jobs in County Durham. We are particularly pleased to see that growth taking place at NETPark, where Magnitude Biosciences is part of a growing life sciences community and has access to the specialist space, facilities and connections it needs for its next stage of development.”

Building on investment in the business

The latest funding follows an initial investment from NPIF II in May 2025 and will support Magnitude Biosciences as it responds to growing demand for faster and more predictive approaches to early-stage drug discovery.

Sarah Newbould, Senior Investment Manager at the British Business Bank, said:

“We’re continuing to back the businesses that are driving innovation across the UK economy, with this new funding round helping to bring Magnitude Biosciences’ new technology to market. “With NPIF II providing initial investment in May last year, we’re able to support businesses throughout their journey, fuelling the Government’s Industrial Strategy and ensuring the North East’s life sciences sector continues to thrive.”

Dr Will Cousins, Investment Manager at Northstar Ventures, added:

“The North East continues to generate world-class innovations with the potential to compete on the global stage. Supporting ambitious companies with the capital they need to grow is essential if we are to unlock that potential. “Having worked closely with Magnitude Biosciences throughout its journey, we have seen first-hand the strength of the team, the technology and the opportunity ahead. We are proud to continue backing a business that is helping to shape the future of drug discovery.”

Magnitude Biosciences has delivered more than 120 projects for clients working across drug discovery, health and nutrition, and ageing biology. Its growth at NETPark strengthens County Durham’s expanding cluster of life sciences companies.

Find out more about the Finance Durham Fund and how Business Durham can help businesses access the funding, property and connections they need to grow.

 

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Durham joins £5.3m project to develop laser power technology

A laser pointing to the sky

Researchers in the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, based at Orbit in NETPark, are helping to develop a pioneering laser power system that could keep high-altitude aircraft operating continuously.

The project has received £5.3m in funding from the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) through its Enduring Atmospheric Platforms (EndAP) programme. 

Working alongside Scalable Laser Limited and the University of Glasgow our researchers will help to develop “LIVINGSTON” (which stands for laser diodes and photo-voltaics for enduring atmospheric platform power beaming), an innovative laser power beaming system. 

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National staycation campaign delivers 11% boost to County Durham visitor spend

From left: Pam Porter Locomotion Museum, Richard Kaye Dalton Park, Duncan Peake Chair Visit County Durham, Matt McWhinnie Dalton Park, Sanjay Gidda Ushaw: Historic House, Chapels & Gardens, Sally Pearson The Bowes Museum, Dennis Wood The Auckland Project, Rhiannon Hiles Beamish Museum

A national campaign encouraging visitors to make County Durham their next stop has contributed to an estimated 11 per cent increase in visitor spend, while inspiring more people to stay overnight, stay longer and discover more of the county.

Next Stop Durham, Visit County Durham’s latest national destination marketing campaign, reached more than 18 million people between autumn 2025 and spring 2026, helping to raise awareness of County Durham as a destination for a UK break.

Visit County Durham is Durham County Council’s tourism service, working with businesses and attractions across the county to grow the visitor economy and promote County Durham as a leading destination.

Independent evaluation found that estimated visitor spend was 11 per cent higher than during the previous campaign, demonstrating the impact of targeted destination marketing in encouraging visitors to choose County Durham and spend more during their visit.

The campaign also supported Visit County Durham’s strategic ambition to increase overnight stays, with the proportion of survey respondents who said the campaign had influenced them to stay overnight increasing from 11 per cent in the previous campaign to 15 per cent.

Cllr Karen Allison, Durham County Council’s Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Tourism, Regeneration and High Street, said: “Encouraging visitors to make County Durham their next stop is an important part of growing our visitor economy. We know many people travel through the county without always realising the incredible range of experiences available here, and Next Stop Durham has helped showcase why County Durham is a destination worth stopping for. It is particularly encouraging to see more visitors being inspired to stay overnight, spend longer here and discover attractions they may not have previously considered. This supports our tourism businesses, strengthens the local economy and helps spread the benefits of tourism across communities throughout County Durham.”

The campaign was designed to capitalise on County Durham’s strategic position on the London-York-Edinburgh tourist corridor, with many people travelling through the county by road or rail on their way to other destinations.

Through Next Stop Durham, visitors were encouraged to stop, stay, explore and experience more of the county, helping to increase visits, extend stays and support businesses across the visitor economy.
The campaign was delivered through national media partnerships, influencer collaborations, out-of-home advertising in London, Manchester and along the East Coast rail corridor, alongside targeted digital advertising.

It showcased County Durham’s diverse visitor offer, from world-class attractions and outdoor adventures to food and drink, accommodation and heritage.

Tourism businesses and attractions involved in the campaign included The Bowes Museum, Ushaw Historic House, Chapels & Gardens, The Auckland Project, Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, Locomotion, Raby Estates, Dalton Park, Lumley Castle Hotel and Seaham Hall Hotel.

Visitors influenced by the campaign also reported staying longer and spending more per night during overnight stays, while day visitor spend increased compared with 2024-25.

More than half of respondents said the campaign had definitely influenced their decision to visit County Durham, either for a day trip or a longer stay.

The campaign also encouraged visitors to explore beyond their original plans, with 71 per cent of respondents saying it had encouraged them to visit an attraction they had not originally planned to visit.
For those who already had a visit planned, 14 per cent said they stayed longer in the destination because of the campaign.

The campaign is expected to continue delivering benefits beyond the activity period, with 27 per cent of respondents saying it had changed their perception of County Durham and made them more likely to visit in the future.

Duncan Peake, Chair of Visit County Durham and Chief Executive of Raby Estates, said: “Next Stop Durham demonstrates what can be achieved when the tourism sector works together to promote the county. By combining our strengths and showcasing the variety of experiences available, we have been able to inspire more visitors to choose County Durham, stay longer and explore more. The campaign has delivered strong results, from increasing visitor spend to encouraging more overnight stays and helping people discover attractions they may not have previously considered. This highlights the strength of County Durham’s tourism offer and the value of continuing to raise awareness of everything the county has to offer.”

Rhiannon Hiles, Chief Executive of Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, said: “Next Stop Durham has been a fantastic example of what can be achieved when the visitor economy works together. Beamish is proud to have been part of a campaign inspiring more people to discover everything County Durham has to offer. By showcasing the county’s outstanding attractions, beautiful landscapes and welcoming places to stay, the campaign has encouraged visitors to spend more time here, benefiting businesses and communities across the destination.”