A Northumberland hotel is using new technology to market its updated conference facilities. Matfen Hall Country House Hotel, near Hexham, has launched an interactive CD-Rom conference brochure for customers. The technology allows users to copy images and text from the disk and send it electronically to conference delegates. Matfen Hall general manager, David Hunter, says: "We have always prided ourselves in being at the forefront in innovation and, as far as we are aware, we are the only hotel in the North-East producing its corporate brochure on CD-Rom. This is a benefit to our customers as well as ourselves. Conference organisers can navigate through the CD-Rom to the information they really need, as opposed to receiving information that is not relevant to their own specific requirements." The CD-Rom was designed by Harrisons design agency in Gateshead. Agency managing director, Dave Harrison, says: "In keeping with everything that Matfen Hall does, this new brochure is delivering the message that it is modern, sophisticated and up-to-date, as well as showing its traditional facilities." WORK on The Quadrus Centre, a £5m office development overlooking the lake at Boldon Business Park in South Tyneside, is now well under way. The distinctive cedar-clad cubes of this hi-tech building, which can be seen from the A19, are transforming the gateway to the borough. South Tyneside Council joined forces with Tyneside Economic Development Company Tedco, which will run the building, to spearhead the development. It is hoped to attract ambitious new service companies. Work on the project began last July and completion is due in late spring. Full conference facilities are available and a cafe will serve drinks and snacks. Topical and inspiring events will be held at Quadrus during the year, designed to stimulate businesses and encourage growth. Tedco chief executive Doug Scott said: "We are delighted with the prospect of managing a building that is both truly distinctive and purpose designed. "We are working hard to make sure that services that go with it will be just as useful and appealing to new and growing service-sector businesses." FROM Northumberland down to the Tees Valley, regeneration projects - big and small - are helping to change the landscape of the region, bringing with them the promise of new business, investment and jobs. A glance at riverside developments - NewcastleGateshead for one - shows the real potential unleashed when vision is backed by hard cash. Now look south towards Stockton - and imagine how a town blessed with the River Tees flowing through its heart might also be transformed. There is a plan well under way - a scheme breathing new life into North Shore in Stockton could ultimately be worth £300m to the town's economy, and create as many as 2,500 new jobs. When completed, companies will be enjoying stunning waterfront office space, new residential and conference facilities will be established, and an academic research centre will be built for Durham University. On Friday May 20, the inaugural North-East Business Tourism and Corporate Hospitality Show aims to help the region take an even bigger chunk of the £7.3bn spent each year by UK businesses on corporate hospitality. The event is designed to spell out the fact that the North-East is not only an area of rich beauty and variety, but also has the infrastructure, facilities and services - and, of course, the welcoming nature of North-East people - to make it one of the best locations in the UK to hold exhibitions and other corporate activities. The event, which will be held at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, is expected to attract 100 exhibitors including hotels, visitor attractions, travel companies and event management companies, as well as the suppliers of support services, such as marquee suppliers, catering companies, entertainers, audio-visual equipment suppliers, marketing/PR services and photographers. It is also expected to attract more than 800 visitors from all over the UK with decision-making responsibility for staging events and corporate hospitality. MULTI-millionaire, Graham Wylie, has re-opened one of the region's most celebrated stately homes as a country club in a move which has created 40 jobs. The North-East entrepreneur, co-founder of the computer software giant Sage, paid an undisclosed seven-figure sum to Newcastle University for Close House Mansion at Heddon-on-the-Wall last year as a "thank you" for his education. Mr Wylie, who made more than £100m when he sold some of his shares in Sage after retiring from the company, intended the university to use the massive funds raised from the sale to enhance its teaching and research facilities. Now he has fully refurbished the 18th-Century building, which came with 179-acre grounds and an 18-hole golf course, renamed it Close House Country Club, and struck a deal with the university which allows it to use the facilities free of charge. These include eight different function rooms available for conferences and corporate events, hair and beauty treatments, seven bedrooms and a restaurant, cocktail bar and lounge. Plans are now being drawn up for future expansion of the Grade II-listed building over the next ten years. | 
