It's an exciting time making sure that everyone is safe and having fun - we have a lot of fun activities, a lot of work has gone into it. It's spread over four floors - the upper three are robotic with outer edges for pedestrians. It's 250 metres long, 150 metres wide. And that's just the shed, there's a large storage area outside." We continue to expand as a business and I think we recognise there’s a lot of talent within the local area, and the North East and we've been super keen to open these buildings and continue to employ local talent."

At the time Jonathan Walker, director of policy at the North East Chamber of Commerce said that after a difficult period, it was promising to see the creation of thousands of jobs. Approval for the scheme was unanimous - but it didn’t come without a few questions from councillors. Peter Gibson, MP for Darlington, said: “I welcome any new employer to Darlington but in the first week as MP for our town this is truly brilliant news, which deserves to be celebrated. Bringing jobs and investment to the Tees Valley are as key focus of me and my new Conservative colleagues working hand in hand with Ben Houchen.” For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.The smaller centre, which will see parcels arrive from neighbouring fulfilment centres, will "speed up deliveries" for the immediate area. Laura Robson, from Wallsend in North Tyneside, who is Stow Associate and relief team leader at NCL1 These include increasing the frequency and intensity of cleaning, introducing the two-metre distancing rule for all parts of the operation, staggering shift start, finish and break times, and providing hand sanitiser stations and reminders on hand-washing. The plant will have two access roads - a newly created route for staff, and another to be used by HGVs at the A689 junction and through the existing business park.

The main Fulfilment Centre is yet to see signs, but the delivery station has been badged up Picture: JIM SCOTT And the build is "going well", he says. "There has been some outside the box thinking, we did all the deliveries onto the roof by helicopter." ISG project director Malcolm Peart said: "We are 40 weeks into a 60 week build, we are closing out the last little bit and making sure it's all water-tight. The next element is the install, which will be carried out by Dutch company Vanderlande. We have 1,300 permanent employees and we have hired 500 seasonal workers to meet the demands of Christmas this year.After such a difficult economic period we’re really pleased to see jobs being created that will provide opportunities to people in Gateshead and beyond."

But also the plans for all the development on the surrounding land, which have now been granted planning permission and are just as exciting and bound to create even more jobs.Planning officer Simon Grundy said: “It will support another 1,240 additional indirect full time jobs per annum during the build period and, once operational, will result in 1,450 direct and indirect full-time jobs for the local economy.