The Doxford International Centre is an attractive modern red-brick building in a popular 79-acre business and technology park on the outskirts of Sunderland near the cities of Durham and Newcastle. This is one of the region's key locations for corporate headquarters and financial and customer services centres. About 8,000 people are employed here, working for world-class companies and smaller start-up businesses from all sectors. Towering at the park's entrance is Robert Erskine's award-winning sculpture Quintisection, a huge cross-section of an ocean liner providing a visual reminder of the area's 700-year shipbuilding heritage. Today Sunderland is one of the UK's most competitive business locations. The city continues to build upon its worldwide reputation as a centre for automotive manufacturing and is home to a host of blue-chip companies in other industries including financial services, clothing and telecommunications. It is also an increasingly important location for fast-growing technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises.