As a city, Newcastle has always been synonymous with innovation and change. Names like Armstrong, Grainger, Grey, and Dobson which grace the streets and monuments of the city bear witness to the 'Greats' who shaped Newcastle in the 19th century with their engineering, architectural and creative vision. Today, the city continues to honour their legacy with new and ambitious plans for transforming the heart of the city centre.
These plans moved a step closer with the announcement that planning has been approved on the next phase of the transformational investment in Pilgrim Street and the creation of what is being described as the ‘landmark’ Pilgrim’s Quarter building.
The council approved plans to create what will be the largest single office scheme ever built in Newcastle City Centre. The proposals will see the regeneration of the northern block of Pilgrim Street which has in the past housed Commercial Union House, the former Odeon cinema and Stack Newcastle, the temporary shipping container leisure complex, which operated on the site until recently.
This decision signals a huge step forward in the long-awaited regeneration of the Pilgrim Street site. Owned by the Reuben Brothers, the whole site covers three blocks from Northumberland Street in the north to the Tyne Bridge in the south, spanning a 7.9 hectares site.
Now that permission has been granted for Pilgrim’s Quarter, the developers have said they intend to step up the pace of work on the development and start building the nine-storey, 463,000 sq ft office scheme. They hope to be finished and the building occupied by 2027. Even before the plans were submitted, a deal had been struck with HMRC to occupy the site on a 25-year lease, moving 9,000 Government workers from their current head office in Longbenton to Newcastle city centre and the Pilgrim’s Quarter Building.
Bringing HMRC into the city centre is fantastic news for the city. The agreement will cement the Department’s historic links with Newcastle for another 25 years, making Newcastle the HMRC’s single largest base in the UK. When complete, the whole Pilgrim Street site will employ 15,000 workers. To put this in perspective, Newcastle currently has in the region of 75,000 officebased workers across the entire city centre, with this development alone boosting numbers by 20%.
