Newcastle city centre revamp: What next after the Stack closure?

Newcastle city centre is set for some dramatic changes with the arrival of a new £155m office complex that will house thousands of government staff.

City councillors gave their backing last week to the massive Pilgrim’s Quarter development, which will be HMRC’s new base in the North East.

More than 9,000 jobs are set to move from the current offices in Longbenton and Washington to the city centre headquarters, which will take over a huge patch of land around Pilgrim Street, John Dobson Street, Market Street, and New Bridge Street West.

Its impending construction is the reason that the Stack closed for the last time over the Bank Holiday weekend, with huge crowds packing out the popular shipping container venue to bid it farewell.

Pilgrim’s Quarter will encompass that site, which was formerly home to the Odeon Cinema, and that of the demolished Dex Car Garage. Commercial Union House and Bamburgh House will also be torn down to make way for the gigantic office complex, as will the interior of the grade II listed Carliol House – though its Art Deco façade will be retained.

A series of before and after photos, shown to members of Newcastle City Council’s planning committee at a hearing last Friday, reveal just how striking the area’s transformation will be.

They illustrate how the new offices, which will stand between six and nine storeys tall, will look from nearby locations in the city centre – including the bottom of Northumberland Street, Blackett Street, and the Blue Carpet.

While the Reuben Brothers’ project still requires final approval from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, it is expected to be built by 2027 and will be the biggest office development in the history of the city centre.

That extra sign-off following the city council’s unanimous approval last week is needed due to objections from heritage organisations, including Historic England and the Twentieth Century Society, fearful of the impact on Carliol House.

Tim Wickens, of the Northumberland and Newcastle Society, told the local authority’s planning committee that the harm done to the listed building, in Market Street, would be “substantial and irreversible” and said he believed it possible to integrate its interior into a new development too.

Ryder Architecture’s Ian Kennedy responded that developers had tested out options to retain most of the building, which has been largely unoccupied for 12 years, but that it was deemed unsuitable for HMRC’s modern needs because of big differences in its floor levels compared to the rest of the new offices.

He added that Pilgrim’s Quarter would be a “high quality addition to the city centre, acting as a gateway to the regenerated Pilgrim Street and as a catalyst for further regeneration and economic growth”.