Bar and nightclub designer targets international…

Bar and nightclub designer targets international growth with promises of Newcastle jobs

A Newcastle bar and hospitality interior design company has set its sights on international work that could bring new jobs to the city.

Collaborative Design, whose managing director Chris Sutton is behind the look of prominent nightclubs such as Tup Tup Palace, expects to grow its workforce of designers, marketers and architects from 11 to 20 by the end of the year. The firm says that, via sister company Bilateral Design Limited, it is currently negotiating a contract on a large hotel resort off the coast of Africa, which could be worth more than £48m ($60m).

If successful, Collaborative Design says it will carry out the majority of the work which could take up to four years and provide capital to fuel the firm's expansion at home and abroad. And building on work to deliver pop-up venues such as the Newcastle Central Station-based Lazy Bear, Urban Garden and Jesmond Beach Box, the firm is also eyeing expansion in the UK festival market.

Over the past two decades, Mr Sutton has designed some of Newcastle's key bars, clubs and restaurants, including Gosforth’s Barluga - which is located within the walls of a converted church. Mr Sutton said: "With a good budget and an amazing space of a converted church, we were given free rein to create the new incarnation of the Barluga brand, receiving accolades and a nomination for Bar/Restaurant of the year at the Northern Design awards."

He also delivered the original design for Tup Tup Palace and has worked with the venue's owners since to reinvent the space. Collaborative Design, which started in 2016, is also behind the Loja Lounge on the club's first floor and its previous iteration as 'TheCut'.

Mr Sutton, who started his career designing bars, restaurants and other social spaces at the BBC Television Centre before moving to nightclub design firm GMP, added: “I created the original concept for Tup Tup Palace 15 years ago. Changing it from Bar M as it was back then into the now, Tup Tup Palace, which has remained the most successful late-night venue in the Northeast ever since, since then I have worked on the club, updating and reinventing it, on an almost yearly basis."

The interior in Tup Tup Palace, which Collaborative Design delivered. (Collaborative Design)

Collaborative Design has helped clients source potential sites before producing surveys, plans and advised on licence applications and then devising concepts for the venue. From artists impressions and walk-through animations, the firm then produces drawings for shop fitting specialists to work from.

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