The biggest office ever created on Tyneside – with room for 9,000 workers – is taking shape in the heart of Newcastle, a new bird’s eye image of the site reveals.
HMRC announced in November 2021 that Pilgrim’s Quarter, part of the Pilgrim Street development, would become a Government hub and the new home for HM Revenue and Customs in the North East. As well as being the largest office in Newcastle, the building will be the largest of HMRC’s 14 regional centres at 463,000 sq ft, providing office accommodation for approximately 9,000 HMRC staff.
Visitors to the city centre can now see real signs of progress on the construction of the complex, based in the northern block of the Pilgrim Street regeneration project. Demolition and enabling works started in late 2021 and a ground-breaking ceremony in June 2022 marked the start of the new building works. A new building core is rising above the city skyline, while a second core is also complete to ground level, along with new retaining walls marking the Pilgrim Street frontage.
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The completed building will incorporate the Grade II Listed façade of Carliol House, which is thought to be one of the largest façade retentions in the country, with a significant steel structure temporarily supporting the Portland stonework. The dome structure on the Carliol House/Market Street junction has been temporarily removed and will be reinstated, later in the construction project.
The Ryder Architecture-designed Pilgrim’s Quarter complex is being developed and funded by Reuben Brothers (Newcastle) Ltd and Bowmer and Kirkland (B+K) is the main contractor, at the HMRC scheme as well as at the soon to be completed Bank House, in the southern Pilgrim Street block.
The Reuben Brothers group of companies has also invested heavily across Newcastle city centre by acquiring Monument Mall, Central Exchange Buildings and, most recently retail on premises on Grainger Street. The group is also a stakeholder in Newcastle United Football Club, and also own Newcastle racecourse, as well as both Newcastle and Sunderland greyhound stadia.
Commercial, town planning, development, agency and property management are being provided by Avison Young, while engineering input is by Cundall.
Ed Besford, regional director at Bowmer and Kirkland, said. “We are delighted to have been appointed to construct this prestigious project. We have a dedicated, experienced team who are excited and proud to be working on this scheme, which will bring so much to the City of Newcastle, both in terms of construction jobs and future opportunities for the local workforce.”
Chris Turnbull of Avison Young, project manager for the scheme, said: “We are pleased with the progress on the project which has involved extensive demolition and clearance works in advance of the new build construction. To put this in context, Pilgrim’s Quarter is believed to be one of the largest single occupier building projects within the UK.”
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