£30m plan for eyesore site
Dec 19 2007 by Graeme King, The Journal
THE end of a decade-long regeneration story seems to be in sight at last as new plans for a £30m office block on the site of the hated Westgate House are put forward.
Developer Centreland has worked with architect Carey Jones to come up with the 70,000sq ft scheme, which would cover both the Westgate House site and that of Norwich Union House next door.
The plans have just been submitted to Newcastle City Council and the developers hope to get builders on site by the end of next year.
A deal has been struck between Centreland, owner of Norwich Union House, and development agency One NorthEast, which controls the Westgate House site, to combine the two to build one scheme. The deal would see ownership of the whole site pass to Centreland once the building was complete.
Centreland has not yet published an image of the building but The Journal understands it would resemble the apartments and bar/restaurant scheme approved for the site in April 2005. Since that planning decision was taken, Centreland and One NorthEast have wrangled over the value of the combined site.
And while the agency spent £1m removing Westgate House from the skyline, Centreland has dragged its feet on demolition of Norwich Union House and was even said to be considering refurbishment of its dated building.
The five-storey replacement, to be known as 44 Westgate, would contain nearly 65,000sq ft of high-specification offices which agent King Sturge hopes will set a new record for office rents in Newcastle.
The ground floor is proposed to contain 4,200sq ft of shop or restaurant space.
Architect Carey Jones has previously worked on the award-winning Central Square South building, 500 yards from the Westgate House site.
The new scheme would provide substantially less floorspace than the plans two years ago, which contained 100,000sq ft of flats and 10,570sq ft of retail space.
A Centreland Group spokesman said: “We are excited about the proposals for the former Westgate House site.” Partner in charge of King Sturge’s Newcastle office, Jonathan Sykes, said: “We believe the building’s high specification will set a new standard for city centre office development.”
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