2,300 jobs for Northern Rock tower as Newcastle Council agrees deal

Apr 22 2009 by Amy Hunt, The Journal

A DEAL has been struck to buy the empty Northern Rock Tower. It is understood Newcastle City Council is set to borrow around £22m to buy the tower block in Gosforth.

The office complex is earmarked to house staff working for a company set up by the council with support services firm eaga, in a move which city chiefs believe will bring a massive boost to the local economy.

The city council’s decision-making executive will be asked to rubber-stamp plans to buy the tower and lease it to eaga at a meeting tonight. It is thought the purchase of the never-used building from the Rock would be the biggest property deal done by a council since the start of the economic downturn.

Barry Rowland, acting chief executive of Newcastle City Council, said: “It is important to not just sit back and wait for the upturn to come. We are using our ability to invest to secure and create jobs and stimulate growth in the wider economy and to help the city region through a very challenging time.”

The 125,000sqft tower, completed in November last year at a cost of £25m, was built to house 1,500 of the Rock’s staff.

But when the bank was nationalised and slashed its workforce from 6,000 to 4,500, the tower became surplus to requirements and no workers ever moved in.