Newcastle City Council get keys to Northern Rock Tower

Oct 28 2009 by Amy Hunt, The Journal

A MULTI-MILLION pound deal to buy the Northern Rock Tower has been finalised.

Newcastle City Council has been handed the keys to the Gosforth office block for which it paid a rumoured £22m.

From now on the nine-storey tower, which has never been used, will be known as Partnership House.

From the start of next year, it will be filled with more than 1,000 staff working for the Real Partnership, a link-up between the city council and green support services firm eaga.

It is a move which council bosses say will secure around 2,000 jobs and create hundreds more, as well as bringing investment into the city.

It is six months since the city council’s decision-making executive gave the go-ahead for officers to borrow cash to buy the building at Regent Centre and rent it out to eaga.

Work is now set to start on fitting out the offices ready for staff to move in straight after the Christmas and New Year break.

Ray Ward of the city council, who is also Real Partnership chief executive, said: “We’re absolutely delighted this deal has been done and we can’t wait to get staff in there.

“This is a commercial deal, a sound investment and it works from many angles. It is about retention and creation of jobs and we hope it will stimulate the local economy, including the commercial property market, and give confidence.”