Newcastle-based property developers Adderstone Group has secured planning permission to build a series of offices in Gateshead as the the second phase of its Saltwell Business Park scheme.
Started in 2009, the initial redevelopment of the Joicey Road Open Air School site involved the refurbishment of the dilapidated Grade II listed school building and its conversion to office space and a purpose-built children’s nursery. Two of the first businesses to take up space were engineers Advanced Cutting Tools and JC Consulting, a non-aligned financial planning practice.
The second phase, targeted at start-ups and small to medium-sized companies and expected to be completed early next year, involves the construction of four two-storey office or studio blocks and associated parking.
“We are keen to press ahead with the second phase of this development, especially after the strong success of the initial stage, so we’re keen to partner up with SMEs who are looking to establish themselves in this area for the long term and who will add value to the locality through employment and investment,” said the Adderstone Group’s founder and chief executive officer, Ian Baggett.
Within walking distance of Tyneside’s Metro network and with easy access to the A1, all the 12,000sq ft units have been designed to maximise flexibility. Tenants will have the opportunity to take differing amounts of space depending upon their requirements.
Although badly neglected until its conversion by Adderstone, Gateshead’s Joicey Road School received its protected status not just for its design — built east to west on a sloping site to maximise sunlight — but because it was one of Britain’s few surviving schools built in the mid-1930s by the open air movement to combat the rise of urban tuberculosis. Classes were conducted outside whenever possible and the classrooms, with folding windows on three sides, were only used in times of bad weather.
Founded in 2001 by former Durham University student Baggett, the Adderstone Group is one of the largest property businesses in the North-East, with a £30m development portfolio and more than £100m assets under management. It has also diversified into five different divisions — property development, construction, property management, block management and property trading — which last year generated a combined profit of £950,000 from an increased turnover up from £3.8m to £20m.
In November Adderstone sold off two of its subsidiaries, UK Ground Rent Estates Ltd and UK Ground Rent Estates (2) Ltd for £17m in one of the region’s biggest property transactions. Within days the company heard it had won an 18-month battle for permission to build premium offices next to the Tyne Bridge on Gateshead’s Quayside.
