A North-East development company has unveiled its latest office scheme aimed at kick-starting the re-development of a neglected industrial quayside.
Partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the Homes and Communities Agency and the North-East Local Enterprise Partnership’s North-East Investment Fund, the Blyth Workspace project is being masterminded by Arch, an independent development company established by Northumberland County Council.
Slated for completion early next year, the multi-million pound serviced offices are being built at Commissioners Quay, on the waterfront at the Port of Blyth, and is part of the organisation’s wider efforts to regenerate the Blyth Estuary Enterprise Zone and the nearby town centre.
Award-winning Xsite Architecture has produced a revival blueprint for the five-acre Commissioners Quay site, with the four-storey Blyth Workspace offices as the centrepiece and its first phase development. “This is a flagship project for the area,” explained Arch Group managing director, Peter McIntyre.
“The new workspace will be central to the wider regeneration of the quay. Our aim is to offer high-quality, serviced office accommodation to attract businesses in the energy sector, which will add an exciting new dimension to the site and the wider development of the Blyth Estuary.”
With stunning views across the estuary, the 30,000sq ft Workspace building will offer flexible accommodation from start-up space of 215sq ft to offices of over 1,076sq ft for more established businesses. As well as reception facilities, tenants will also be able to use the conference rooms and informal meeting spaces.
Local businessman Michael Bellamy is a North-East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) board member. “This is an important new development for Northumberland and the wider LEP area,” he explained.
“It fits the LEP’s priorities well, by assisting in the development of the enterprise zone site at the Port of Blyth and bringing superb office space close to the waterfront, designed to attract new inward investors in the offshore, marine and energy sectors. The North-East Investment Fund is ideal for projects such as this, which aim to regenerate and attract new life, jobs and investment to underused land.”
The North-East Investment Fund is a £55m loan fund managed by the North-East LEP. It has already invested £25m in local projects and is actively looking for new investments projects across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham.
Arch’s latest development is next to Blyth’s acclaimed National Renewable Energy Centre, itself being promoted as a future operational and maintenance centre for offshore wind developments or a research and development base supporting the renewable energy market.
Improvement work to the town’s two dock fronts — Commissioners Quay and Dun Cow Quay — started in 2011 with the demolition of redundant buildings. The office-led regeneration will eventually be supplemented with new housing, shopping and leisure facilities.
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