Six weeks before the opening of its landmark incubator business hub a North-East development company has signed its first tenant.
The Blyth Workspace scheme — aimed at kick-starting the re-development of a neglected industrial quayside — is 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 and is being masterminded by Arch, an independent development company established by Northumberland County Council.
Situated at Commissioners Quay, between the Port of Blyth and the National Renewable Energy Centre, the multi-million pound building will offer a total of 21,000 sq ft of serviced offices configured to suit individual company needs.
Founded in 2013, and moving to Blyth Workspace to keep pace with a number of new contracts, public relations and marketing agency Round Table Solutions will be the first business to occupy the state-of-the-art development.
“We’ve had an eye on the building since construction started and it’s been very exciting to see how Arch has developed this fantastic, modern workplace,” explained the media firm’s head of client services, Joanne Hunter.
“Two years on from the launch of Round Table Solutions we really need larger premises to accommodate our expansion and this complex is ideal. I’m really looking forward to welcoming clients into the new office and I’m sure they’ll enjoy the space, the views and the atmosphere as much as we will,” she added.
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 new landmark workspace will be central to the wider regeneration of the quay,” said Arch Group managing director, Peter McIntyre. “Our aim is to offer high-quality, serviced office accommodation that will add an exciting new dimension to the site and the wider development of the Blyth Estuary.”
Located within an enterprise zone, allowing businesses to benefit from five years free of business rates, future Workspace tenants are also being offered professional reception services, dedicated super-fast broadband, rapid electric car charging points and round the clock security.
Dave Ledger is deputy leader of Northumberland County Council and chair of Arch. “The workspace will not only enhance the regeneration of the Blyth Estuary and provide a destination of choice on the quayside, but it will also bring jobs to the local area and is instrumental in effecting the revival of Blyth’s riverfront by creating the potential for attracting substantial inward investment,” he commented.
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.
The picture shows Joanne Hunter (left), head of client services at Round Table Solutions, accepting the keys to her firm’s new offices from Blyth Workspace manager Amy Doonan.
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