The out-of-town office market is a well-recognised driver for growth on Teesside and Wearside.

Ongoing investment in out-of-town office space

Teesside and Wearside's office schemes continue to interest major occupiers in the out-of-town market, says Tony Wordsworth, of GVA Grimley.

PLANNING consent has been granted for the £320m regeneration of Northshore, which is set to revitalise the office market in Stockton. This joint venture between Muse Developments and Urban Splash, Northshore provides around 920,000 sq ft of riverside office accommodation in the heart of Stockton-on-Tees.

Northshore is a major mixed use development which will also include homes, retail uses, bars, cafés, restaurants, hotels and a new campus for the University of Durham, linking the town centre with the River Tees and the Infinity Bridge which opened last month.

The development is expected to create up to 4,600 jobs.

New-build offices are available for pre-letting in a range of sizes, providing bespoke buildings for single occupancy, with a focus on flexible space and high-quality design befitting its riverside location.

Aker Kvaerner’s new build office scheme at Surtees Business Park by Rokeby Developments Northern, the largest pre-let on Teesside for a decade was completed last year, soon after Student Loans’ decision to occupy office space at Lingfield Point in Darlington.

Business parks in Teesside are thriving. Teesdale, the call centre hub of the county is also the preferred location for law firms Dickinson Dees and the Endeavour Partnership.

Rokeby Developments, following its success at Surtees Business Park, has plans for a 260,000sq ft development on a 15-acre site at Queen Elizabeth Way on the Preston Farm industrial estate.

With the next phase of development at Morton Palms soon to be ready for occupation and Lingfield Point continuing to expand, the office market at Teesside has a strong choice for occupiers. The prospect of

Northshore’s significant office buildings will boost the area’s attraction to occupiers even more.

Wearside’s office market has been enhanced with the recent confirmation that npower will move more than 900 call centre workers to Rainton Bridge Business Park next year.

Rainton Bridge at Houghton-le-Spring is expected to create 4,000 jobs over the next six years. Sunderland City Council is building Software City at the park, which includes the e-volve business centre with office space to house more than 20 software businesses.

The new business park sits alongside well-established out-of-town schemes such as Doxford International Business Park and Sunderland Enterprise Park, both close to the A19. Doxford’s 50-hectare space has successfully attracted some excellent long-term occupiers.

Sunderland Enterprise Park has developed its 30-hectare waterfront site over the past two decades with 87,500sq m of offices and advanced manufacturing facilities to create a Park which encompasses large office buildings and a range of smaller units.

Wearside and Teesside have the choice and diversity of office schemes to keep potential occupiers actively investing in their future success.

Tony Wordsworth is director at GVA Grimley, Newcastle