Newcastle City Council get keys to Northern Rock Tower

Oct 28 2009 By Amy Hunt, The Journal

When the deal was announced in April, critics said the council should not get involved in buying property and raised fears that preventing a private investor from buying the tower could undermine buyer confidence.

But the council’s chief executive Barry Rowland said: "This will bring into use what is a first-class empty building, there’s an opportunity for eaga to grow their business here in Newcastle, which will bring significant new jobs.

"It’s something I believe local authorities should be involved in where it makes sense.

"It is important to not just sit back and wait for the upturn to come. We are using our ability to invest to secure and create jobs and stimulate growth in the wider economy and to help the city region through a very challenging time."

Last week business secretary Lord Mandelson visited Partnership House to hear about the shared services firm set up by the city council and eaga.

The company will aim to land £45m worth of contracts to provide public sector services such as payroll, benefits, council tax payments, IT and customer service over the next two years by tapping into a market worth £7bn.

The 125,000sqft office block, completed last November at a cost of £25m, was built to house 1,500 of Northern Rock’s staff but was never used as the bank was nationalised and cut its workforce.