‘Little sister’ is growing up

Mar 19 2008 by Tony Hordon DTZ Offices & Development Director, The Journal

Priestley would be impressed

THERE is a famous remark by JB Priestley that Gateshead appeared to have been invented by an enemy of the human race. Today, if Priestley took even a cursory look at Gateshead, especially Gateshead Quays, he would surely change his mind.

On the Quayside, plans for the £100m GQ2 site, featuring a cinema, four-star hotel, shops, restaurants and 324 apartments, will continue the transformation of the area.

The site, between Baltic and The Sage, is the next stage in the renaissance of Gateshead Quays which now matches its illustrious counterpart across the River Tyne.

Close by, the Baltic Business Quarter goes from strength to strength. The £39m Gateshead College has now opened and the first phase of new offices extending to 70,000 sq ft is now well under way.

Baltic Business Quarter, when completed over the next decade, will be home to over 6,000 workers and 1,600 students. The college, previously on Durham Road, is now in the heart of Gateshead’s cultural quarter alongside Baltic and The Sage.

Designed by Red Box Design Group, developed by Terrace Hill and built by Shepherd Construction, the building features specialist workshops, a 200-seat theatre, commercial salon and spa, training kitchens and conference and banqueting facilities.

Martin Vickerman from developer Terrace Hill sees the Baltic Business Quarter as a major inward investment opportunity.

He said: “This development is of national significance. It is a new urban office quarter for the Gateshead/ Newcastle conurbation, with all the space and benefits of an out-of-town business park”.

Tim Evans, of Knight Frank in Newcastle, said: “The renaissance of the Quayside both north and south has brought together Newcastle and Gateshead as “one” and this is something for all of us to celebrate.

“The brand of NewcastleGateshead is now firmly established and the two conurbations joined together make us one of the most vibrant and fastest growing urban centres in Europe”.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire-based developer Opus Land has sold the site for a new 200-bed hotel on land previously occupied by Ingersoll Rand South Shore Road, behind the Baltic car park, to Irish developers McAleer and Rushe for £5m, underpinning the value and attraction of the area.