North East & Yorkshire

Designing the future

Northern Design Centre

A state-of-the-art business centre which boasts a gaming lounge, superfast broadband and free parking is opening in Gateshead.

Northern Design Centre is a four-storey development that is located in the town’s Baltic Business Quarter on Gateshead Quays. The building provides office space for new and expanding businesses, along with designated exhibition areas and bespoke conference facilities.

Additional features include 24-hour site access, fixed rental rates for 36 months and flexible terms for start-up businesses.

Work began on the £9.9m centre in November 2010. Terrace Hill Group was the developer, Tolent Construction Limited was the main contractor and Redboxdesigngroup was the architect.

The 60,000 sq ft building features a curved stainless steel mesh exterior, whilst the oval windows are nestled between gold copper panelling. The interior is mostly neutral and provides a blank canvas for the businesses that reside within the building.

American mobile application design and development agency Fueled is the latest company to have taken space in the centre after signing a three-year deal to take 452 sq ft of space.

Peter Thompson, Head of Economic Development at Gateshead Council, said:

“The Baltic Business Quarter is an emerging district for innovative and knowledge-driven businesses at the heart of the Newcastle Gateshead urban core. Boasting superfast broadband, it is set to be one of the most commercially desirable business locations in the UK.

Northern Design Centre

“There is considerable unmet demand within the region from small and medium sized businesses that are looking for larger and better premises – especially within the creative and design sectors.

“We believe that the Northern Design Centre building provides exactly the workspace that local knowledge-based companies are crying out for.”

A Terrace Hill Group spokesman said:

“The Design Centre is an important addition which will turn the Baltic Business Quarter into a vibrant and diverse business community with everything that local companies crave to make their business a success.”

The project has been awarded £4.95 million from the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Competitiveness Programme 2007-13, in addition to Single Programme Funding. The ERDF programme is bringing over £300 million into the North East to support innovation, enterprise and business support across the region.

European Union

Investing in Your Future

European Regional

Development Fund 2007-13

 

Tolent Construction Limited

Since 1983 Tolent Construction Limited has conducted a range of building and civil engineering works throughout the public and private sector. The company has offices in Yorkshire, Manchester, London, Tyneside and Teeside and handles contracts ranging from £1,000 up to £60 million.

Tolent Construction Limited prides itself on its large workforce and sees this as a major factor in maintaining its excellent safety record whilst working across projects in the industrial, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, commercial, leisure and waste sectors.

Tolent Construction Limited is a subsidiary of Tolent Plc.

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