Partnership House

Partnership House is a landmark tower office building in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. It is located within the Regent Centre business park, and was originally built to act as the main entrance and landmark building within the headquarters complex of the Northern Rock bank, prior to its near-collapse and nationalisation. It lies in the West Gosforth council ward. The building is owned by the local council, Newcastle City Council, whereas the majority of the Regent Centre buildings are owned by Omnia.

Partnership House
Partnership House, during the final stages of construction in 2008.
Former namesNorthern Rock Tower,
The Tower
General information
TypeOffices
AddressRegent Farm Road,
Gosforth,
Newcastle upon Tyne,
United Kingdom
Coordinates55.0105°N 1.6256°W / 55.0105; -1.6256
Current tenantsClifford Chance
Astrium Services
Wood Group
Ubisoft Reflections
Construction started2006
CompletedNovember 2008
InauguratedOctober 2009
Cost£35 million
ClientNorthern Rock
OwnerNewcastle City Council
Technical details
Floor count10
Design and construction
Architecture firmRed Box Architecture
Main contractorTaylor Woodrow

The council bought the building, initially known as The Tower, for £22 million, and it is currently leased to a number of companies including Astrium Services, Wood Group and Ubisoft Reflections.[1]

History

The 1960s Northern Rock Tower

In the 1960s, a 10-storey tower building was constructed for the newly formed Northern Rock Building Society in Gosforth.[2][3] This became the focal point of the Fordgate Group's Regent Centre complex in Newcastle upon Tyne. The Northern Rock Building Society was formed in 1965 as a result of the merger of Northern Counties Permanent Building Society (established in 1850) and Rock Building Society (established in 1865). Although not technically a part of Regent Centre, the Northern Rock buildings are adjacent to the complex.

During the 1990s, the expanding building society built two new buildings at its Northern Rock House site in Gosforth; the Kielder and Prudhoe buildings.[4][5] By the late 1990s, along with many other building societies, the Northern Rock Building Society decided to demutualise, and become a bank. After becoming a bank Northern Rock began to grow quickly. This growth in business created the need for more buildings at its headquarters in Gosforth, so two sandstone and glass buildings were erected in the early 2000s.[6][7]

Northern Rock also had customer contact centre operations at both Doxford International Business Park in Sunderland and at its head office. The bank was also developing a site at Rainton Bridge, which was sold to npower.[8]

The 2000s tower

In 2004 the bank unveiled its plans for a new building to replace the ageing 1960s tower.[3] The planning application was submitted to Newcastle City Council by Red Box Design Group on 13 September 2004, and the decision to grant the application was made on 17 January 2006.[9] The branch of the bank located in the original tower building was closed on 16 July 2005, to allow for the demolition.[10]

In early 2006 the 1960s tower building was demolished by Thompsons of Prudhoe,[11] and building work began on its replacement building in June 2006. Building the new tower was the final phase of the redevelopment of the Gosforth site. The design for this new tower was similar to the sandstone and glass buildings built in the early 2000s. The Red Box Design Group has been involved with the development of all of the currently standing buildings for the bank.[12]

The new 10-storey building cost £35 million.[13][14] Taylor Woodrow was the main contractor, and companies such as Desco[15] and Red Box Architecture[16] were involved with the design and construction. The building has been designed to achieve an "Excellent" BREEAM rating. The tower has a semi circular floor plate containing flexible open plan space and external roof top hospitality facilities.

After the bank's nationalisation

In September 2007 Northern Rock received emergency liquidity support from the Bank of England, due to problems stemming from the subprime mortgage crisis. After the press reported the news, a bank run commenced, where scared customers began to pull their money out of the bank. Private bids for the bank failed, and eventually in February 2008, the bank was nationalised. At the time of its nationalisation, the bank was midway through construction of the 10-storey tower which was intended to create 1500 jobs, and act as the main entrance and focal point of the company headquarters.

The nationalisation led to the company deciding to downsize, including job cubs and deciding to put this new tower building up for let or sale, as the additional space had become surplus to requirements.[17][18] The company's other site at Rainton Bridge was also to be sold or let to a third party.[19]

The new tower block, simply known as The Tower,[20] was completed in November 2008.[21] The Tower which had a Restaurant area on the ground floor and coffee shop facilities on first floor, had a total lettable area of 120,023sq ft. Gavin Black & Partners and GVA Lamb & Edge were appointed as the joint sole agents for the property.[22] At November 2009 the lease for the building stood at £2.25 million a year.[23]

Sale to the council and leasing

Newcastle City Council proposed to spend £22 million purchasing the building, and will let it out to another firm, a company set up by the council with support services firm Eaga, on a 25-year lease.[23][24][25][26] A maturity loan over 40 years from the Public Works Loan Board with a predicted interest rate of less than 4.5% will be taken out by the council.[27] The council expect to make money from leasing the building, in excess of the amount that they paid for it. One floor of the building was sub-let back to the council by Eaga (as of 2013 the council has been removed from the building signage).

However, in May 2009, the plans of the Liberal Democrat Council to buy the Tower were thrown into doubt. This was due to Northern Rock deciding to defer their decision to sell the building, as well as opposition from the local Labour Party.[28] On 12 May The Journal newspaper reported that the Northern Rock board had approved the deal, that the Labour opposition had been quelled. This was after a report refuting Labour's claims was put before two scrutiny panels, and that a motion to send the decision back for further discussions was defeated by seven votes to six, at the Civic Centre.[29]

In October 2009 the council completed their purchase of the Tower, and renamed it as Partnership House. As of January 2010 there was around a thousand workers in the offices at Partnership House for the "Real Partnership" - a partnership between the City Council and Eaga.[30] It was officially opened by Peter Mandelson.[31] Eaga was bought by Carillion soon after moving into the building. The multinational Carillion later found themselves in financial difficulty and Partnership House began to be let to a number of different companies from different industry segments.

In January 2013 Astrium Services moved into level 9.[32] In March 2013 Wood Group moved into levels 6 and 7, relocating staff from nearby Northumbria House.[32] In 2013 the NHS logo was added to the building signage. Games studio Ubisoft Reflections has taken 30,000 sq ft over two floors.[33] In May 2016 Cundall moved from the nearby Horsley House into the level 4 of Partnership House.[34]

Interior dimensions

The building has the following approximate net lettable floor areas:[22]

Level M2
9 598
8 0
7 1,380
6 1,380
5 1,380
4 1,380
3 1,380
2 1,356
1 1,150
0 1,146
Total 11,150
  • The 1960s building (1969)
  • The demolition of the 1960s building (February 2006)
  • The Tower under construction (April 2007)
  • The Tower under construction (September 2007)
  • The Tower under construction (March 2008)

References
  1. "Newcastle City Council get keys to Northern Rock Tower". The Journal. 2009-10-28. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  2. Erection of 10 storey office building and 2 storey entrance block, following demolition of existing 10 storey office building and 2 storey entrance building; erection of 6 storey car park and alterations to landscaping and surface parking - Ref. No: 2004/2104/01/DET - Newcastle City Council Planning Application
  3. "Bank unveils tower revamp plans". BBC News. 2004-11-18. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  4. "Northern Rock 1994". Red Box Architecture. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  5. "Northern Rock". Cundall. Archived from the original on 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  6. "Northern Rock Campus Development Phase 2". Red Box Architecture. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  7. "Northern Rock 2005". Red Box Architecture. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  8. "Rainton Bridge". Rainton Bridge. Archived from the original on 2008-12-12. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  9. 2004/2104/01/DET - Erection of 10 storey office building and 2 storey entrance block, following demolition of existing 10 storey office building and 2 storey entrance building; erection of 6 storey car park and alterations to landscaping and surface parking, Newcastle City Council
  10. Letter to customers, Northern Rock, 2005-05-17
  11. "Northern Rock Update". Thompsons of Prudhoe. Archived from the original on 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  12. "Northern Rock Building Society Headquarters 1992". Red Box Architecture. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  13. "Northern Rock - Phase 4". Red Box Architecture. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  14. "Northern Rock Tower 2008". Red Box Architecture. Archived from the original on February 15, 2009. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  15. "Northern Rock - Phase 5 2005-2008". Desco. Archived from the original on 2006-11-09. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  16. "Northern Rock Tower". Red Box Architecture. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  17. "Northern Rock tower may be sold, bank boss admits". The Northern Echo. 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  18. "Northern Rock redundancy consultation ends". Northern Rock. 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  19. "Redundant Northern Rock staff leave". The Press Association. 2008-08-29. Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
  20. "Tower becomes cornerstone of campus". Red Box Design Group. 2008-11-28. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  21. "It's boom time for Northern Rock". Evening Chronicle. 2007-07-25. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  22. "The Tower Gosforth" (PDF). Gavin Black. 2008-10-24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  23. "2,300 jobs for Northern Rock tower as Newcastle Council agrees deal". The Journal. 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
  24. "Newcastle Council spends £22m on Northern Rock's Tower". Property Week. 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
  25. "Council buys Northern Rock Tower". BBC News. 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  26. "New offices for eaga". eaga. 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  27. "Newcastle council says Northern Rock tower deal will make money". The Journal. 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
  28. "Plan to buy Northern Rock tower in doubt". The Journal. 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  29. "Northern Rock tower deal will go ahead despite opposition". The Journal. 2009-05-12. Retrieved 2009-05-12.
  30. "Newcastle City Council partnership with eaga launched". The Journal. 2009-10-09. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  31. Minchin, Rod (2009-10-23). "Mandelson denies orchestrating postal strike". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  32. "Partnership House proves popular". NE Business. 2013-06-12. Retrieved 2013-06-25.
  33. "Reflections takes 30,000 sq ft in Gosforth". Property Week. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  34. "The Newcastle office has moved - Cundall". Cundall. 3 May 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
Northern Rock and Regent Centre
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