Regent Centre
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Regent Centre is a large business park in the Gosforth area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The Centre is currently home to a variety of companies, including banking group Northern Rock who have located their Head Office on the site. The Centre has its own transport interchange; comprising of a Metro station, as well as a medium-sized bus station.
North British Properties started to build Regent Centre in the 1960s. The current owner-developer is the Fordgate Group. Regent Centre houses the Newcastle regional centre for the Open University as well as the Regional HQ of HM Revenue & Customs. Other tenants include the Entec, Imass, Labour Party, The Regent Sandwich Shop and Gleeds. A notable former tenant was The Sage Group.
Within walking distance of Regent Centre Metro, there is a DHS Head Office, Gosforth High School, Gosforth Library and Customer Service Centre, Northern Rock Head Office and Gosforth Leisure Centre, comprising several amenities including swimming pools and gym. There is also an ASDA superstore close by, which in mid 2007 had an extension built which houses a Restaurant. Gosforth High Street is also within a few minutes walk.
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[edit] New developments
There are many current developments in and around Regent Centre. As of March 2008 the new Northern Rock Building and Regent Point are under construction.
[edit] Regent Point
Planning applications were recently granted to expand and modernise a large section of the Regent Centre site, which is adjacent to the Metro line. In April 2007, building work began on this area of land which is also called Regent Point. It will be a four story office building with a glazed corner tower and modelled to be similar to the existing Regent Centre buildings.
This plot was vacant from many years, as the original regent centre building which occupied it was demolished in 1999. There have been many different accepted plans for this site, including plans for a 5 story building in 1998. In 2004 there were plans for a 7 story building with retail space on the ground floor, however these plans were withdrawn in July 2005.
[edit] Northern Rock
The focal point of Regent Centre since 1965[1] had been Northern Rock's old tower 7 storey building. In early 2006 this building was demolished by Thompsons of Prudhoe[2] and building work began on its replacement building in late 2006. Two of Northern Rocks other buildings on the site were completed in the 1990s, two further buildings were built in the early 2000s.
The new building will be 10 storeys high and cost £35 million is to be completed in 2008. Taylor Woodrow, Desco[3] and Red Box Architecture[4] are involved with the design and construction.
[edit] References
- ^ Bank unveils tower revamp plans. BBC News (2004-11-18). Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
- ^ Northern Rock Update. Thompsons of Prudhoe. Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
- ^ Northern Rock - Phase 5 2005-2008. Desco. Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
- ^ Northern Rock Tower. Red Box Architecture. Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
[edit] External links
[edit] Historic photographs
- Photograph of Northern Rock Building, 1969 at Newcastle libraries service
- Photograph of Regent Centre, 1977 at Newcastle libraries service
- Northern Rock plc Head Office, 2000 photo 1, photo 2, photo 3 at Newscast