The city centre headquarters of Newcastle Building Society is likely to turned into office space after being sold to a newly-formed development group.
Portland House Developments Limited, which has a registered address in Newcastle, and funding partners AHCS One Limited, which is based in Oxfordshire, have acquired the building on New Bridge Street. Both companies were formed shortly before Christmas last year.
The developer says it will provide more than 60,000 square feet of flexible high quality refurbished accommodation.
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Newcastle Building Society announced in December that it was quitting its city centre headquarters after the pandemic saw many of its staff switch to working from home.
The society will move its headquarters to its offices on the Cobalt business park in North Tyneside which it bought in 2017.
The redevelopment of the site comes as there is significant uncertainty over the future of Newcastle and other city centres, with fewer office firms likely to want centralised office space.
Newcastle City Council has outlined £50m plans to revitalise the area in response to the challenges facing retail and office businesses.
A spokesperson for Portland House Developments said: “It has been a pleasure to deal with Newcastle Building Society and their agents BNP Paribas Real Estate who, along with our representatives Sanderson Weatherall, made the whole transaction process effortless."
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Newcastle Building Society chief executive Andrew Haigh said: “Portland House has served us well for over 25 years, but it no longer forms part of our property strategy. We look forward to seeing its redevelopment contribute to new opportunities for the city.”
Portland House, which sits opposite Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery, includes a 19th century maternity hospital designed by famed architect John Dobson. The building was later the local headquarters of the BBC and was used during the filming of the Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake.
Portland House Developments said its refurbishment of the site would add “add much needed prime office space to the market and provide a unique opportunity for a range of occupiers looking to establish themselves in Newcastle’s city centre”.