Plans for a £200m leisure, retail and residential development in Newcastle city centre have been revealed.
The plans put forward by the British Virgin Islands-registered Taras Properties would be the final stage of its Pilgrim Street development, which took a step forward last week when plans for a massive office block on the former Bank of England building were approved.
Now CGIs for the top end of the site - currently occupied by the Stack Newcastle shipping container village until 2022 - have been revealed.
The drawings by Newcastle’s Ryder Architecture reveal that the city’s former police and fire station is set to be converted fpr leisure use, while Carliol House will be turned into a hotel with up to 250 bedrooms.
There would also be retail units and a new-build residential building providing homes for more than 300 people.
Before this part of the scheme goes before planners, Taras Properties - owned by the billionaire Reuben Brothers - is scheduled to start building Bank House early next year.
A further application will be made later this year to develop the rest of the Bank Square site, adding a further 400,000sqft of office space and retail space with a subterranean car park, on the site of the the former Worswick Street bus station and the NCP car park on Carliol Square.
Additional designs are also being moved forward for Worswick Chambers, a listed building adjacent to Bank Square.
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Speaking after Friday’s approval of the Bank House scheme, Gordon Hewling, principal and managing director at the Newcastle office of Avison Young, said: “Achievement of planning permission for this first phase new landmark office building represents a keynote step forward for the overall East Pilgrim Street regeneration scheme, which will enhance Newcastle City Centre’s attractiveness as both a leisure and business destination.”
A spokesman for Taras Properties said: “This is a keynote decision by Newcastle City Council which cements our long term partnership with them, to secure the regeneration of this major gateway site.
“The Bank House new build project will trigger further private sector investment in the former police and fire station sites, as well as exciting new mixed use proposals for the Northern block between Market Street and New Bridge Street.”