Work on a new business centre in Newcastle city centre is nearing completion.
Hoults Yard owner HyHubs is spending £1.5m to transform the former brewery stables on St Thomas Street, with the doors set to open next month.
The development – called Haylofts – has 22 offices, seven meeting rooms and a tiered lecture space for 50 as well as broadband speeds of up to 100Gbps.
Work on the scheme has been delayed slightly by the coronavirus lockdown but finishing touches are now being made.
HyHubs’ managing-director Charlie Hoult said: “Our mission is to create ‘property with personality’ for customers – with a future-facing combination of tech and configuration.
“You can see that across Haylofts - we’ve retained great heritage features and built a super-modern pod in the glazed courtyard.
“We’ve had a slight delay with lockdown but our development team has been fantastic and are now ‘galloping on’ - builders STP, architects Xsite, project managers Silverstone, furnishings from Thomas N. Millers and Albany, tech from Aspire and Redwood.
“It’s a special place; a hidden gem and people will fall in love with the place when they come through our doors.
Most Read
“We’ve spent the last two weeks sorting our Covid-19-secure protocols for Haylofts and we’ll be open for business early next month.
“The courtyard acts as circulation space – we’ve joked ‘it’s a great place to get spaced out.’ Our other sites were open throughout the crisis and are fully adapted for social distancing.”
The stables were built for the delivery horses of Robert Deuchar Breweries in an era when the horse was ubiquitous for local transport.
Deucher’s was acquired by Newcastle Breweries in 1954 and the site was converted to workshops and office space in 1986 but has been empty since 2016. Mr Hoult added: “Haylofts couldn’t be more central – adjacent to the Haymarket transport interchange and next to Newcastle University’s main campus.
“It’s perfect for full-time employees or for a shared office environment for co-working.
“Despite the lockdown, we’ve had huge interest with six viewings in the past week, so prospective tenants need to hoof it!
“Being a city-centre location, the tech capability of the space was high on our agenda and service providers Aspire offered us their Ultrafast Dedicated Connectivity product – a clincher for some tenants.
Don’t miss
“Our offer is top tech, cool interiors and canny craic – we’ve been buzzing through lockdown and even the builders want an office here.
“We can’t wait to complete the works, open the doors and welcome workers in.”