Another prominent Newcastle building is being torn down to make way for the biggest office development in the city centre’s history.
Demolition crews have begun to dismantle Bamburgh House, in Market Street, as the massive clearance works in the heart of the city continue. The nine-storey building, which was home to art studios and other cultural organisations, is the latest to be pulled down under plans for a £155m HMRC office complex.
A huge plot of land at the north end of Pilgrim Street is being totally transformed so it can house Pilgrim’s Quarter, where thousands of civil servants working in Longbenton and Washington are due to be relocated to by 2027. Already disappeared from the city centre under earlier phases of the redevelopment are the former Stack shipping container venue, the Dex car park and the brutalist Commercial Union House.
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Images captured on Monday afternoon show how Bamburgh House is now too in the process of being reduced to rubble.
The art deco façade of the neighbouring Carliol House has been surrounded by a cage of scaffolding in order to protect its historic frontage during the demolition.
That grade II listed site, built by the architects behind the British Museum, will have its exterior prominent dome retained and incorporated into the new HMRC offices, but its interior will be torn down.
Heritage bodies had complained earlier this year that “substantial and irreversible” damage was being done to the 1920s building and their concerns meant that Newcastle City Council’s approval of the Reuben-brothers led plans for Pilgrim’s Quarter had to be referred to the Government for final sign-off, but local government secretary Michael Gove decided not to call in the planning application.
When complete, the giant office building will stand at between six and nine storeys tall and wrap all the way around Pilgrim Street, Market Street, New Bridge Street West and John Dobson Street.
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