Partner Article

Business school breaks ground on brewery

Newcastle University Business School and property group Downing have set the ball rolling on the new £200 million Downing Plaza development as work begins today on the demolition of the former Scottish and Newcastle Brewery site.

The former bottling plant will be flattened to make way for a new 600,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme, a large portion of which will house Newcastle University Business School’s headquarters.

Professor John Leopold, Acting Director and Head of Newcastle University Business School said: “We are very pleased that work is progressing on the site. The cosmopolitan surroundings of the city centre are vital for the School as it enables students and our staff alike to engage with the local business community. “Our relocation to such a prestigious building is a mark of just one of the great things in the pipeline for Newcastle University Business School as we move forward into the future.”

The plans for Downing Plaza were developed over four years of consultation with Newcastle City Council, CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) and a nine-month public consultation exercise.

George Tyson of Downing, said: “After four years of planning it is very satisfying to begin work with a major tenant already on board. We’re looking forward to seeing Downing Plaza act as a catalyst for positive change in this area of the city centre, linking to the exciting proposals for Science City.”

The deal with the University means that half of the commercial element of the scheme is already taken, with the remaining 100,000 sq ft to be released to the market shortly.

Downing Plaza will feature a four star hotel, a student village, residential apartments, retail space, and 200,000 sq ft of offices, across six new buildings. The scheme represented the largest planning application to be lodged in Newcastle since 1973.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .