The first building on Newcastle’s Science Central development will open next week, creating or re-locating more than 350 hi-tech jobs to Tyneside.
The Core, on the old Newcastle Breweries site, has been 90% let before its opening, with a number of small and medium-sized companies in the science and technology sectors attracted to the science campus being developed by Newcastle City Council and Newcastle University.
Among the companies taking up residence in the block are firms working in urban eco-systems, transport and energy consultants and a company creating movement sensors which has re-located from York.
The building has cost £11.2m to build, with funding from the council, the European Regional Development Fund and the Regional Growth Fund. It is the first building to be completed on the former Breweries site as it is transformed into a 24-acre science campus.
Ahead of its opening next week, Newcastle Council leader Nick Forbes said: “The opening of this building is yet another major signal of the confidence that is building in this part of the city. It symbolises the birth of the first new quarter in Newcastle for several decades and will bring hundreds of high quality jobs as well as much needed affordable housing.
“The majority of the space in The Core has been pre-let before it’s opened and that shows there is a demand and confidence that this is the place to be. This building will be hugely important in putting Newcastle on the map nationally and internationally.”
Fiona Standfield, director of Newcastle Science City, added: “It’s a really exciting moment for all of us who’ve been involved in the project from Science City and the university. We’re going to be moving into this building and it’s a seminal moment after all the work that’s been going on on the site.
“For many of the businesses that are locating into The Core, the real attraction of coming here was the opportunity to work with the university and access its research excellence. We think that’s going to be a real draw to this site.”
The Core is the first building to open on the Science Central campus, the main site of Newcastle’s Science City initiative first announced by then Chancellor Gordon Brown in 2004.
Building work is ongoing on the rest of the site, with plans for nationally significant new research facilities also on the former breweries land.
Last year Newcastle University said it would be investing £58m in the site and building it into a world leading research centre on sustainability and smart cities.
Sustainbility is at the heart of The Core, with a four-storey living wall, bee hotels, rainwater harvesting and a series of adjoining public squares.
