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Regeneration of Durham city's Riverside under way

A multi-million pound development has kicked off in Durham city centre.

Durham Riverside Renewal, a project to regenerate part of Durham’s Riverside and retain 800 jobs in the city centre, has begun with the construction of a new development at Freeman’s Reach.

The project will see the creation of new high quality offices for National Savings and Investments (NS&I).

NS&I will relocate from its current home on the opposite side of the river in Milburngate House, ensuring that these important high value jobs remain in Durham City Centre.

The first phase of the development is planned for completion in 2015 and will become home to 395 employees from NS&I.

Allan Cook, from Arlington Real Estate, said: “Having worked on the project for a number of years we are very excited to now be moving into the delivery phase, marking a new chapter in history of Durham City and in particular the Riverside.”

The development consortium behind the project, Carillion Developments, part of Carillion plc, local property business Arlington Real Estate and Richardsons Capital LLP, have assembled an experienced team of experts to deliver the project, which includes a strong mix of skills from the North East.

Over the build period alone the project will support in the region of 300 construction jobs.

Carillion Building is now on site and is currently in the process of letting subcontractor agreements that will all play a part in the delivery of Freeman’s Reach as well as help boost the local economy.

Neil McMillan, director of Carillion Developments, said: “Freeman’s Reach will prove to be a catalyst for regeneration in Durham City, not only on this site, but for other future developments in the city.”

Already a number of County Durham based-contractors have been engaged on the project including MGL Demolition, Oliver’s Tree Services from Whitton Gilbert, and Lyndon Scaffolding of Newton Aycliffe.

As well as providing 8,000 square metres of high-quality office space, Freeman’s Reach will add to the city’s visitor experience, particularly for those arriving by coach, as the development offers the opportunity to provide a small riverside restaurant/café and visitor kiosk.

The project will retain the historic process of capturing the energy of the River Wear, bringing it into the 21st Century.

The energy centre will generate enough power to provide more than 75 per cent of the development’s requirements putting the scheme at the very forefront of the sustainable development arena.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .