Member Article

Apprenticeships to be created by multi-million pound Woolsington Hall redevelopment

Sir John Hall’s multi-million redevelopment of the historic Woolsington Hall into a five star hotel will create specialist apprenticeships, developers have said.

The chief executive of Sir John’s firm, Cameron Hall developments, told Bdaily the restoration and conversion of the Grade II listed, 17th Century property will require unique skills - and provide training opportunities ordinarily unheard of in the North East.

Paul Mackings said specialist carpentry, masonry and landscaping undertakings would provide a series of sought-after apprenticeship opportunities in the construction and maintenance of the 400 year-old country house.

Having spent the last 12 years on English Heritage’s “At Risk” register, Cameron Hall will now redevelop the house and estate into a 34 bedroom and leisure complex with restaurant, spa, cookery school and golf course.

The development will also include 70 detached houses on the site - a move designed to offset the cost of the hotel development and heritage refurbishment.

Paul told Bdaily: “There are a lot of ‘lost trades’ that will be resurrected through this development. We’ve already had extensive talks with local colleges and universities on how we’re going to procure the skills we need to manage this huge undertaking.

“There’s a real wealth of skills and knowledge that can be acquired through the redevelopment of an asset like Woolsington Hall. If we need to bring in foreign or national expertise, we’ll make sure this is linked with opportunities for regional institutions.

“There will be some very lucky guys and girls who will get the opportunity to learn from this project.”

The estate, including the day-to-day running of the hotel, will be undertaken by Cameron Hall - meaning complete independence and a “unique operational style” - as Paul refers to it.

Paul and his team are yet to appoint a developer for the hotel, and also need to gain planning approval for the project. Once this is finalised, a tender process will begin for firms looking to become involved in Woolsington Hall.

Paul explained: “I can say with a great deal of confidence that North East firms will make up in the high 90% of the supply chain for the Woolsington development.

“It’s highly unlikely that we’ll go outside of the region for any aspect - unless its highly specific expertise that we can’t source here.

He added: “This is something the region hasn’t seen before and we’ve spent a lot of time looking the design and brand - things like how we furnish the hotel, the operation of the spa and the landscape.

“We’re quietly excited about it. As are the likes of Newcastle Airport - who will now have a five star hotel on their doorstep.”

If Cameron Hall are successful in their planning application, Paul expects the project to be completed by the end of 2017.

Presently the firm are involved in a project to build 500 houses in Wynyard, 134 houses in Hartlepool - and last year completed deals in Doncaster and Gibraltar.

Cameron Hall own land banks in the region and further afield. The Woolsington Hall project has been four years in the making.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .