Pilgrim’s Quarter office development to house 9,000 HMRC staff in Newcastle city centre

A major city centre development took a step forward on Friday with an on-site ground-breaking ceremony at Pilgrim’s Quarter, Newcastle.

HMRC announced in November last year that Newcastle’s Pilgrim’s Quarter, part of the Pilgrim Street development, will become the new home for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the North East.

Part of the Government Hub network, HMRC’s state-of-the-art regional centre will be based at the new development. The regional centre will be the office base for approximately 9,000 full time equivalent HMRC roles.

The Newcastle building will be the largest of HMRC’s 14 regional centres, at 43,000m2 and marks an important step in the department’s wider transformation agenda.

The realisation of their commitment moved a step closer yesterday at a ground-breaking ceremony on the site attended by representatives from HMRC, Newcastle City Council, developer Reuben Brothers (Newcastle) Limited and their project development team.

Following a presentation of the scheme to senior HMRC stakeholders Marc Gill of HMRC was presented with a ceremonial shovel to break the ground on this massive city centre redevelopment project.

Marc Gill, HMRC’s senior leader in Newcastle, commented: “Today marks a significant milestone in our journey to our new HMRC Regional Centre. Once complete, Pilgrim’s Quarter will provide a first-class, modern, digitally enabled workspace for HMRC’s largest office – right here in Newcastle.

“HMRC is extremely proud of its history in the North East and we look forward to continuing to provide thousands of high-quality Government careers in an iconic location in the heart of Newcastle City Centre”

Steve Barclay, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, added: “We’re committed to levelling up the country and this hub follows recent expansions in the region from the Treasury and DEFRA.

“Moving 9,000 staff into one city centre site will deliver fantastic footfall for local businesses while also making the government property estate greener and more efficient.”

The new regional centre will reportedly enable HMRC to build a stronger relationship with the local community and become a visible and active contributor to Newcastle and the wider North East region.

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