Progress on our major Newcastle city centre development was recognised on Friday by a steel beam signing ceremony, 12 months after breaking the ground at Pilgrim’s Quarter.

HMRC announced in November 2021 that Newcastle’s Pilgrim’s Quarter, part of the Pilgrim Street development, would become a Government Hub for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the North-East.

The regional centre will provide office accommodation for approximately 9,000 HMRC staff and will be the largest of HMRC’s 14 regional centres, at 463,000square feet (43,000sq m).

Confirmation of the commitment moved a step closer at the steel beam signing ceremony which included our site team, the wider project team, representatives from HMRC, Newcastle City Council and developer Reuben Brothers (Newcastle) Limited.

To enable the project to go ahead, a car park, an art centre and the interior of the art deco Carliol House were all demolished. The historic façade of Carliol House has been retained and incorporated into the Pilgrim’s Quarter building. The giant office will stand at between six and nine storeys tall and wrap around Pilgrim Street, Market Street, New Bridge Street West and John Dobson Street.

We are on programme despite the significant challenges of the diversion of a major sewer, extensive façade retention work and piling adjacent to the Metro line tunnels.

Pilgrim’s Quarter is due to be finished in 2027 and is the largest part of a wider overhaul of the Pilgrim Street area led by the Reuben Brothers. It will also see the city centre’s old fire station turned into a luxury hotel and our North East team recently completed the 14-storey Bank House tower built on the site of a former Bank of England building.