Property Solutions

North East England has a diverse range of available premises and development sites which offer solutions to government departments, agencies and NDPBs, whatever their business needs.  The region offers a wide choice of locations with excellent facilities and transport connections.

A large number of local, national and international property developers are ready to work with government departments to develop property solutions to meet their needs.  Specific details of individual sites and premises are available by using the search facility (coming soon...).

City and Town centre sites

Large brownfield regeneration sites suitable for campus style developments to house a variety of civil service operations are available in the North East.  Campus sites will allow the development of a purpose-built office complex for a main government department plus several small agencies/NDPBs, with shared “back office” operations potentially in conjunction with other local public sector bodies.

Contact Centre, Back Office and Shared Services Opportunities

A wide selection of existing premises and land for new-build offices suitable for the development of contact centres, back office and shared services operations of varying sizes is available in the region.

There is space for campus developments, if departments and agencies wish to be located close together on the same site and share certain services between them to achieve further cost efficiencies.

North East England has an excellent track record in the successful operation of contact centres, back office functions and shared services.  Over 60 major customer contact centres are located in the North East, employing around 47,000 people.  Some of the main organisations with contact centres in the North East are British Airways, Orange, EDF, the AA, BT, Littlewoods and Barclaycard.  Procter & Gamble selected the North East as the preferred location for its European shared services centre.

Scientific and technical sites

Several science parks and campus developments suitable for government scientific and technical organisations are available in North East England.

In 2002 the North East launched the Strategy for Success to exploit the region’s research base and generate innovation, competitiveness and growth.  This is a major programme to build a knowledge economy in the region and to transform the North East’s future.  It has been developed in conjunction with key partners, including the region’s universities and industrial clusters.  A strong research base effectively linked to industry is now driving the North East’s economic growth and building on the regional strengths, Centres of Excellence have been established in the following areas:

• Life Sciences
• Digital technology and digital media
• Nanotechnology
• New & Renewable Energy
• Process Industries

There are five universities in the region, all carrying out innovative research with Durham and Newcastle achieving the highest 5* ratings for their research departments.  World leading research, for instance the Stem Cells programme, is taking place in the North East.

Vacant Offices – new build or ready for occupation

The North East has a good supply of high quality office premises available immediately to assist government departments and agencies with relocation programmes. Offices ready for immediate occupation could be required for the relocating civil service to satisfy a variety of purposes including:

Temporary accommodation
The majority of government relocations will be phased and many will require temporary offices for advance moves or for the whole phase of the relocation with short-term leases for anything between one to five years.  The North East region offers many options to meet these temporary accommodation requirements.

Smaller relocations
A range of existing and new offices to meet the needs of smaller agencies/NDPBs is also available in the North East.  We recognise that some of these agencies may wish to be accommodated separately from other parts of the public sector for organisational reasons.

Business Continuity Planning
The North East offers premises for disaster recover purposes that can be included in business continuity plans.  Most of the North East region is located 250 miles or more from London and therefore offers an ideal location for departments seeking to be located at a “safe” distance from the capital.

Property Costs

Property costs are less than half London levels and at least 25% lower than South East towns such as Guildford and Bracknell.

Rents are highly competitive with most regional cities.  Newcastle rents are 17% less than Leeds.  Sunderland rents are 43% lower than Manchester.