Construction of the new government hub in Darlington will start in January, following the signing of a contract with construction firm Kier Group, the Government Property Agency has announced.
Plans for the Brunswick Street office building, which was designed by AtkinsRéalis, received consent in summer 2024. Preparatory work to make the former car park site ready for construction of the new block commenced in September and is now expected to be completed in the middle of next month.
The GPA has this week signed a contract with Kier for work on the new building to start in January, with the anticipation that the structure will be ready for occupation in the “first quarter of 2028”. Kier has also been conducting ground remediation works at the site over the past few months.
According to the GPA, the new hub building is now expected to be the base for 1,600 civil servants – around 200 more than was envisaged at the time planning consent was secured.
It will form part of the wider Darlington Economic Campus, which brings together HM Treasury; the Department for Business and Trade; the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; and five other major government institutions.
GPA director of capital projects Simon Hulme said the new building would be an important development for the Government Hubs Programme, and would contribute to the delivery of a “smaller, better and greener” office estate.
“We are pleased to be extending our key partnership with Kier Group and will continue to work alongside the company to ensure the construction works commence at the site seamlessly,” he said.
“Once completed, the Brunswick Street hub will be a modern, inclusive and digitally-enabled office that promotes greater collaboration amongst civil servants, building on the success of the Darlington Economic Campus.”
In addition to HM Treasury, DBT, DSIT and DESNZ, the Darlington Economic Campus includes the Department for Education; the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; the Office for National Statistics; and the Competition and Markets Authority.
DfE has had a longstanding presence in Darlington, however the development of the campus was triggered by then-chancellor Rishi Sunak’s 2021 decision to make the town HM Treasury’s northern base.
Since then, more than 1,000 additional civil servants have begun working in Darlington, building on the 750 DfE officials who were already based in the town. Staff currently work from the Feethams House and Bishopsgate House buildings.