The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has announced it will close its Lancaster House hub in Newcastle, where more than 1,200 staff are based.
PCS, the civil service’s biggest union, said staff were told on Tuesday that the building would shut from September, with officials expected to relocate to nearby Tyneside House. Both buildings are on Newcastle Business Park, to the south-west of the city centre.
Lancaster House hosts the headquarters of the Marine Management Organisation. It is also a base for Rural Payments Agency staff and other Defra colleagues. Tyneside House is the Environment Agency’s home in Newcastle.
In late 2021, Defra announced the creation of a “core hub” at Lancaster House as part of the then-government’s Places for Growth programme. At the time, it said the 18-month project would boost close working and co-location, and allow the building to “support more staff”. Numbers appear to have increased by about 20% following the work.
Two years later, Defra’s annual report and accounts for 2022-23 said that investment in the department’s Peterborough and Newcastle buildings had “created thriving spaces that replaced larger, lower-quality buildings”. It added that the department was ahead of its trajectory on relocating roles from London to the regions under Places for Growth.
Reacting to this week’s closure announcement, PCS said the plans to shut Lancaster House were a “rushed decision” designed to save £600m as part of the 2025 Spending Review process – details of which are due to be set out by the Treasury next month.
The union said it understood that Tyneside House only had capacity for 500 staff, and that there were concerns over how moving officials from Lancaster House would impact delivery.
“The move comes at the same time as Defra is pressing for 60% office attendance,” PCS said. “Three out of four of its major hubs are already struggling or unable to accommodate the increased office attendance and PCS has very real concerns that those who need to be in the office will find it increasingly difficult to do so.”
A Defra spokesperson said the decision to close Lancaster House had been taken following a regional review of the department’s space needs, and that Tyneside House would undergo a refit as part of the changes.
“Our new hub at Tyneside House will save the taxpayer £2m a year and continue to boost civil service jobs in the North East,” they said.
Defra added that some staff would begin moving from Lancaster House next month, with full closure of the building planned for the end of August.
The department said the final capacity expected for Tyneside House had yet to be confirmed.
This story was updated at 16:30 on 15 May 2025 to add a response from Defra