Multi-million office scheme planned for former John Blundell store on Newcastle’s Clayton Street

Plans have been submitted to transform the former John Blundell department store on Clayton Street in Newcastle into a multi-million pound grade-A office scheme.

More commonly known as Howard’s store, the building was built in the mid 1800’s and was one of city’s most popular department stores until it closed almost 30 years ago.

Plans have now been submitted to Newcastle City Council for the redevelopment of the Grade-II listed building, which include the addition of a further two storeys and an extension at the rear to provide 30,000 sq ft of warehouse style office space.

Owner, Sam Hamadi of the Newcastle-based Trafalgar Group has appointed Silverstone Building Consultancy to project manage the scheme and Studio SP is the appointed architect.

Stuart Palmer of Studio SP said: “Given the former use of the building, the floors are all very open plan and it has a distinctive warehouse feel to it.

“The stunning Georgian façade and large windows add to the character of the building and allow plenty of natural light in. We plan to take full advantage of this and will retain its key features including a 1920’s staircase, exposed brickwork, bolted steel beams, cast iron columns and the dramatic timber roof trusses on the top floor to create a unique office building that will be architecturally very desirable”

Ben Hunter, director at Silverstone Building Consultancy, added: “After carrying out a full building survey on the property last year we are delighted to have been further appointed to project manage the redevelopment.

“We have worked alongside the owner and the architect to ensure we can expose as much as possible of the original structure, yet still comply with the necessary building regulations.

“Every floor has a different shape and features, and we are very excited about seeing the building transformed into something very special.”

Sam Hamadi, the property owner, also commented: “We feel it is important to retain office space in the city centre to attract new business as well as to enable existing businesses to expand in the city, particularly in light of the amount of office space converted to other uses in the last few years.

“Given the size of the building it would make a fantastic HQ office for a large company or could potentially be let in multiple parts to provide smaller creative/studio accommodation and we anticipate a high level of interest.”

A planning decision is expected in eight weeks’ time.

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