Developer in £50 million-plus AA office revamp plan

A property investment and development firm has unveiled a £50 million-plus city office building transformation venture.

Aykley Developments plans to overhaul Newcastle’s former AA North East regional headquarters into a build-to-rent 151-home and commercial hub.

Bosses say the blueprint will “create something the North East hasn't seen before at this scale”.

They add the endeavour – which includes hospitality, social, retail and co-working space – will enable Newcastle to “compete alongside peer cities such as Manchester and Leeds”.

Planned to feature one and two-bed homes, they say the Newcastle Business Park-based development will include a swimming pool, spa, gym, meeting rooms, podcast and art studios, a cinema room, golf simulator and padel courts.

The proposals also feature a café and ground-floor retail units.

Imad Ali, chief executive of Aykley Developments, which operates within the wider Aykley Group, said: “Newcastle needs new homes, but how and where we create them matters.

“This is an opportunity to regenerate an existing brownfield site and give a well-built but vacant office building decades more productive use.”

He added the development will retain the former AA building’s structural frame, which will be wrapped in a “high-performance building envelope” and complemented by exhaust-air heat pumps capable of providing heating and hot water to apartments.

Designed by Newcastle-based architect FaulknerBrowns and supported by fellow city operator DPP Planning, the scheme includes 800sq metres of solar panels.

The proposals form part of an Aykley Group portfolio that includes Durham and Newcastle residential schemes.

Its Pimlico Homes arm also recently bought a 13-acre Northumberland site to carry out a barn conversion.

Imad added: “Our ambition is to create world-class, high-quality homes supported by five-star amenities.

“Cities such as Manchester and Leeds have shown the role high-quality residential development can play in attracting people and investment, and we want this development to contribute to Newcastle’s ambition to compete alongside its peer cities.”

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