BT riverside offices to become student flats

The building near the National Centre for the Written Word was previously BT's business centre

A striking office block on the south bank of the River Tyne will be turned into student flats, a council has agreed.

Proposals to turn the former BT business centre at One Harton Quay in South Shields into a 125-bed student residence were approved by South Tyneside Council, with work on the four-storey, glass-fronted building expected to begin in September.

It is aimed to support the relocation of South Tyneside College and South Shields Marine School into the town centre from its current Westoe site.

The exterior of the block, which was originally designed to resemble the bow of a ship, will remain largely unchanged and it is hoped it will be ready for students by September 2027.

Inside there will be en-suite bedrooms arranged in clusters, individual studio apartments and communal areas including lounges, kitchens, study spaces and a reception with security.

Construction is already underway on a new 15,000sqm campus in South Shields town centre

The council has also entered a development agreement with Tyne Coast College which has sites in South Shields and Wallsend.

A £95m college relocation project, funded by Tyne Coast College, the North East Combined Authority and the Department for Education (DfE), has already seen construction take place on a new town centre campus.

The site of the now-demolished Central Library, which had previously been identified as the preferred location for student accommodation, will remain in council ownership as a development opportunity, the council said.