Former Darlington Northern Echo office revamp to cost £11m

Northern Echo staff left the Priestgate building early last year

The refurbishment of a former newspaper office which will see the building turned into a skills hub and office space will cost about £11m, it has been announced.

The old home of the Northern Echo in Darlington has been empty since the title relocated last February.

Darlington Borough Council bought the property on Priestgate for £925,000.

It said work was expected to take about 18 months once the scheme had been approved by planners.

The skills hub, developed in partnership with Darlington College, is to be built on the ground floor, with upper floors used as offices for businesses.

Money for the council's purchase of the building came from the Towns Fund and Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) Indigenous Growth Fund.

A further £4m is due to come from the TVCA, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. 

The overall budget for the project is predicted to be just under £11,360,000.

Council papers say an "experienced and imaginative" development partner has been identified to repurpose the site and, once complete, the unnamed firm will operate the building. 

Cabinet members are due to approve the plans for the council to utilise the further £4m of TVCA funding at a meeting on Tuesday next week.

The Echo, which was founded in 1870, had been based at Priestgate since 1917.

It relocated to smaller premises in Coniscliffe Road.