Part of Portland House is grade-two listed. Credit: via Four Walls PR

Brace of deals at refurbed Portland House

15 June 2023 11:37 Neil Tague Comments (0)

Parklane Plowden Chambers and Central Employment have taken a combined 10,000 sq ft at the former headquarters of Newcastle Building Society.

The deals mean that the 60,000 sq ft Portland House is 30% full six months after relaunch, following earlier lettings to Begbies Traynor and Mills & Co.

Barrister set Parklane Plowden is relocating from Lombard Street in Newcastle to occupy 1,772 sq ft within the first floor of Portland House after signing a 10-year lease.

Meanwhile, Central Employment is moving its operations from St Mary’s Place to 8,131, sq ft, also taking space on 10-year terms. Rents of £25 per sq ft have been achieved as part of the latest lettings.

Portland House is divided into five blocks, with part of the complex being grade two-listed – this space is used for meeting areas. The complex sits on New Bridge Street West in the city centre.

Meeting and co-working areas are to the fore at the building. Credit: David Wood, via Four Walls PR

The first round of tenants moved into Portland House in April following the multi-million-pound transformation of the former building society HQ by developers Oliver Holland and James Keegan. The society left in 2021, moving all its central operations to Cobalt Park.

Oliver Holland said: “We are thrilled to welcome our latest tenants as we continue to see strong demand for the very best city centre workspace with many occupiers seeking to improve the quality of their work environments. There are more deals in the pipeline which we look forward to announcing very soon.”

Will Palmer, finance director at recruitment business Central Employment, said: “Moving to Portland House is an inspirational move for all our team and will allow our staff to work together more efficiently in a modern open plan environment at the same time deliver the benefits of collaborative working.

“We are also looking to grow our headcount to meet our growing client base and the new office space and facilities will provide us with the ideal platform as we look to grow our business further.”