Darlington Economic Campus | Q&A with the Government Property Agency

Place North East spoke with Simon Hulme, director, capital projects at GPA, to find out more about the agency’s aims and objectives when it comes to projects that have the potential to create regeneration ripple effects throughout a town.

The government is spending £118m on new Treasury offices in the North East town in a bid to de-centralise government decision making and spread economic opportunity more evenly across the UK.

Located on a former car park, the offices are set to open at the start of 2028 and are being delivered by the Government Property Agency with Kier as the main contractor. Designed by Stanton Williams with input from BAM Design, Kier broke ground on the Brunswick Street hub last September.

Q. Why is the government investing into regional hubs like the Darlington Economic Campus, and how do they fit into the bigger picture for the public sector office estate?

A. The government is investing in regional hubs to create a smaller, better, and greener office estate that supports national growth and distributes opportunity more evenly across the United Kingdom. These hubs allow civil servants to work closer to the communities they serve, while improving productivity through the provision of high-quality, modern workplaces.

The Darlington Economic Campus is supporting the government’s Places for Growth agenda, creating approximately 1,400 civil service roles and providing future growth opportunities to the North East of England. To date, of the approximately 1,000 civil servants now working at the campus, 80% have been hired from the North East. This proves the success of Places for Growth and demonstrates the value of placing government investment where it can make the greatest local impact.

Q. Why was Darlington chosen as the location for this economic campus? How does GPA create a shortlist and decide where to build?

 A. Our selection process is closely aligned with the central government’s agenda for placemaking and creating regional policy ‘hubs’. It is important to distinguish these from standard Government Hubs, which are primarily office spaces. Regional policy hubs are designed to concentrate expertise in particular areas between government departments, drive economic and infrastructure investment, and bring decision-making into the regions.

We see this specialisation across the country: Sheffield focuses on policy; Manchester on digital and AI; Aberdeen on energy; and the West Midlands on transport and infrastructure. Darlington was chosen specifically to be HM Treasury’s second base after London and the home of national economic decision-making, hence its designation as the Darlington Economic Campus.

Q. What changes are you starting to see in places where GPA is investing, and what difference do big, consolidated hubs make to local economies and communities?

A. At the Government Property Agency, we take a long-term view of the impact our work has on the regions in which we operate. New hubs catalyse regeneration by creating employment, boosting skills, attracting private investment, helping to retain talent, returning footfall to the high streets, and stimulating local businesses.

Whether the projects involve refurbishing existing sites or building from scratch, the hubs are designed to be digitally connected, flexible, and inclusive, which boosts efficiency as well as productivity.

Q. Is this the kind of project GPA would have delivered in the past, or does it signal a step change in scale or ambition?

 A. The Government Property Agency was established in 2018 to deliver one of the UK’s most ambitious workplace transformation programmes. The Darlington Economic Campus represents a significant shift, as it is the GPA’s first new-build freehold facility, representing a move toward owning, rather than leasing, key government assets.

Our eye is always on creating long-term impact and value. We want to be the place-shaping partner in the regions we operate in, and we aim to deliver workplaces that cater to different needs to amplify productivity, wellbeing, and collaboration.

The new Treasury offices on Brunswick Street will bring economic benefits to the town. Credit: planning documents

Q. How is the Brunswick Street hub being funded, and how do you balance value for money with long-term performance and the wider regeneration goals for Darlington?

A. The Brunswick Street hub in Darlington is primarily funded through an investment from the UK government in excess of £100m. The construction of the hub itself has the potential to generate an additional £180m of value for the wider UK economy.

Simultaneously, we are rationalising the government office estate and are already ahead of a £1.6bn 10-year target for savings. We release poor quality, expensive-to-maintain, and badly located buildings, replacing them with high-quality, low-carbon, digitally connected hubs located close to public transport links. Our Birmingham hub at 23 Stephenson Street, for example, replaced eight buildings to bring the running cost savings to £2m per annum.

Q. How are things like apprenticeships, skills training and local jobs being built into the construction programme in a practical way?

A. For all public sector projects, government policy guidance mandates a minimum overall weighting for social value of 10%. We have set our own higher benchmark at 15% and look to our supply partners to help us deliver this.

However, compliance is just a starting point for us; we want to bake social value imperatives into all that we do, and we encourage our supply partners to mirror this commitment. We conduct detailed local needs analyses at the outset of every project to ensure that our investment addresses the unique challenges and opportunities for each community in the best way possible. This enables us to go beyond compliance and deliver targeted interventions that make a bigger impact, such as addressing unemployment through job creation, supporting local businesses by sourcing locally, or investing in community programmes that support public wellbeing.

Q. What lessons from earlier government hubs have fed into the Brunswick Street development when it comes to build quality, efficiency and how the building performs over time?

 A. We apply lessons from previous hubs such as Birmingham (23 Stephenson Street) and Quay House in Peterborough, both of which are now award-winning, inclusive, and digitally enabled workspaces. Experience from hubs achieving certifications like Leesman+, and connecting to greener energy sources – such as Bristol’s heat network – informs our new designs.

Continuous improvement, especially regarding smarter working, interoperability, and sustainability, is a core theme running through all our projects.

Q. How do sustainability goals shape decisions on this project?

 Sustainability is central to our work; the GPA is targeting a 50% reduction in carbon emissions across its portfolio by 2032. Currently, more than 60% of our buildings are rated B or better.

New hubs follow strict requirements such as EPC A, BREEAM Excellent, and high NABERS ratings. The consistency of these targets directly influences everything from design choices and materials to energy systems and future operational efficiency.

The Brunswick Street hub is targeting BREEAM Excellent and is on track to achieve a NABERS 5-star rating for operational energy performance. These measures support the GPA’s ambition to create greener, more efficient workplaces.

Q. How important are partnerships – with local authorities and the private sector – in making the government’s regional office strategy work on the ground?

 A. Partnerships are critical to the success of our hubs programme. We work closely with local authorities to help pinpoint where the investment would be most impactful, ensuring local priorities are reflected so that we can help build a Civil Service that is deeply rooted in the places it serves, as well as creating wider social and economic impact.

At the same time, we have an appointed group of Strategic Partners with whom we work closely as an extension of our own project leadership teams to provide specialist skills and knowledge to our programmes. We also work with private-sector suppliers to inject innovation, technical excellence, and sustainability into every build.

Q. What have been the main challenges of delivering a major government build in a busy town centre, and how have you worked with the council and local community to manage them?

 A. Our work often involves the complex redevelopment of existing or brownfield sites. Each site throws up unique challenges and opportunities, but the key to success is to collaborate closely with local authorities and make sure we are aligned in delivering benefits to the wider community, be it an economic boost, transport integration, or social benefit.

Q. When the Brunswick Street hub is up and running, what will success look like for the GPA – both as a property project and in terms of wider economic regeneration?

A. Success will mean a high-performing, sustainable workspace where civil servants can do their best work, aligned with the government’s missions. It will also mean significantly boosting local economic activity, increasing local recruitment, and acting as a catalyst for wider regeneration. Brunswick Street will be another proof point that a modern, consolidated hub can deliver value for money while strengthening local communities.