Lantern signs at Generator Studios
The building consultancy has signed a five-year lease as it moves from Jesmond into Newcastle city centre.
Lantern said the move into the Melbourne Street building follows a raft of new instructions picked up in 2023.
The firm will now embark on fit-out of its 1,500 sq ft space, which will initially house a team of five as Lantern steps up efforts to recruit in 2024.
Launched in 2021, Lantern Building Consultancy provides building surveying services including party wall advice, expert witness reports, housing disrepair claims and reinstatement valuations.
Over the last twelve months, directors Martin Smith and Alex Carter have secured new projects with public and private sector clients, leading to the appointment of building surveyors Graham Hill and Dan Guite, as well as operations manager Szofia Szabo.
Lantern is providing strategic advice to Northumberland County Council on its housing stock, and has been retained by Entain Group to defend dilapidations claims on its behalf for retail premises between Norwich and Berwick.
The firm has also been awarded various project management instructions for office and retail projects in Sheffield, Newcastle and Sunderland on behalf of several pension funds.
Martin Smith, formerly a partner at Sanderson Weatherall prior to founding Lantern, said: “As a combined team, we offer a great deal of expertise and we are delighted to be working with many highly regarded clients across a broad range of projects.
“There is real optimism amongst our client base, with many of them working on bringing forward new projects which in turn will deliver significant investment within the region and beyond.
“As a consequence, we need to expand our team further this year and our new base at Generator Studios is the ideal platform to position us for further growth.”
Close to the firm’s new base, Lantern has recently project managed the structural repair of the grade two-listed Castlegate Building on behalf of City Church Newcastle and is currently completing surveys of around 200 properties across the North East for The Hospital of God.
