Newcastle’s Durant Hall gets green light for refurb

The grade two-listed former Unitarian Church will become an education and learning centre, in a project guided by Hedley Planning.

Newcastle’s only Art-Deco church will be renovated by the University of Northumbria, as part of its ongoing investment to improve its estate of buildings and facilities.

Work is expected to complete at the end of this year, and will include the removal of a dumbwaiter, former kitchen areas, toilets, and pews, while new windows, roofing, guttering, and brickwork will be repaired.

A new entrance will be built, along with a lift to improve accessibility and the space will provide a venue for guest lectures.

Originally designed by Cackett, Burns Dick, and Mackellar, who also created the former Portland stone police, courts, and fire station on the junction of Pilgrim Street and Market Street on Newcastle, the Church of the Divine Unity and Durant Hall was the third church for the Unitarian Congregation in Newcastle.

Alex Franklin, director of Hedley Planning, said: “This is another successful regeneration story that injects a new lease of life into an
important city centre location and heralds the opening of a new chapter in this building’s use.”