Durham Riverside Renewal

Milburngate developer Allan Cook welcomed His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO to share his passion for contemporary architecture by taking a tour of the £120m first phase of the regeneration project in Durham City.

His Royal Highness, who practiced as an architect, visited the six-acre living, working and leisure destination, which is currently under construction on the city’s riverside, where he unveiled a commemoration stone to mark his visit.

On arrival, the Duke was greeted by representatives from the Arlington Richardson Development Partnership, which is developing Milburngate, contractor Tolent and key members of the project team, including the architects behind its design.

Phase one, which includes a boutique cinema, 92-bed Hotel, 153 apartments, 53,000 ft office building along with premium bars and restaurants including Bar + Block, has been sensitively designed to compliment its setting whist respecting its location within a UNESCO world heritage city.

Architects FaulknerBrowns has also designed Milburngate to incorporate high quality public realm from which to enjoy stunning new views of the city’s riverside and historic castle and cathedral as well as providing a new direct route to Durham railway station.

Milburngate continues the high-quality regeneration of Durham’s riverside, which was set by the developerswith the construction of HM Passport Office and National Savings & Investment facility at Freemans Reach on the opposite bank of the River Wear.

Allan Cook, Managing Director of Arlington Real Estate, said: “We were truly honoured to welcome His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester to see the great progress we are making in delivering Milburngate during these challenging times.

“Maximising the economic and social benefits this fabulous riverside site will bring to both Durham City and the wider North East has taken some real architectural, construction and engineering skill, which His Royal Highness, as an experienced architect, really appreciated.”

ENDS

NEWS RELEASE: ISSUED ON BEHALF OF DURHAM RIVERSIDE RENEWAL

For further information contact Jamie Collis 01325 363436

Editors’ Notes:

The development consortium consists of Arlington Real Estate and Richardson.

The project includes the regeneration of Freemans Reach and the redevelopment of Milburngate House, which are on adjacent banks of the River Wear in the heart of Durham City.

According to the Sunday Times’ ‘Best Places to Live’:

“Durham is a lovely place to live. Beneath its glorious cathedral, you’ll find pretty cobbled streets stuffed with little independent shops and great watering holes, a beautiful river that carves its way through dramatic walls of rock and greenery, and some attractive house stock – along with a thriving buy-to-let market, thanks to all those students. One of the nicest places to live is South Street, which looks directly onto the cathedral and castle, and which inspired Sir Walter Scott. Many of its terraced houses are grade II listed; prices range from £400,000 to more than £1m.”

About Arlington Real Estate

Arlington Real Estate is also delivering another flagship County Durham development, DurhamGate. Located five miles south of Durham City, DurhamGate is on the site of Black & Decker’s former UK headquarters and, at almost 100 acres, it is among the largest regeneration projects in the North East of England

About Richardson

Richardson is a multi-generation family business with over half a century of real estate experience in the UK and overseas. Working across all sectors, they have developed well in excess of seven million square feet of property. Recent projects include Nickel, junction 28 off the M1, a new spec build 261,000 sq ft warehouse, Western 105, Avonmouth, a new spec build 105,500 sq ft warehouse, Freemans Reach, a 110,000 sq ft office development in Durham, Lincoln Gateway, a £28m, 519 bed student accommodation scheme. More recently the family has continued to expand its operations by building an international growth capital portfolio across a range of sectors through a direct and co-investment programme.