Plans go in for £118m government hub in Darlington

The Government Property Agency has submitted a planning application to Darlington Borough Council for a new £118m government hub.

The four-storey offices on Brunswick Street will be home to 1,450 civil servants.

The construction of the hub itself has the potential to generate an additional £180m of value for the wider UK economy and support the ongoing success and growth of the Darlington Economic Campus (DEC).

When completed, Brunswick Street will form part of a government campus of three buildings, including Feethams House and Bishopsgate House, all located within Darlington town centre.

Construction is set to begin later this year and be completed in early 2027. 

The new hub will increase the total number of Darlington-based civil servants to more than 2,300.

Since 2021, 762 civil service roles have been relocated to Darlington under Places for Growth.

More than 800 civil servants are currently based in Darlington across eight departments, including His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT), the Department for Education, and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), for whom Darlington is their second headquarters.

The DBT itself has more than 250 staff stationed there, over 200 of which have been locally recruited. 

Darlington has been an addition to DBT’s Places for Growth network, which now boasts five other locations, including Belfast, Cardiff and Salford. 

Clive Anderson, director of capital projects at the GPA, said: “In submitting our planning application, we are a step closer to creating another highly sustainable new government hub which will boost the local economy and see a modern, inspirational and energy-efficient workplace for government departments and their staff attracted to a rewarding civil service career based in Darlington.

“The campus is enabling increased investment in the region and supporting the Government’s Levelling Up and Places for Growth agendas, creating circa 1,400 Civil Service roles and providing future growth opportunities to the North East of England.”

Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, Beth Russell, who is based in Darlington, said the news marked a “major milestone” for the Darlington Economic Campus.

“We are already giving hundreds of local people the opportunity to work at the heart of government from here in the North-east, making government policymaking more reflective of the communities we serve.”

This latest development forms part of the Government Hubs Programme, which supports economic growth across the UK, catalyses the regeneration of brownfield sites and repurposes existing buildings to create efficient, sustainable, and productive workplaces. 

Other government departments based at the DEC include the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC), the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and the Department for Education (DfE).