New scheme to open in 2023

Plans for a £260m conference and events development in Gateshead have been submitted for planning.

The 80,000ft2 development at the town’s quayside will include a 12,500-capacity arena, conference and exhibition centre.

Sir Robert McAlpine was appointed to the job last September.

It will be built near the town’s Millennium Bridge, designed by Wilkinson Eyre and which won the Stirling prize in 2002, and between Laing O’Rourke’s Sage Gateshead arts building, designed by Foster + Partners, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, an old flour mill turned into a new venue by Bam.

The new arena will also feature two hotels, bars, restaurants, car parking and large areas of public realm.

HOK is designing the overall masterplan for the site, while AHR Architects is behind a hotel that will form part of the plans.

The wider project team includes consultant Legends as project manager and contract administrator, QS Gardiner and Theobald and Arup as structural and M&E engineer.

The project is being developed by Gateshead Council in partnership with Ask Real Estate and real estate investor Patrizia.

An announcement on the hotel operator is expected to be made in the coming weeks and the new complex is set to open 2023.

HOK GQ Render 2

Source: HOK

How the new arena will look