Work back underway at Sky building in Newcastle
It follows calls for urgent action
After a five-year delay, work on the abandoned Sky Building in Newcastle’s town centre is
due to recommence.
Contractors have today started a clean-up operation to get the site ready for main
construction works, now set to commence in earnest in September with a completion date
for summer 2023.
Simon Tagg, the Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, who this morning met
with the new owners and contractors on site, said: “It is good to finally see some action
taking place. A clean-up of the Sky Building site is long overdue and we have been calling
for urgent action from the new owners for some time.
“The Council isn’t involved in the current development on the site, which has had a series of
private-sector owners since 2016, and we have been very concerned about site safety and
security.
“It is early days, but I hope that we can take this activity as the start of a new phase. The
unfinished building is a blight on our town centre and we want to see the construction work
beginning again as soon as possible and to get to the point when the building is finished.”
“The Sky Building is in a key town centre site and when finally completed will make its own
contribution to the huge shift-change in Newcastle’s multi-million pound redevelopment and
modernisation, taking place thanks to the Government’s Town Deals and Future High
Street funding.”
More than £7m of Town Deal and Future High Street funding was allocated to the
redevelopment of the town centre Ryecroft area. The blueprint plans include a net-zero
carbon Collaboration Hub, a new car park, modern residential space for ‘downsizers’, new
public realm and, potentially, a town-centre hotel.