£50m new Blackpool office block will house 2,000 workers

Blackpool Council’s regeneration partner Muse Developments is seeking a contractor for the project to demolish a large swathe of King Street and Charles Street to make way for offices.

The new building, part of the third phase of the Talbot Gateway, is expected to be seven storeys high and will house up to 2,000 workers.

The council remains in talks with the potential occupier, believed to be the Civil Service, and is seeking a lease of up to 25 years.

Some councillors have questioned investment in new offices when many workers are now working from home.

But Coun Mark Smith, cabinet member for business, enterprise and job creation, told the last meeting of full council negotiations with the potential tenant were progressing.

He said: “It’s not like a ‘Field of Dreams’ moment, we shall build, they shall come.

“We as a council will make sure we have a long lease signed on the premises before any construction.”

He added the talks included meeting the client’s current and future needs for office space and “once we have the lease agreed and signed, then the development will be built.”

Muse Developments has posted details of the contract on The Chest, a procurement site used by local authorities in the North West.

The contract is listed as being worth £50m, and includes site clearance, site preparation and “construction of a high-quality office building, which forms part of the Talbot Gateway Masterplan”.

The scheme will provide 24,500 square metres of office space as well as associated external works and public realm.

A planning application was submitted in December for the development which also includes a health centre.

The locally listed Hop Inn would be partially bulldozed in order to save the front facade of the former pub, with the remainder of the site converted to a dental surgery.

There is also a compulsory purchase order in place for the acquisition of remaining property on King Street still needed for the scheme.