Bid to demolish former South Shields Job Centre expected to pave the way for more regeneration work

Earlier this month, South Tyneside Council’s planning department registered a planning application for the three-storey office block, off Chapter Row.

According to a planning application to determine the method of demolition and restoration of the site, the building is considered “surplus to requirements” and its removal will “make way for future area re-development.”

The proposed method of demolition will use excavator equipment and power hand tools, as well as "suppression methods" to reduce dust and noise.

In addition, the demolition plot will be “finished with topsoil and seed with a timber rail fence to the perimeter of the site.”

The demolition plans fall against the backdrop of regeneration work in South Shields, which has seen the Job Centre Plus branch move to a new building in Mile End Road.

The plans, which were approved by the council's Planning Committee in 2020, aimed to rehouse staff in a 12,000 sq ft ‘quality office building' on the site of a former car park.

Developers previously said the new hub would house more than 60 staff from the Department for Work and Pensions, bringing “a range of services to help people of working age find work and claim benefits, as well as specialist support for those with disabilities”.

Subject to prior approval being granted, demolition of the former Job Centre site, in Chapter Row, is expected to take place between April and mid-June 2022.

For more information on the demolition, visit South Tyneside Council’s online planning portal and search reference: ST/0025/22/DEM

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