Plan for new showroom at Barbour as site continues to expand

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has received a planning application for Barbour House at Bedesway in the Jarrow area.

The business, founded in 1894, is now based in Bede Industrial Estate and has been making and selling waxed jackets for more than 125 years.

As a jacket of choice of the Royal Family, Barbour has received three Royal Warrants endorsing the product, including from the King himself, when Prince of Wales, in 1987.

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In recent years, Barbour has brought forward plans to improve operations at its buildings, including a new warehouse facility which was approved earlier in 2022.

New plans submitted to council development chiefs propose a huge showroom and alterations to Barbour House, which is the administrative headquarters of the company.

This includes the conversion of the existing showroom to office space, a new showroom building connected to Barbour House by a “linking block” and the relocation of a loading bay.

A design and access statement submitted on behalf of applicant J. Barbour and Sons Ltd sets out more details on the proposed works.

This includes utilising an underused area of car parking and hardstanding to the side of Barbour House to create a “non-permanent” showroom, with a steel frame “anchored onto the site”.

Although the current parking area will be lost, this will be compensated by parking on an adjacent site.

In addition, a loading bay will be relocated to the south side of Barbour House to make way for the showroom building, which will measure 55.2 metres in length by 20.4 metres in width, with a height of around 7.7 metres .

The creation of the new showroom would boost Barbour’s showroom capacity and would allow the existing showroom space on the first floor of Barbour House to be used as office space.

No “immediate increase in employees” is linked to the proposals, however Barbour have confirmed the development “offers potential for growth in the future”.

The design and access statement adds: “The proposed design of the development for the site provides 1100 sq metres of new showroom space enabling the effective marketing of its products to corporate buyers and allowing the company to convert the existing showrooms to office space in turn enabling a more efficient administrative operation.

“The application site is an area of employment land not currently effectively used and the development would make more efficient use of the site in a sustainable location for commercial growth and development as supported by development plan policies.

“The design of the building is a simple portal framed, composite clad building semi-permanent in nature which will fit into the context of Bede Industrial Estate, in keeping with the development pattern and with character and appearance of surrounding units”.

A decision on the planning application is expected to be made once a period of council consultation has concluded.

For more information on the application or to track its progress, visit South Tyneside Council’s online planning portal and search reference: ST/1014/22/FUL