Life sciences firm moves into city’s Portland House
AGLOBAL life sciences firm has become the latest company to sign up to take space at a new office development in Newcastle.
Putnam, a strategic consulting partner working in the global life science sector, has taken a five-year lease on a 1,856 sq ft office in the 60,000 sq ft Portland House building, having move4d from its previous based at The Core, part of the Helix site.
The company has 10 worldwide offices on four continents and is part of the wider Inizio Advisory group, though it only has sites in Newcastle and London for its UK operations.
Portland House, on New Bridge Street, was formerly the headquarters of Newcastle Building Society, and includes a one-time maternity hospital that was later a BBC broadcasting centre. It has been redeveloped over the last two years to offer a mix of dedicated and shared office space, partly supported by £750,000 of grant funding through the Government’s Getting Building Fund.
Offering facilities that include electric car charging stations, e-bike chargers, a bike repair unit and a drying room, the development has attracted tenants including Begbies Traynor Group, Mills & Co, barristers Parklane Plowden Chambers and recruitment specialist Central Employment.
Donna Fountain, who is a partner at Putnam, said: “Portland House is a place we are proud to call our Newcastle base, with its fantastic city centre location, facilities, and a great look and feel following the redevelopment of the building.
“Some individuals are office-based full time, while others come in only once a week, so we are currently working on completing the fit out to create the optimum open plan design, with a number of meeting rooms and breakout spaces.”
Oliver Holland, co-developer of Portland House, said: “From the outset, we designed the features of the building with forward-thinking firms like Putnam in mind.
“Features such as instant web connectivity and uninterruptable emergency power provision to ensure business continuity for all our tenant organisations. We’d like to warmly welcome Putnam’s team to our growing community here at Portland House, which is fast approaching 100% occupancy.”
Portland House is a place we are proud to call our Newcastle base, with its fantastic location, facilities, and a great look and feel
Donna Fountain