Aykley Heads Topic Paper Durham County Council 24 March 2014
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Aykley Heads Topic Paper Durham County Council 24 March 2014 22371/CH Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Generator Studios Trafalgar Street Newcastle-Upon-Tyne NE1 2LA nlpplanning.com This document is formatted for double sided printing. © Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Ltd 2014. Trading as Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners. All Rights Reserved. Registered Office: 14 Regent's Wharf All Saints Street London N1 9RL All plans within this document produced by NLP are based upon Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. © Crown Copyright reserved. Licence number AL50684A : Aykley Heads Topic Paper Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Development requirements 3 Rationale for the development ......................................................................... 3 Key Assets of Aykley Heads ............................................................................ 7 Market Demand for Aykley Heads .................................................................... 8 Consultation ..................................................................................................... 9 Case Studies ................................................................................................. 10 Conclusions ................................................................................................... 13 3.0 Potential occupiers 14 Current Occupiers .......................................................................................... 14 Future growth sectors .................................................................................... 15 Locational Considerations .............................................................................. 18 Conclusions ................................................................................................... 22 4.0 Delivery Constraints 25 Speculative Development .............................................................................. 25 Relocation of Durham County Council ........................................................... 26 Conclusions ................................................................................................... 26 6528337v5 Aykley Heads Topic Paper 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Aykley Heads is a 6.8ha business and employment site, located immediately north of Durham City Centre. The site is currently a successful business and employment location, providing a home to a broad range of business across the public and private sectors. 1.2 Durham County Council’s Submission Draft Local Plan (Policy 7) identifies Aykley Heads as a Strategic Employment Site, predominately for new office development alongside a mix of other ancillary uses. To support the economic growth in Durham City and the wider County, the Submission Draft Local Plan Submission proposes the redevelopment of Aykley Heads to provide a Central Business Quarter comprising of 70,000sqm of office floorspace. 1.3 The redevelopment is estimated to create up to 6,000 gross new jobs, consistent with HCA/Offpat’s 2011 jobs density ratios for B1 General/HQ/ Business Park offices.1 Such development is designed to enhance Durham City’s role as an important employment centre and a location of choice for the economy’s growth sectors. The overall vision for the site is to create: “A new City Park at Aykley Heads, combining new high quality office development set within an exceptional landscape, for use by residents, businesses and visitors.”2 1.4 Key objectives of the development include: The delivery of 70,000 sq m (750,000 sq ft) of new high quality, flexible office (use class B1) floorspace; Setting new office development within a strong landscape framework which capitalises on the site's natural landscape features, provides integration with the surrounding landscape, captures and enhances wildlife potential and embraces environmental standards; Creating a new gateway entrance, attractive networks for the movement of people and vehicles throughout the site, enhance public access and opportunities for sustainable travel to the City Centre and beyond via all modes of transport including public transport, walking and cycling; and Promoting innovative approaches to sustainable design which reflect current best practice to ensure sustainable development, together with appropriate supporting utilities and infrastructure.3 1.5 In order to help support the commercial success of the site, ancillary facilities are expected to include a mix of (but not restricted to) convenience retail, food and drink facilities (restaurant, café etc.), a hotel and health facilities, crèches and a gym. 1.6 The development of a new City Park set within a strong landscape framework is designed to attract new national and international employers, presenting an 1 HCA/Offpat, (2010), Employment Densities Guide 2 Durham County Council, (2013), Aykley Heads, Durham City: Supplementary Planning Document 3 ibid 6528337v5 P1 : Aykley Heads Topic Paper opportunity to re-balance the nature of existing jobs on the site by increasing the proportion of private sector employment in Durham City. 1.7 Having regard to the above, this paper has been commissioned by Durham County Council in order to a contemporaneous test of the potential of the proposed development at Aykley Heads. The core elements of this study include a review of: The rationale for the proposals and evidence of demand (Section 2); Those sectors likely to be attracted to Aykley Heads (Section 3); and Delivery constraints (Section 4). 1.8 This report draws upon existing evidence collated by Durham County Council and Business Durham and, where required, is supplemented by new research analysis and stakeholder consultations. P2 6528337v5 Aykley Heads Topic Paper 2.0 Development requirements 2.1 This section considers the opportunity presented by Aykley Heads, focussing on the rationale for the development, key assets, evidence of demand and examples of similar developments elsewhere. It draws upon new and existing evidence in order to assess the potential of the proposed development. Rationale for the development Economic rationale 2.2 Durham County Council’s Economic Assessment indicates that whilst total employment in County Durham has shown strong growth during the years of economic expansion, it has failed to keep pace with regional and national comparators.4 This has resulted in the County falling significantly behind the UK and North East average in terms of employment rates, jobs density ratios (i.e. total number of jobs per working age resident) and GVA, as shown in Table 2.1 below. Table 2.1 Relative performance of County Durham Indicator County North East UK Durham Proportion of working age residents in employment 65.7% 66.2% 71.2% Jobs density ratio 0.56 0.67 0.77 GVA per head £12,661 £15,842 £21,368 GVA indices: % of UK average- UK Average= 100% 60.7% 75.9% 100% Source: NLP analysis of ONS data 2.3 In order to address this issue and to bring County Durham’s economic performance in line with the regional and national average, the County Durham Economic Partnership has set out the ambition of raising the employment rate to pre-recession levels. Recognising the relative under-performance of the North East region against national comparators, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership has also set an ambitious target of creating 100,000 new jobs in the next decade, equivalent to an 11% increase in employment.5 Supporting strong jobs and business growth within County Durham clearly has an important role to play in achieving this ambition and improving the long-term economic performance and sustainability of employment within the County. 2.4 With its accessibility to the strategic road network and East Coast mainline, World Class University, unique heritage and strong business, employment and 4 Durham County Council, (2011), County Durham Economic Assessment 5 NELEP, (2014), More and Better Jobs: A Strategic Economic Plan for the North East 6528337v5 P3 : Aykley Heads Topic Paper skills profile; Durham City is viewed as the commercial centre for Durham County, and a key asset from which to drive future jobs growth.6 2.5 The relative strengths of the area have long been recognised, with past jobs growth traditionally centred in and around Durham City, as demonstrated in Figure 2.1 and Figure 2.2 below. Figure 2.1 Location of jobs in County Durham (2012) Source: NLP Analysis of BRES data Figure 2.2 Change in the number of jobs in County Durham (2003-2012) Source: NLP Analysis of BRES data 6 County Durham Economic Partnership, (2011), Business, Enterprise and Skills Strategy: 2011-2016. P4 6528337v5 Aykley Heads Topic Paper 2.6 The 2011 County Durham Economic Assessment also identifies Durham City and the A1M corridor into Tyneside as a significant economic driver, due to its inextricable links with the travel to work patterns for both in- and out- commuters to/from the Tyne and Wear conurbation.7 2.7 Overall, the former district of Durham City currently contains one fifth of the County’s business base and one third of its employment demonstrating its position as a key economic location within the County. As shown in Figure 2.3 below, the City also contains the highest proportion of residents with a qualification of NVQ Level 4 or above8, considered important in attracting high value business investment. Figure 2.3 Percentage of residents with NVQ Level 4 or above qualifications Source: NLP analysis of APS data 2.8 Strong growth in Durham City’s higher skilled workforce has predominantly been driven by a growth in public sector jobs