Council renews lease on Hartlepool's Northgate House building

Northgate House, formerly known as Bryan Hanson House, has been let by the council to Northgate Information Solutions UK since March 2014.

The company has been the council’s IT provider since 2003, although originally under the name of SX3, and they also deliver contracts for other clients from the site off Church Street.

Hartlepool Borough Council Finance and Policy Committee approved plans to extend the current lease with Northgate until at least the end of September 2023.

The extension of the lease is at the same rent as the original amount and still represents market rental value and is considered likely to do so for the next few years, according to council finance officers.

Cllr Mike Young, deputy council leader, praised the move.

He said: “We don’t want to be left with a building that is vacant and I think any kind of money we can be making on that building is essential at this moment in time.

“We should continue in this vein with that particular contract.”

The move to extend the lease of the Lynn Street site was unanimously backed by all councillors on the committee.

Cllr Paddy Brown added: “An empty building of that size in the town would be another disaster.”

Chris Little, council director of resources and development, told the committee Northgate has carried out various improvements to the building.

He also noted the lease represents ‘appropriate rental value’ at a time when the market for office accommodation continues to be ‘difficult’.

He said: “They continue to deliver a range of contracts to different clients from that property, they’ve made significant improvements, with our agreement, to the internals of the building.

“In some respects it’s barely recognisable to the building we handed over to them a number of years ago.

“The market for office accommodation has been difficult for a number of years.

“It’s become particularly difficult over the last few months and I suspect that will continue for the next few years as organisations respond to Covid and adjust to using office space, people working from home etc."

He added: “Against that background I think the rental value set out represents an appropriate rental value.”

Mr Little also noted in a report ahead of the meeting Northgate represents an ‘excellent covenant as a tenant’ and is a ‘significant employer in the town’.

Following the extension the lease would run until the same time as the council’s current IT contract with Northgate, which itself was extended in 2019.

A message from the editor

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to the Hartlepool Mail website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/subscriptions to sign up.