The Beacon

HRH The Duke of Kent, KG visits The Beacon

HRH the Duke of Kent, KG has met tenants, staff and the design and construction team of The Beacon during his visit to the North East on Tuesday 3rd April 2012. After a tour of the building His Royal Highness unveiled a plaque to commemorate the official opening and will was joined by board members of Groundwork and Centre West, the two charities behind this iconic new building on Westgate Road, Newcastle.  Andrew Watts, Executive Director of Groundwork South Tyneside and Newcastle said:

“We are truly honoured that The Duke of Kent has visited The Beacon during his visit to the North East of England. Groundwork and Centre West were delighted to showcase the range of talent that the building has attracted to the west end of Newcastle”

The office accommodation at The Beacon was quickly snapped up by a range of new and established businesses including The Financial Management Centre, Wise Group and Artemis. Will Tombs from The Financial Management Centre said:

“As soon as we heard about The Beacon and the objectives to create a building for the community to promote business and social enterprise we knew it would be a fantastic place to locate the business. We are delighted to be one of the first businesses to move in and are confident that the premises will allow us to serve our clients more efficiently, support our staff and give us the room to expand further in the future”.

The Beacon was financed by Centre West, Groundwork South Tyneside and Newcastle and the European Regional Development Fund and provides a range of office accommodation ranging in size from 18 – 109 m2. The ground floor has two glazed walkways boasting 12 creative studios that have been rented by a wide range of local talent including Excelsior Academy’s school business Excel5. Lyndsay Robinson, Project Manager Excel 5 said:

“Being part of The Beacon is fantastic – artisan unit 5 “Excel5” is Excelsior Academy’s creative space and an opportunity for our pupils to showcase, share and develop their talents. Excelsior Academy continues to be committed to engaging with our local community, and the Beacon is a purposeful, living, breathing way for us to get involved with west end businesses, charities and local people.
Excel5 fits in perfectly with the Academy’s specialism of business enterprise. The work that our pupils produce is of such a high quality that it’s a shame not to showcase it to a wider audience – and what better audience than our own community”.

The Portal on the ground floor provides short term desk space on an easy in easy out basis and the bistro will be managed by a highly respected local restaurant. Training facilities within the building include a state of the art catering kitchen and hair and beauty centre providing an alternative learning environment away from the classroom. The top floor of the Beacon is a unique space for a wide range of conferences and celebrations from 50 to 400 people with panoramic windows and outdoor balcony space.