WELCOME
The thread running through this week's Review North Briefing is how the North East is making room for growth. New offices, homes, transport links, passenger numbers and new capabilities all point to an economy adding capacity. The question is whether that capacity connects into something larger than the individual projects.
Newcastle's city centre is growing east and west of Central Station, Metro has set out a route to Washington, Newcastle Airport is planning for more passengers and the former Sage headquarters is being lined up for 320 homes.
Greggs' AI hire and the region's ninth consecutive year of net gains from the rest of the UK add a different dimension: this is also about the people, skills and activity the region can attract and retain.
The test is whether these changes reinforce one another: better-connected places, more homes, stronger businesses and more reasons for people to come and stay.
THE LEAD
Newcastle is rebuilding its city centre on a scale it has not attempted in decades
Newcastle is extending its city centre in two directions at once. On Pilgrim Street, to the east, two Grade A office buildings complete in April 2027, in a district that will take around 9,000 civil servants. To the west, on former industrial land beside the Tyne, 519 apartments at Pottery Lane have topped out and start completing in December.
Together that is more than 1,100 homes in live schemes and over 700,000 sq ft of new offices. Most of it sits on land that was derelict, fenced off or used as car parking ten years ago.
The gap is the ground in between. Behind Central Station the area is railway tracks, surface car parks and a viaduct that has been unused for years. Founders Place, 4.3 acres of council-owned land, carries two live applications from igloo Regeneration and Newcastle City Council, one of them a 12-storey office building with a public square designed to connect the station to the Quayside and the Stephenson Quarter. None of it is consented or built.
Homes England names a preferred bidder for Quayside West on 30 October. That should settle who builds the largest waterfront site. It does not commit anyone to building the routes between the two halves.
THE NUMBER
21,751
Passengers passed through Newcastle Airport on 23 August, when it recorded its busiest day for international travel since opening. The airport handled 5.48 million passengers in 2025 and aims to reach 9 million a year by 2040.
CHART OF THE WEEK
The North East gained 7,439 more people from the rest of the UK than it lost in the year to June 2025. It was the region’s ninth consecutive annual gain, according to the Office for National Statistics. For a region long defined by outward migration, this is not a one-year improvement but a sustained reversal.
Nine of the region’s 12 local authorities recorded gains. The pattern is not uniform, but the wider story is clear: the old idea of the North East as a place people mostly leave no longer fits the evidence.
THE WEEK
Metro to Washington route revealed with three proposed stations
The proposed 13km extension would link Pelaw and South Hylton through three new stations, Follingsby, Washington North and Washington South.
Follingsby is the most important economic detail. Nexus proposes a park-and-ride close to the employment corridor around Nissan and the International Advanced Manufacturing Park.
The route is now clear. The final cost and business case are still to come.
Newcastle Airport has its busiest day for international travel since it opened
Newcastle Airport says 23 August was its busiest day for international travel since it opened, with 21,751 passengers passing through in 24 hours. The record follows easyJet’s new base, additional routes from Jet2 and Ryanair and a facilities upgrade costing nearly £60m.
The airport wants to increase annual passenger numbers from 5.48 million in 2025 to 9 million by 2040.
The growth coincides with the arrival of a new shareholder. Aena, the Spanish state-owned airport operator, acquired a stake in the airport’s holding company in May, giving it an indirect economic interest of just under 25 per cent. The seven North East councils retain their majority stake.
Avant plans 320 homes for former Sage headquarters site
Avant Homes North East says it has submitted an outline planning application for up to 320 homes on the 24-acre site of Sage’s former headquarters at Newcastle Great Park. The Sunderland-based housebuilder would demolish the vacant 230,000 sq ft office and replace it with family houses and apartments. Fifteen per cent of the homes would be affordable.
Sage used the building as its global headquarters from 2004 until moving to Cobalt Business Park in 2021. It concluded that the building was inefficient, with 40 per cent of its space used for non-office functions, and needed substantial investment.
Newcastle City Council has already ruled that an environmental impact assessment is not required. A decision on the outline planning application is the next step.
Greggs is hiring a Head of Data & AI as it expands AI across the business
Greggs is recruiting a permanent head of data and AI at Greggs House in Newcastle. The role will oversee machine learning, AI productivity and governance across the business.
The bakery chain already uses machine learning to forecast demand and replenish stock. Its software and service teams are also using AI agents in systems work and support.
The role will be based at the company’s Newcastle headquarters where most of its central functions are located.
Atom Bank confirms succession talks after reports CEO will step down
Atom Bank has confirmed that discussions about chief executive Mark Mullen’s succession have accelerated following reports that he is expected to step down. No departure date, successor or interim appointment has been announced.
The talks come as Atom Holdco continues to consider ways for shareholders to realise their investment. The group reported pre-tax profit of £9.4m in the year to March 2026, up from £5.1m a year earlier. The Financial Times reported in June that a Jefferies-led sale process had collapsed.
IN THE CALENDAR
Saturday 12 September: Culture House opens in Sunderland. The library and cultural building on Keel Square is the anchor of the Riverside Sunderland regeneration programme, and its approved cost has risen to £41.6m from an earlier £27.975m.
Monday 28 September: the North East Bus Franchising Scheme consultation closes. This is the statutory consultation before a mayoral decision on taking the region's bus network back under public control, expected early next year.
Wednesday 28 October: the Autumn Budget. The North East watch-point remains fiscal devolution, with mayors due a share of business rates from next spring and the income-tax detail still to come in the Budget roadmap.
Friday 30 October: Homes England expects to name a preferred bidder for Quayside West and the first phase of the Highline. It is the decision that settles who builds the largest undeveloped site on Newcastle's waterfront.
MORE FROM REVIEW NORTH
Acklam Hall plans a 59-bedroom hotel to 'future-proof' the business
Acklam Hall's revised hotel proposal keeps the 59-bedroom scheme separate from the Grade I listed hall, after Middlesbrough Council rejected an earlier version. It adds to the current run of hotel investment in Middlesbrough, but still has to clear planning.
Aspire Technology Solutions’ revenue reaches £50.8m
Revenue rose from £35.1m to £50.8m and operating profit from £6.9m to £10.7m. The Gateshead IT services company has also expanded into central Scotland through acquisitions and is now halfway to its £100m turnover target for 2030.
Tees Valley apprenticeship levy service reaches £1.8m in pledges
Tees Valley Combined Authority says its levy matching service has secured £1.8m from 11 employers, supporting 89 apprenticeships at 26 local businesses. It says £600,000 remains available for further transfers.
Until next week,
Stephen