The McLaren Property scheme at Brunswick Street was chosen over Central Park as the permanent site for the Darlington Economic Campus, with the two parties working collaboratively to bring the scheme forward. Construction of a new government hub will begin in 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2026.

Alongside the Treasury, the campus will house teams from the Department for Business and Trade, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Office for National Statistics and the Competition and Markets Authority. They will be working alongside the Department for Education who already have a base in Darlington.

An option on the Brunswick Street site, which is currently a vacant car park, was acquired by McLaren in November 2021.

McLaren Property’s regional managing director Tom Gilman comments: “This is a well-connected site that will be an important campus location for the Government, encouraging cross-Government collaboration between co-located departments and bringing the spending power of 1,400 civil servants to the town.”

The Darlington Economic Campus was established in August 2021 and departments moved into Feethams House in June 2022. It currently houses around 650 government staff and headcount is due to rise to 1,400 with the move to the purpose-built campus on Brunswick Street.

The Darlington Economic Campus is an important part of the Government’s Places for Growth programme, which is moving roles out of London to areas across the UK. The programme will see 22,000 roles move from London by 2030 and is part of ensuring that staff working in government are closer to the people and communities that they serve.