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Pearl Assurance House Refurbishment | Newcastle | 8fl | Completed

41K views 162 replies 45 participants last post by  Ken O'Heed 
#1 ·
I found this on the Newcastle planning site:-

2011/1764/01/DET | Internal and external alterations including refurbishment of floors 2 to 8 and lobby area, external glazed doors, window replacement, new entrance canopy, formation of atria at second floor and overcladding of parapet above 8th floor | Pearl Assurance House 7 New Bridge Street West Newcastle upon Tyne

http://publicaccess.newcastle.gov.u...ils.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LV2NDSBSAP000


2011/1765/01/ADV | Display of back lit polycarbonate panel over 8th floor parapet with individual letter signs to tower and illuminated canopy | Pearl Assurance House 7 New Bridge Street West Newcastle upon Tyne

http://publicaccess.newcastle.gov.u...s.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=LV2NDVBSAP000


Uploading renders in a minute!...
 
#3 ·
Even more horrifying than it is now! And with new windows and all, it's almost guaranteed to not be knocked down for at least another 30 years. I was at least hoping they'd strip off the facade and try to make something more harmonious out of it, but no. (And why couldn't they have done something like this to the Bank of England, the one Brutalist building in the Toon that was semi-interesting?)
 
#8 ·
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We have discussed the Pearl Assurance Building a few times on this forum previously.

Here are the links to those discussions, from the Alphabetical Subject Index Thread . . .

P

PEARL ASSURANCE BUILDING / PEARL ASSURANCE HOUSE . . .

Pearl Assurance House - The old and new buildings contrasted
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=50765891&postcount=610
The pre-1970s former Pearl Assurance Building
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=53228423&postcount=844
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=62244019&postcount=1120
Pearl Assurance House Refurbishment | Newcastle | 8fl | Proposed (Project Thread)
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1471226
.

. . . . and here is one of those earlier posts, showing (amongst other things) the new 1970s building, as originally planned . .


Newcastle Historian; January 26th 2010 said:
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Pearl Assurance Building, Old & New . . .

These photos were posted on the 'skybar', but I thought they should be on this thread too!

I hate Pearl Assurance House - would love to see it gone
and here it is when it was all just a 'glint in the planners eye' . . .




This 'artists impression' was from the inside pages of a Newcastle City News 'Picture Supplement' from 1970/71 (see front cover below) called "Striding into the 21st Century"' . . .

The front cover shows some other 'new' buildings being planned in that era . .



Mind (while I do not actively dislike this 1970s version, at all) I think I preferred the original . . .

Photo taken in 1904 . .



Photo taken (just before demolition) in 1970 . .


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#12 ·
So not only do they want to make it look this bad, they're renaming it 'The Pearl'..."Meet you outside the Pearl", "I work in The Pearl". Nah, can't see it catching on!

I thought the idea of brutalist architecture was that, although it wasn't to everyones taste, at least it was distinctive. Losing more striking examples like the Bank of England, Dunston Rocket, Get Carter car park and the Central Library and keeping this? It doesn't seem right. It just looks like they're giving a very average 60s building a 90's style po-mo blandification.
 
#20 ·
Yes its offices on the upper floor and retail on the ground. I would imagine any bar or restaurant would give all sorts of access problems? - not sure what kind of views you would get from the top, might be one of those things that you think would give good vistas but in reality its not high enough and you get a lateral view of rooftops.
 
#30 ·
I found this on the Newcastle planning site:-

2011/1764/01/DET | Internal and external alterations including refurbishment of floors 2 to 8 and lobby area, external glazed doors, window replacement, new entrance canopy, formation of atria at second floor and overcladding of parapet above 8th floor | Pearl Assurance House 7 New Bridge Street West Newcastle upon Tyne

http://publicaccess.newcastle.gov.u...ils.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LV2NDSBSAP000
Granted Conditionally - 18/04/2012 @ http://publicaccess.newcastle.gov.u...s.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=LV2NDSBSAP000
 
#31 ·
Anyone have any news on the 'pearl' ? I had a look the other day and noticed there is a single window that has been replaced with a grey - possibly metal frame. Simply upgrading all the windows to modern ones could actually make it look alright - providing they brightened up the exposed concrete
 
#33 ·
New amended plans proposal submitted:

2011/1764/02/RVC | Variation of condition 2 (list of approved plans - removal of overcladding to parapet, revised entrance canopy, revised windows, revised atria and minor internal alterations) to planning permission 2011/1764/01/DET dated 18.04.12: External alterations including refurbishment of floors 2 to 8 and lobby area, external glazed doors, window replacement, new entrance canopy, formation of atria at second floor and overcladding of parapet above 8th floor | Pearl Assurance House 7 New Bridge Street West Newcastle upon Tyne

http://publicaccess.newcastle.gov.u...ils.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=MH6Q0XBS05100
 
#34 ·
Refurbishment for Pearl Assurance House
by Iain Laing, The Journal, March 20th 2013


WORK is set to start on the first major office refurbishment seen in Newcastle city centre for over three years. Pearl Assurance House, a 37,600sqft, eight-storey landmark building at the junction of Northumberland Street and New Bridge Street, will be extensively remodelled in a £3m project for Hermes Real Estate Investment Management Limited (HREIML). Sunderland-based Brims Construction will carry out the refit contract, which will see floors two to eight completely refurbished and the building rebranded as The Pearl.

The work will involve stripping the building back to its core to provide open-plan office space from 2,560sqft to 3,535sqft, with new heating and cooling systems, new windows and decor throughout, and a new entrance and upgraded reception area. The ground-floor retail space will be unaffected by the works.

Chris Pearson, partner at Gavin Black & Partners, joint agent with Knight Frank, says the 1960s building is set for a return to the office sector as a genuine landmark building. “It is in the most central position in Newcastle City Centre, with all the benefits that generates – Metro access for example, prime retail and leisure, city centre car parking, residential opportunities in the adjoining Grainger Town and so on,” he said.


Read More - http://www.nebusiness.co.uk/commerc...newcastle-city-centre-offices-51140-33023545/
 
#42 ·
Got these photos on Wednesday 8th May, of the front of the ongoing 'Pearl Assurance Building' refurbishment, showing an interesting hoarding . . .


A couple of pictures by myself Sunday 26/05/13 approx 1130 to show development now "sheeted" and with access staircases with new advert display (images hosted on Photobucket)



KEN
Change of advert as well Ken.
 
#38 ·
I am going to defend this building. Always thought it looked like an old IBM style computer with a square monitor on top.

True what was there before was much better - but it went the year I was born, so I can't remember it.

One of the wonderful things about Newcastle is that it accepts change in it's architecture. It absorbs all sorts of styles, from ancient city walls through the centruies on stone, red brick ferrous concrete and glass.

The Pearl building is no looker - and there were much better examples of the genre around - Bank of England being one that springs to mind - but it is what it is. Bold, brash and brutal in that like it or lump it, does what it says on the tin kind of way.

It always seems to be the way, that we hate what went before when it isn't that old. Victorian stuff got torn down after the war, and now it's 60s/70s stuff that we hate.

The building has character and a kind of style. Style that came from a steel rule wielding architect, but it is what it is, and it is of an age gone by.

Dan.
 
#39 ·
I am going to defend this building. Always thought it looked like an old IBM style computer with a square monitor on top.

It is what it is, and it is of an age gone by.

Dan.

I agree with the comments above, as a 'new building' (part of the early 1970s rush of new City Centre buildings) I liked this one quite a bit, though not as much as (that great building of about the same age that we have just lost) the Bank of England building.

It is always (er) interesting for me to see this new building (as I experienced it as being) described as "of an age gone by" :nuts:

To me, it is modern, and equally as modern as (say) Wellbar Central, it's just that it has been there (a bit) longer!

In 'Post 8' of this thread I showed the announcement of the new-build from the "City News" that I still have in my collection, which illustrates why the new-modern-builds that I experience, will always be just that - to me!!

Here is an extract from Post 8 of this thread . . .




Looking forward to when this re-furb is completed and the building looks clean, fresh and new (again :lol:)
 
#40 ·
I'll reserve judgement until it's complete. The renders don't look amazing, but then again they're pretty basic and don't really go into a lot of detail. However, for an examply of a building I wasn't particularly keen on, but which has been rennovated to a high standard and turned into something more attractive than I expected I'd point you in the directionof the old Newcastle Breweries building, now Sandman Signature Hotel.
 
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