Speculation grows over new Talbot Gateway office development in Blackpool town centre

Councillors will meet behind closed doors next week to discuss possible future phases of development for the multi-million-pound Talbot Gateway.

An item relating to further potential office development in the town centre is due to go before Blackpool Council’s executive on Monday, April 22, but all details are being kept under wraps.

A new £100m office development is currently underway between King Street and Cookson Street which will house around 3,000 workers from the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions). But the council has made no secret of the fact it hopes to bring even more office jobs to the town centre in order to further increase footfall and support businesses.

In November last year, it was revealed the council had set aside £1.3m for the design phase of the project, which it said would be reimbursed, following negotiations with an interested party.

It is now 10 years since the first phase of the Talbot Gateway Central Business District was completed, bringing £80m of investment with more than 1,000 employees brought into the town centre including at Bickerstaffe House council offices.

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That phase also included the Sainsbury’s supermarket and the refurbished Talbot Road multi-storey car park Phase two has seen the demolition of the Wilko building and its replacement with a Holiday Inn Hotel due to open on May 2, with the completion of the tramway extension and tram terminal, also due to open in the coming weeks.

Phase three is the construction of the DWP offices, while planning permission has just been granted for phase four which is the £65m Multiversity on land between Cookson Street, Milbourne Street, George Street and Grosvenor Street.

A town hall report published in November said future phases of the Talbot Gateway “will accommodate a significant office development and it is vital that the opportunity is not lost.” It said the council and its partner Muse Developments “have been negotiating with the interested party and have been developing preliminary designs for a scheme that will meet their requirements.”