Tall & Urban News

A Newcastle skyscraper is to get a rooftop lounge, which will be open to the public all year round.

The 27-story Hadrian’s Tower is under construction at Rutherford Street, with 162 apartments being created in a development set to open next year.

The tower’s developers, High Street Group, had previously said that it would open the rooftop to the public for 18 days a year.

But it is now working on plans to have a champagne bar on top of what will be the city’s tallest building, with a dedicated lift giving access to what promises to be amazing views of Newcastle and beyond.

High Street Group has also announced two events where it will give people in the North East the chance to buy units in the development, having currently sold around 50 percent of its apartments to overseas investors.

Group chairman Gary Forrest said: “We’re going to re-design the roof space and have a Laurent Perrier bar up there. It will be somewhere you can have proper afternoon teas, and more of the public will be able to see the views. We think it’s going to be iconic and have premium rents. There’s going to be a lot of high-end technology and it will be very similar to a hotel.”

The company also wants to set up communal areas and activities in the building to encourage a community feel and ensure people stay there longer.

Elsewhere, High Street Group is also pushing ahead with plans to develop apartments on the former Brett Oils site, next to the Swing Bridge in Gateshead, and at Pottery Lane, close to the Utilita Arena in Newcastle. The two sites would create around 450 apartments between them.

The Newcastle-based group has a number of other housing projects in the region, and is developing major apartment blocks in Birmingham, Milton Keynes and Salford.

For more on this story go to The Chronicle.