A NORTH-EAST law firm played a significant role in ensuring the smooth transition of an iconic tower, created by Northern Rock before its collapse, into new hands.

Last year, Newcastle City Council bought the ten-storey Northern Rock Tower in Gosforth, which was built in 2008 at a cost of £30m, to house 1,500 of the lender’s employees.

However, during the building’s construction, the Newcastle-based bank was taken into public ownership, meaning it could no longer embark on its expansion plans into newlycreated bases in Gosforth and Rainton Bridge, Tyne and Wear.

The purchase of the Tower – now called Partnership House – was overseen by Newcastle-based law firm Ward Hadaway, which provided construction and tax advice to the council.

The building has now been leased to green services group Eaga, which in turn has re-let one floor back to the council and one-and-a-half floors to the Family Health Service Authority.

Partnership House will also accommodate employees from the Real Partnership, a joint venture company set up between the city council and Eaga.

The Real Partnership aims to become a £45m turnover business and will specialise in providing services to the public sector including payroll, benefits, council tax payments, IT and customer services.

Ralph Wrighton, partner and head of construction at Ward Hadaway, led the firm’s team advising the council on the acquisition.

“Because of the history of the development of Partnership House, there were a number of important issues which had to be resolved before the acquisition was finalised,” he said.

“This involved a lot of hard work from our team at Ward Hadaway, particularly those in the construction unit, to ensure that the purchase of Partnership House could go ahead.”