A HISTORIC ballroom is to be transformed into luxury offices in a £1.1m scheme to boost a North-East business park.

The Beehive Ballroom, in Darlington, the scene of many dances in the 1950s and 1960s, will provide modern office accommodation under a two-phase redevelopment plan.

In its heyday the building was the social club for Patons and Baldwins, a wool manufacturer that employed more than 4,000 people, and it was named after the company's beehive logo.

The building was used as the staff canteen, but was also a popular dance venue at night and is remembered with fondness as the place where many couples in the town met, and where hundreds of people danced the night away.

As well as being part of the area's social history, the ballroom is also of architectural importance. However, it has remained unused and empty at the Lingfield Point site, off McMullen Road, for about 15 years.

But its future is now secure thanks to Lingfield Investments, which is to create six 2,500sq ft, split-level loft style offices, each of which will have a terrace and mezzanine floor.

Eddie Humphries, estate manager at Lingfield Point, said the work was the first phase in the redevelopment of the building and would add to the £16m it has already invested in the site, which is now home to 30 businesses employing 1,400 people.

Externally the Beehive will look the same, while inside changes will be made to make way for the offices, although original ceilings and other features will be retained where possible.

Mr Humphries said: "The Beehive Ballroom is an important part of Darlington's heritage and this announcement will ensure that it also forms an important part of the town's future.

"We are confident that the stunning new units will be unique to Darlington and I am sure that this will mean that we will add to the growing roster of businesses investing in Lingfield Point."

Work on the Beehive Project is due to start at the beginning of next month and be completed in the late summer.

Mr Humphries also expects a second phase to the development, to transform the other half of the building, which used to be kitchens and dining areas, into offices, at a later stage this year.