Darlington's landmark site

Graham writes.......

I travelled to London this week to meet with the Times writer Rebecca O'connor, whose excellent Bricks and Mortar section has won awards for the coverage of the UK property scene. My client John Orchard, a director of Marchday plc, accompanied me. We told Rebecca about Lingfield point, which is a landmark site of the same magnitude of, say, Fort Dunlop in Birmingham or Harland and Wolff in Belfast - sites with an iconic status in their previous history. In the case of Fort Dunlop it was the motor sector, in the case of H&W it was shipbuilding. Lingfield Point was the UK's largest textile site and home to Paton & Baldwin. Development has been underway for several years but it is about to embark on a new phase...you'll be able to read about in in The Times in due course. In the meantime its existing buildings have been winning awards, in particular two major property awards for its groundbreaking Memphis building.Memphis, which has been created from wool factory buildings originally constructed in the 1950s is now occupied by the Student Loans Company and 650 of its staff, was named as the best Commercial Property development at the Royal Chartered Institute of Surveyors’ (RICS) North East Renaissance Awards. The RICS accolade was presented within days of Memphis also achieving first place in the refurbished/recycled workplace category at the British Council for Office (BCO) awards. Memphis joins such prestigious previous winners in the category as Fort Dunlop in Birmingham and aircraft hanger-turned-business premises, Skyways House in Liverpool. Lingfield Point’s Memphis was among 51 shortlisted entrants for the RICS Renaissance Awards, which was judged by an independent panel property professionals who consider all aspects of buildings and projects from design and planning to construction and the look and feel of the finished project.Following the presentation of the regional RICS title, Memphis will be entered into the organisation’s national awards where it will compete against other projects from across the UK.Memphis is a remarkable space which capitalises on its industrial heritage. Developer Marchday plc was keen to celebrate the building’s history and work with the industrial loft style space. This was particularly appealing to the Student Loans Company which was keen to produce a contemporary inspiring environment for its dynamic workforce. As well as being a cutting edge workspace Memphis is a low energy sustainable development.Student Loans Company commissioned award winning designers 3Fold/Graven images to create a truly remarkable bespoke interior. Other companies, which worked on the Memphis Building regeneration included architects SP&A, builders Rok plc and TMD Design.