Galliford Try has won a £32 million contract to build Northumberland County Council's new headquarters (HQ) in Ashington.

Work on the new five-storey building is scheduled to begin in January next year.

The project will generate up to 220 construction jobs over the next 18 months. Works involve creating a smaller and more cost-effective building than the current HQ in Morpeth. Features include space for 910 work stations, customer service centre by the main entrance, conference facilities, publicly accessible meeting rooms, a cafe and rest room that can incorporate public access.

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The move, including saving on essential refurbishment and selling the Loansdean site for a new first school, retail and housing development - will save council tax payers around £16m over the next 25 years.

In addition, the project is part of a the wider £74m Portland Park development, a ten-year programme to regenerate Northumberland and create 1,000 jobs in Ashington.

Council Leader Grant Davey said: "This is a welcome next step in our Market Towns Initiative to regenerate and improve Northumberland's towns. We're pleased the scheme has now appointed a team to start work and can now progress for the benefit of the town, the county and the wider region."

Staff are expected to begin working from the new building by 2019.

(LM)