Sir Robert McAlpine has started work on a £30m main contract to build the North East Space Skills and Technology Centre (NESST) for Northumbria University in Newcastle.
The scheme, based on the university’s city centre campus, includes the demolition and rebuild of the Wynne Jones building and construction of a six-storey extension.
The completed facility will provide about 900 square metres of space for the region’s growing satellite manufacturing sector, including clean rooms, prototyping laboratories, teaching spaces and a Mission Operations Centre.
The project is backed by funding from the UK Space Agency and Lockheed Martin UK Space.
Works are expected to complete in autumn 2026.
Sir Robert McAlpine was appointed as main contractor after an earlier pre-construction services agreement.
The university said NESST would support space sector innovation and collaboration between academia and industry. More than 350 jobs are expected to be created over the next 30 years, with the development forecast to inject £260m into the North East economy.
Work is now under way, with steel erection in progress on site.
Professor John Woodward, pro vice chancellor (international) at Northumbria University, said the development would position the region as a national hub for space and advanced manufacturing research.
Mark Gardham, sector director at Sir Robert McAlpine, said the company was drawing on its engineering expertise to deliver the complex city centre scheme safely and efficiently.
Source: Sir Robert McAlpine press release