Castlegate Shopping Centre and Swallow Hotel demolition begins

MGL Demolition is undertaking the demolition of Castlegate Shopping Centre and the Swallow Hotel to enable Stockton Borough Council’s bold plans to transform Stockton Town Centre and connect the High Street to the river.

The buildings are being demolished to make way for Stockton Waterfront, a bold and visionary urban park and land bridge structure that will allow people to walk uninterrupted from the High Street to the riverside.

It will also be home to new leisure, health and community facilities on the southern end of the site. This will include a new leisure centre, library, NHS facility and customer service centre,

Demolition is now underway, with the excavator beginning to dismantle the 1970’s buildings piece by piece, through two phases.

The multistorey carpark will be demolished first, followed by part of the Swallow Hotel and most southern section of the shopping centre, before moving north through the rest of the centre.

The demolition will take around 12 months to complete. Once complete, work will start on the construction and redevelopment of the urban park in summer 2023.

The waterfront development is set to be complete by 2025 and will offer accessible space for community events and play host to Stockton’s world-class events programme.

Councillor Nigel Cooke, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, said: “This is a huge step forward for the regeneration of Stockton Town Centre and one that will have a positive impact across the entire Borough.

“We’ve been talking about this day for a number of years and now it’s finally here. The demolition of Castlegate Shopping Centre and the Swallow Hotel will transform the look and feel of the High Street and make the most of our town’s riverside setting.

“We’re at a really exciting stage and I can’t wait to see how it progresses. Stockton Waterfront will complement all of the changes we’ve made in recent years to make our town centres places where people want to visit for different reasons other than shopping.”

The project is being funded by Council investment as well as £16.5million from the Future High Streets Fund and a £20million investment from the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority. 

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “It’s clear that, to survive and thrive, high streets need to think differently to attract people and get them spending in our brilliant businesses. This is the first phase of Stockton’s transformation to do just that, bringing the river and town closer together to create a proper leisure space everyone can enjoy.

“This will work alongside investments being made right across Stockton, like our £7million funding for Billingham and its station, Thornaby’s Towns Deal, and Yarm and Eaglescliffe’s Levelling Up cash. Taken together, they will help drive real, change across all of our towns.”

Mark Davison, Joint Chief Executive of MGL Group, said: “We are very proud to be undertaking the demolition of Castlegate Shopping Centre and the Swallow Hotel in Stockton.

“This is a huge milestone in an important project that will bring new life to the High Street. We look forward to continuing our successful working relationship with the Council to bring a fantastic new environment to Stockton Town Centre.”