PROJECT management and design consultancy White Young Green has been appointed to provide civil and structural engineering for a 52-acre, urban business park development at Gateshead Quays.

The firm's Teesside office will work with preferred developer, Terrace Hill.

The Gateshead scheme, with a price tag of £250m, has a ten-year development programme. About 1.5 million sq ft of office space is to be constructed providing potential for up to 5,000 jobs.

White Young Green will carry out supplementary site investigation works, a detailed traffic study, environmental impact and mains utility services assessments.

The firm will be involved in highways, drainage and services infrastructure design as well as the civil and structural aspects of the proposed buildings in the scheme.

Bob Williams, White Young Green's divisional director, said: "The Gateshead scheme is very exciting and of major economic importance to the borough.

"We aim to submit an outline planning application in May and we are already working on its preparation. The site requires a wide range of engineering skills and I am confident that White Young Green is more than a match for the job."

The business park will be a working village with a pedestrianised central square allowing for the incorporation of other complementary buildings, including cafes, restaurants, creches and other community facilities.

Forty buildings are planned, from two to five storeys high with one eightstorey block.

Accommodation will range in size from 14,530sq ft to 92,110sq ft, car parking will be in a single storey deck beneath the buildings with an additional three multi-storey car parks.

Construction is due to begin towards the end of the year.