LOOK out Newcastle, watch out Leeds – Middlesbrough is coming for you.

As Mayor Andy Preston yesterday unveiled plans for Boho X, a £250m business and lifestyle project for his town with the aim of turning Middlesbrough into the UK’s digital city, he warned that the bigger, more established business hubs in the North of England have something to fear and respect.

Boho X will be the tallest office block between Leeds and Glasgow. Planning permission was lodged yesterday, with the aim of work starting in August and being completed in 2022.

The building could home up to 1,000 workers in various office spaces, while 120 residential flats will be built to two adjacent blocks on land in the centre of the town, close to the railway station.

And, while the town, as Mayor Preston readily accepts, has lagged behind in the redevelopment stakes as higher profile cities have benefitted, he is out to change all that.

“This is absolutely, 100 per cent about dragging Middlesbrough up,’’ he vowed at the Riverside Stadium yesterday morning in front of business leaders and regeneration chiefs in the Legends Lounge.

“The whole of Teesside has some fantastic assets, some great strengths, but there’s been a colossus boom in commerce and all kinds of sectors over 20, 30, 40 years and we have really struggled to try and hold our own, never mind keep up. We have been left massively behind and have a load of catching up to do.

“This building on its own won’t do that. But this will be a step towards that, where we say we deserve the best, we deserve to compete with Leeds, to compete with Newcastle and we are going to do it.

“This is about us saying we are there to be taken seriously now. We are not going to put up with second-best, put up with mediocre stuff. We are going to terrify you, we are going to suck some of your business out of your cities to us.’’

Boho X, part of a £45m first phase of an overall £250m digital project, will also have an open rooftop area with panoramic views across the landscape.

The Mayor vowed to use North-East businesses to plan, build and construct the towers.

He added: “This is happening. Would anything have happened before if we hadn’t pushed on with Boho X? There was a really simple drawing, a sketch which has been knocking around for ever and a day.

“It was possible that could have been turned into a plan, it’s possible that it could have been funded from somewhere, it’s possible that it could have gone to planning. But would it?

“It was a modest conception, nothing to ignite the public and ignite businesses, inspire passion and ambition and achievement – and that’s what we are doing here.

“It is different standards, we are really going for it and going to have a building like nothing you will see in Newcastle or Leeds right now, everyone is going to want to come and be based in this building.

“We have people and businesses signed up already for it – they came to me to ask to be in it and reserve some space. Talk is cheap, money is precious, so we said ‘come on then, you want an office, floor? Give us some money’.

“The businesses who want to be in there and have set aside their space have all paid hard cash.’’

Mayor Preston, backed by Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen yesterday, added: “I think, for me, there’s a lot of ambition and passion. This will be a huge task and I am absolutely resolute we can do this and I will stake my personal reputation – whatever people think of that – on the line here.

“We have businesses involved, money is in bank, the planning application is in and we have businesses who want to come in. It’s genuinely exciting, a unique prospect and nobody has a building like this.

“The lifestyle part of it is important to it all, this is not just an office block. We are going to have therapy rooms, secure cycle storage, people living over the road in an amazing place to live, work, hand out, eat, lectures, entertainment – the whole thing is going to be an exceptional proposition.’’