The development of the site, known locally as the ‘long-neglected bunker’, is being led by Union Property Development (Hexham) Ltd and represents a major economic investment in the town.

This is the second project Sigmat has won with the North of England contractor in just under a year.

The team recently completed an apartment building of twenty-eight 2 and 3 bedroom homes in a residential development known as Steenberg’s Yard, which is situated in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley.

Having impressed the Esh team with their overall performance on the Steenberg’s Yard project, Sigmat landed the new contract to deliver a new four-storey hotel facility on the 5.5 acre site which has been vacant for decades.

With a planned programme of just nine weeks on site, Sigmat are able to harness the speed of build that LGSF facilitates.

The detailed build schedule includes all external walls with sheathing board, internal walls with light weight cross bracing, minimal hot rolled structural steel, Sigmat’s proprietory trapezoidal decking ‘SigDeck’, CP board stairs and a concrete slab, as well as providing the craneage of 80 plasterboard packs and 57 bathroom pods.

Sigmat Pre-Contracts Director Ryan Simmonds said: “We are delighted to build on our relationship with the team at Esh Construction with this latest award. The scheme is a great addition to our commercial build portfolio and we look forward to bringing our expertise to this exciting project.”

Brian Joyce, Construction Director at Esh, said: “We have developed a positive working relationship with Sigmat through the recent development of Steenberg’s Yard in Newcastle and we look forward to working with the LGSF specialist again on the Travelodge development at Hexham Bunker.”

Sigmat’s work on site is due to start in Summer 2021 with the overall project expected to complete in April 2022.