They responded to advice that a Private Finance solution for Longbenton alone was not feasible by widening the scope of the project

2.11  The Agency commissioned Storey Sons and Parker, chartered surveyors, "to investigate the potential of funding the redevelopment of the Longbenton site through the Private Finance Initiative and the disposal of other sites in Newcastle as appropriate". The report in September 1994 concluded that there was little potential for Private Finance on the terms suggested mainly because:

a)  Longbenton was a bad location for office development to attract private sector tenants;

b)  there was little scope to reduce construction costs below the level proposed by the Agency; and

c)  the private sector would have no greater negotiating power than the Government to obtain more advantageous planning permission.

2.12  The Treasury and the Department considered that a project with a wider scope could be viable and decided to market-test the Private Finance option more fully by:

a)  giving the private sector discretion to provide suitable accommodation anywhere within a 10 mile radius of Newcastle City Centre, not just at Longbenton; and

b)  expanding the project to include three, later four, additional existing Department of Social Security sites in Newcastle, that the private sector could also propose to either retain or dispose of according to best advantage.