Benton Park View

Benton Park View is the Longbenton site of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), a large group of office blocks located in Longbenton, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. The official name of the site is "Benton Park View", but it is widely referred to simply as "Longbenton" or, especially on Tyneside, as "The Ministry"’, after its original purpose as the administrative centre for the Ministry of Pensions (later the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance).

The principal function of the site has always been to administer the UK’s system of retirement and widows’ pensions, along with the system of National Insurance that raises contributions from both employers and employees for the purpose of financing those (and other) benefits of the British social welfare system. These functions have been handled in the past by the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS), the Department of Social Security (DSS) and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) before transfer of the contributions aspect to HMRC. The DWP, along with its adjunct the Pensions Service, is still involved on the site.

Over the last decade or so, the site has undergone a complete physical overhaul. All of the previous buildings have been demolished, to be replaced by a series of nine or so contemporary structures, built in grey metal and glass. These buildings include a reception building, a nursery, and two self-service restaurants, all of which are single-storey (although one of the restaurants has a basement that contains a sports and fitness centre), as well as several multi-storey office blocks. The old site consisted of a number of brick-built, single-storey H-shaped buildings that dated from the 1940s and a number of other buildings that dated from the 1960s, several of which were multi-storey blocks built in the minimalist concrete-and-glass style of the period. The older single-storey blocks were numbered (1-16) and the newer blocks designated by letter (A-D).

The ‘H’ blocks are believed to have been built as a hospital accommodation for wounded servicemen from World War II, although the buildings were never used for this purpose. It is also widely believed that they were built by German prisoners of war and were never intended for long-term use.With the founding of the UK welfare system in the late 1940s, these buildings were considered suitable as office space and were to remain in service for fifty years. Over the next few decades, the site grew as a major source of employment in the north-east of England, particularly on Tyneside. During the 1970s, the site employed approximately 10,000 staff, and contained banks, a post office, a gentlemen’s hairdresser, a garden shop, and a staff canteen with licensed bar. Special bus transport was provided for staff that travelled to and from many locations in the area.

The number of staff employed on the site steadily declined over the 1980s and 1990s, and most of the amenities listed above closed as clerical functions came to be performed by computers and personnel were decanted to other sites, notably the Tyneview Park site, which is located a kilometre or so east of Benton Park View, and to sites at the Cobalt Business Park, situated between North Shields and Shiremoor. The physical deterioration of the buildings had become increasingly evident, and so it was decided to construct the new buildings while demolishing the old, moving staff appropriately.

The only non-human remnant of the old site is the George VI plinth, a small stone plinth named after the monarch who opened the site, that once formed the base of the flagpole at the entrance to the old site. The plinth now stands at the centre of a small outside seating area at the rear (or western) end of the site.

The new site is, compared to the old site, remarkable for its extensive car parking areas, landscaping, and uncluttered appearance. The new buildings are all air-conditioned and provide kitchen facilities, drinks, snacks, and newspaper outlets, and seating areas for both formal and informal meetings. Each of the buildings has a number, and also a name that is associated with a Northumbrian location (e.g., Tynemouth House, Amble Inn, and Chillingham House).