The team at Milburngate has helped a former employee of National Savings & Investments (NS&I) mark her retirement with a trip down memory lane.
Gill Richardson from Newton Hall, Durham, has spent the last 40 years working for NS&I, 35 of them based at Milburngate House, which used to be located on the site of the Milburngate scheme currently under construction on the riverside in Durham City.
Due to coronavirus restrictions, Gill, who is married with three children, hasn’t been able to celebrate her retirement in the usual fashion with a party. However, she wanted to take her career full circle by returning to the place where it all started in 1980.
She joined NS&I in the Holdings Files Department and progressed through the organisation working in the Death Claims and Complaints departments before reaching her retirement. Along with her colleagues, she left Milburngate House in 2015, prior to its demolition, moving across the River Wear to Freemans Reach to brand new offices, which were also built by the joint venture partners behind Milburngate, Arlington Real Estate and Richardson.
When Milburngate House closed Gill was involved with arranging reunions for ex-NS&I staff that worked in the building and plans to help organise retirement parties when possible for those colleagues who celebrations have also been impacted by the pandemic.
Gill was given a tour of the Milburngate development by Tolent project manager Michael Rutherford and presented with a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine to toast her retirement.
She saw up close how Milburngate is taking shape with the construction of the 92-bed Premier Inn hotel, three apartment blocks, which will feature 153 apartments, and the first of the retail and leisure units, which will include the Everyman Cinema.
Gill Richardson said: “The restrictions we have to live with at the moment mean that I can’t celebrate my retirement surrounded by my colleagues of the past 40 years, but I wanted to do something special.
“The Milburngate site is so precious to me as I spent so much of my working life there and it was great to visit the development and I can’t wait to come and visit the cinema and some of the bars and restaurants when it’s finished in 2022.”
Allan Cook, Managing Director of Arlington Real Estate, said: “Gill has enjoyed an impressive career with NS&I and we were delighted to welcome her to Milburngate to help her celebrate this amazing milestone. She is a great example of the wonderful people we have in our city and we all wish her the very best in her retirement.”