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The Gateshead Regeneration Partnership (GRP) is planning the regeneration of an old freight depot in central Gateshead, which has stood vacant for 25 years.
A planning application for 300 new homes on the former freight site, off the Felling Bypass, has been submitted to Gateshead Council as part of the overall masterplan.
GRP comprises Gateshead Council, construction and regeneration specialist Vistry Partnerships North (formerly Galliford Try Partnerships) and affordable housing provider Home Group. It has plans to create 2,000 new homes on 16 sites across the borough.
Plans for the freight depot site include 60 apartments in three blocks, and 240 two-, three- and four-bed homes. Around 15% of the proposed new homes would be allocated for affordable rent, through Home Group. There would also be homes for private rent; and 155 homes for market sale, through Vistry Partnership’s housebuilding division, Linden Homes.
GRP is already building homes in Gateshead. Construction of the first group of sites – in Saltwell, Deckham and Birtley - will be completed in the summer. Work on the second group of sites is under way at Kelvin Grove, Saltwell, with 46 family homes for private sale and six for affordable rent being constructed. Work is soon to start on a site at Rowlands Gill, on 23 private sale homes. Finally, a site at Whitehills Drive, in Windy Nook, is due to start next month and will see a further 39 homes available for sale.
Sean Egan, regional managing director of Vistry Partnerships, said: “The old freight depot site offers a unique opportunity to establish a housing lead regeneration project close to the centre of the town. Should the planning application be successful, I’m confident the homes we want to create here will not only bring new people to the area but prove a popular choice with locals – as the partnership’s award winning project in Saltwell has done.”
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