There was big news for Newcastle on Tuesday morning, with confirmation that perhaps the city’s biggest regeneration vision is being backed with major Government funding.
Ministers have confirmed that a £121.8 million public funding deal has been struck to help finally get the Quayside West development off the ground.
The money will help remediate one of Tyneside’s most notable pieces of derelict land to prepare it for new development, with 1,100 homes planned for the site next to the Utitla Arena.
It is hoped that the plans will act as a catalyst for a broader revamp of the area to the west of Central Station, known as the Forth Yards.
It’s a complicated vision that has been years in the making, and below is what you need to know about Quayside West and what comes next.
Where is Quayside West?
Quayside West is the name given to the proposed development that would be built on the large area of vacant land between the River Tyne and the Utilita Arena, to the west of Newcastle city centre. The site was once home to the Calders lead works, formerly known as the Elswick Lead Works, which closed in 2002 and was demolished.
It has now been derelict for more than 20 years and will be a familiar sight to those who regularly cross the Tyne, particularly over the neighbouring Redheugh Bridge. It has been described as the last major undeveloped brownfield site in Newcastle.
And what is the Forth Yards?
Forth Yards is the larger, ex-industrial area to the west of the city centre which Newcastle City Council wants to see redeveloped. Quayside West is the largest parcel of land within the Forth Yards area and is earmarked for 1,100 homes.
But 2,500 houses in total could be built across the entire area. The Forth Yards also includes:
- The Forth Goods Yard, a disused railway yard close to Central Station which is owned by Network Rail;
- Land off Pottery Lane, between the Redheugh and King Edward VII bridges;
- The Newcastle Heliport site on Tyneside Road;
- The Utilita Arena and its car park;
- The Safestore self storage site on Forth Street.
Image: Newcastle City Council / Hi-Track Aerial Photography.
Newcastle City Council has called the Forth Yards are a potential “new gateway entrance into the city”.
What has been announced this week?
The Government announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to put £121.8 million into the Quayside West scheme. That money will be used for the remediation of contaminated land, demolition and clearance works, and access improvements to the area.
It is hoped that the investment will help make the project more attractive to a private developer to come on board and deliver the new housing, with the complexities of the site having proved a major barrier to progress until now. Outline planning permission was initially granted in 2002 for the building of 528 homes on the Calders land, while developer Newby later won approval in 2020 for a £250 million ‘Ouseburn of the west’ scheme that would have comprised more than 1,000 homes. However, those failed to come to fruition and the former leadworks was later purchased by Government regeneration agency Homes England in an effort to get it back on track.
What will the new development include – and will it be affordable?
There are no fixed plans at this stage for what could be built on Quayside West, though the city council has released a series of concept designs showing new housing blocks, shops and cafes, greenery, and open public spaces.
There have been pledges that whatever development does come forward will feature affordable housing.
North East mayor Kim McGuinness said: “We want to see hundreds of social and affordable homes on this site – we need them. There are too many people at the moment who cannot access a social house or can’t get on the housing ladder and it is just not good enough. When we are talking about remediating sites like this to get 2,500 homes, part of the deal needs to be that a really high proportion of those are social and affordable.”
How long will it take?
It is expected that procurement of a private development partner for the Quayside West site will start in the autumn. But Newcastle City Council has said that it could take as long as 15 years for the regeneration of the site to be completed.
Council leader Karen Kilgour said this week: “I think we need to be realistic. This is a long-
Image: Kim McGuinness- North East Mayor on Facebook
term, 15-year programme until we see completion of the site. But what this money means is that we can start the remediation of the site, we can decontaminate it, we can put the infrastructure in that means that building can start. This is the beginning of something huge, but we need to be honest – it is not going to be overnight.”
What other development is happening in the area?
You may have noticed the large apartment blocks being built already between the Redheugh and King Edward VII bridges, on land off Pottery Lane. That development is being brought forward by Olympian Homes, backed by US investor Hines, and includes more than 500 flats.
At Network Rail’s Forth Goods Yard, a planning application for 600 homes and a multi-storey car park is expected to be submitted in October. That land is one for four priority development sites identified by a new Government development company aiming to build homes on surplus railway land.
Last year, the city council rejected plans for up to 356 apartments on the Newcastle Heliport site. Those proposals are now due to be subject to an inquiry, after developer MB European Limited appealed against the decision.
The future of the Utilita Arena site, meanwhile, remains uncertain. What happens to the existing arena is tied up with the stalled development of a replacement venue on the Gateshead Quayside. Arena operator ASM Global was due to move its operations to that new arena, but it is unclear whether that will still go ahead after the expected costs of that development spiralled. The North East Combined Authority and Gateshead Council are currently assessing what can realistically be brought forward on that site, between the Glasshouse music centre and Baltic art gallery, with a final decision yet to be announced.
No future alternative use for the existing Newcastle arena was ever confirmed. It had been suggested by some as a possible location for a new football stadium if Newcastle United were to leave St James’ Park, though reports have since put Leazes Park as the likely preferred destination if a new stadium is to be built.
