Inspirational plans to transform an area of Newcastle Great Park into a vibrant and thriving market square with contemporary affordable housing and high-quality retail units have secured planning approval and work has started on site.
The £5m mixed-used development, which will kick start the much needed Town Centre on Newcastle Great Park, has been designed by award-winning North East practice Gradon Architecture. The client is Newcastle Great Park Consortium and the appointed Contractor is Gus Robinson Developments.
Plans for the site include 38 contemporary two-bedroomed apartments with nine ground floor retail units below. The development also includes a town square, pub and offices all surrounded by high-quality landscaping and pedestrian routes.
All of the apartments have a balcony and light, airy living spaces; while the spacious, open plan retail units below are positioned to define the retail streetscape and differentiate living and shopping areas.
Gradon’s fresh, modern designs use a complementary mixture of brickwork and render, each with intersecting projecting bays. These design details serve to create attractive, multi-dimensional facades, creating an eye-catching building entirely suited to its position on the Market Square.
Work is underway on site, with the development set to be occupied in April 2017.
The Newcastle Great Park scheme is the latest of a number of prestigious design projects for the practice, which has offices in Ryton, Gateshead; Mongolia and Northern Ireland.
Other projects on the go for Gradon include the landmark £6m Gateshead Energy Centre, fire stations in Alnwick (£5m) and Hexham (£3m), plus a new £10m Arts Centre in Northern Ireland and a £4m Galleria Retail Centre in Mongolia.
Graham McDarby, design director at Gradon Architecture, said: “This is an important development that will create a vibrant and exciting heart for Newcastle Great Park Town Centre. Having worked on the initial vision for the town centre masterplan a number of years ago, it’s great to see those plans now coming to fruition. We have taken great care that this development blended seamlessly with its existing surroundings, whilst providing an attractive public space for the local community.”
David Abercrombie, Newcastle Great Park Project Director, said: “The consortium has worked hard to continue to deliver necessary infrastructure so that the town centre can progress. This development shows further commitment to deliver retail opportunities and, with our partners Bernicia, will deliver 38 affordable two bedroom residential units for occupation in early 2017. There is considerable interest in the retail units and we are working hard to have occupiers in place as soon as possible.”
Steve Bell, Managing Director at Gus Robinson Developments, said: “This is significant project and we are delighted to be appointed as principle contractor. Over the years, Gus Robinson Developments have carried out a wide variety of commercial construction projects, many of them being in the retail sector. It is only over the last five years that we have been involved in building affordable housing. This is the first time we have been able to showcase both parts of the business within the same project and the whole of the team are looking forward to seeing the scheme progress.”
To find out more about the architectural services that Gradon Architecture provides, visit www.gradonarchitecture.com, follow @gradon_arch on Twitter or search for ‘Gradon Architecture’ on LinkedIn.
