Gateshead

Gateshead and Newcastle are situated at the heart of the metropolitan area of Tyne and Wear, in the North East of England with a combined population of over 500,000 of whom around 5% reside along the banks of the River Tyne. Traditionally an area of heavy industry, the area has been transformed in recent years by the cleaning up of the river, making it a desirable area to live and visit.

Despite the resurgence in residential, commercial & leisure uses development to date has not maximised the potential of the riverfront. Current planning policy demarks the riverfront areas for employment use, in many cases, but has neither the flexibility nor the supplementary planning guidance in place to cope with the challenge of pressure to develop residential schemes along the waterfront.

As part of the Waterfront Communities Project, Gateshead led on the theme '21st century city-living for Europe: mixed use with affordable housing' experimenting with challenging the standard residential developers product by exploring innovative solutions to community living in partnership with fashion designers (Wayne and Geraldine Hemingway) and Builders (Wimpey Homes) in the Staiths South Bank development.

Gateshead's experience of visual arts (Baltic flour Mill) and music (SAGE) also brings considerable experience of arts-led urban regeneration to the project.