Council bosses say they are “100 per cent committed” to completing the regeneration of a vital Newcastle development site.
It was announced last week that popular shipping container village Stack could be making a return to the city, with plans to create a temporary home for the leisure venue at the Stephenson Quarter. It is hoped that the pop-up Stack will be in place before Christmas, taking over a plot of land next to the Crowne Plaza Hotel behind Central Station for a year.
While Stack’s potential return has been generally welcomed, the temporary venture has prompted new questions about the long-term future of one of the city’s most important redevelopment schemes. A transformation of the Stephenson Quarter, once home to Robert Stephenson’s steam locomotive works, has so far produced the hotel, the Boiler Shop, and the Rocket office block, while the Pattern Shop is in the process of being brought back from dereliction as new offices.
Read More: Newcastle Stack set to return in new city centre location, developers reveal
But the former industrial hub has had a troubled recent history. A previous agreement between Newcastle City Council and the Clouston Group for the site’s regeneration collapsed when the firm failed to meet its payments to the local authority, before a new £104m joint venture with PfP-igloo was launched in 2020 to finish its seven remaining plots.
The Crowne Plaza has also been a major source of controversy, having received more than £30m in loans from the local authority to build it and then prop up its finances. Despite the UK’s current state of economic turmoil, the council insists it is “confident” in the site’s future and believes Stack could help generate more interest in Stephenson Quarter.
A council spokesperson said: “Stephenson Quarter is one of the most important development sites in the city, bringing back into use parcels of land that have been dormant for years. The masterplan has been approved and development on the site is progressing.
“With our partners PfP-igloo we are converting the Pattern Shop into a sustainable home for small and medium-sized businesses which will create good quality jobs of the future. We are marketing the wider site and developing proposals for new office accommodation to complement the historic setting. In the meantime, the temporary use of the site for Stack – subject to planning and regulatory approvals – will increase footfall to the site and generate economic activity.
“The pandemic and challenging economic conditions with the prospect of recession is affecting developments right across the county. However, we remain 100 per cent committed to this site. We believe in its great potential and are confident it will provide another stimulus to the city’s economy, attracting investment and creating jobs once it is complete.”
Lib Dem councillor Greg Stone said that temporary ventures like Stack are a “good way to literally fill the gap”, but that there is “still a lot of land to bring forward” on Stephenson Quarter.
The opposition party spokesperson on business and the city centre added: "Opening up the Stephenson Quarter and the area south of Central Station is a legitimate long term goal for the city council, but these projects never happen overnight and require patience and commitment: it can often take at least a decade for such schemes to go from concept to visible progress.
“The council has tried to drive forward East Pilgrim Street in the city centre as well as plans for the west of the station around the Arena, with less staff capacity, and I suspect this is affecting deliverability. A lot depends on economic confidence and developer interest in key sites, and the council is once again facing economic headwinds.”
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