Member Article

Building towards Steel Town's rebirth

A property developer which takes its name from Middlesbrough’s industrial past has set out its plans to play a big role in the next stage of “Steel Town’s” rebirth. City of Ironopolis is currently working on low-cost home developments totalling £1.75m in Middlesbrough and Redcar. The homes, mostly apartments, will go on sale for between £75,000 and £100,000 - well under the local average new build property price.

Andy Preston, one of the company’s founders, said: “City of Ironopolis is not a charity, far from it, but it is a company run by two brothers who were born in Middlesbrough and who still have strong family, social and business ties with the town, and want to see something good happening here. “We have set out to build good quality affordable properties, but we’re not interested in selling to buy-to-let investors - we want our buyers to be local people who want to a better home for their families.”

City of Ironopolis is using local architect Steve Dodds, of Stockton-based sjd Architects, to create apartments in the Saltersgill area of Middlesbrough and houses in Redcar. At the same time, it is seeking land deal opportunities in the heart of Middlesbrough for luxury apartments at the top end of the buyers’ market - to quicken the pace of what it describes as the re-urbanisation of central Middlesbrough.

Andy said: “It may not be a city by name, but Middlesbrough is a very important regional centre and is quickly gaining a big city feel thanks to Middlesbrough Council’s regeneration programmes and high profile developments such as Middlehaven. “Today’s professional workers want to live close to where they work, and close to amenities such as restaurants, cinemas, gyms and coffee shops. This is a global phenomenon which isn’t going away.

“In Teesside, TS1 will become the place to be.”

To find out more about City of Ironopolis, visit www.cityofironopolis.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .