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Building begins on £3.2m housing scheme

Work has started on constructing the biggest capital social housing project in Newcastle this year.

A £3.2m scheme to renovate the former Beavan’s department store on Shields Road, Byker, to provide 30 affordable flats will provide a rung for people getting onto the property ladder.

Funded by Byker Bridge Housing Association and the Housing Corporation, the building is to be rescued from dereliction and transformed into ground floor retail space with the flats above.

Chief Executive of Byker Bridge, Maurice Condie said: “The project will benefit single people who might not otherwise manage to get onto the property ladder. In these difficult times and as a result of the credit crunch, people are finding it more and more difficult to buy their first home.

“It would have been cheaper to demolish the building but nobody wanted that and we are a housing association who likes to contribute to the community around us. I would like to thank Newcastle City Council for all their help and support in enabling this project to happen.”

The scheme will breathe a new lease of life into Shields Road, formerly a bustling shopping centre for Newcastle’s east end and will be the central part of the regeneration of this area.

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