Winning designs for a greener Newcastle Quayside revealed

Potential designs for the development of Newcastle and Gateshead Quayside have been unveiled as part of a regeneration project.

The Tyne Estuary Partnership, formed by Groundwork NE & Cumbria, Environment Agency and Newcastle NE1, has unveiled winning plans from the first stage of its Design of Our Tyne initiative.

Newcastle-based civil engineer Fairhurst and Blackburn construction firm SEL Environmental both submitted designs that aim to improve the environment, attract visitors and benefit nature in the area.

Blackburn construction firm SEL Environmental’s design for the Quayside.

The combination of both designs could see the rethinking of the Tyne Riverscape with the introduction of a green zone with ‘living walls’, floating leisure facilities, street planting, vegetated floating islands and boardwalks.

Rob Carr, Tyne catchment coordinator at Environment Agency, commented: “The River Tyne restoration project is a wonderful opportunity to get creative, practical and environmental minds together to come up with a refreshing way of developing solutions to deliver a greener foundation for Newcastle Quayside.

“This will not only benefit the biodiversity of the area but will also have a knock-on effect for water quality, recreational prospects and the overall connectivity with the river.”

Lisa Stephenson, business development manager at Groundwork NE & Cumbria, added: “The Design of Our Tyne competition has allowed us to look at this specific quayside stretch of the Tyne Estuary to identify opportunities to make it greener, improve the water quality, boosting the local economy and bringing those three benefits together.”