One of North East England’s biggest residential development projects is set to move forward after the official launch of the process to find the housebuilder that will deliver it.
North East developer Banks Property, supported by independent North East property consultants youngsRPS as land agent, secured outline planning permission for the Kingston Village site earlier this year, which will see around 900 new family homes being built on a 49-hectare site to the north west of Newcastle, which was allocated for housing in the 2015 Newcastle & Gateshead Core Strategy and Urban Core Plan.
The County Durham-headquartered firm has been working on refining the details of all aspects of the scheme, including the package of benefits that will be delivered to the local community as part of its development.
And now, Banks Property and youngsRPS have formally begun the process of identifying the housebuilder or housebuilders that will take the project forward.
A shortlist of potential developers will be drawn up in the autumn.
The Kingston Village project will see a significant investment into the North East economy and includes the delivery of up to 135 affordable homes.
Alongside the 900 new homes, it will also feature community assets including a new primary school, a local shop and cafe, allotments, a village green and substantial amounts of public open space.
A network of public footpaths and cycle ways, including links to nearby communities, will be put in place, while Biodiversity Net Gain will be delivered through the project and significant improvements will be made to the local road network, public transport links and wildlife habitats.
Gillian Reed, senior development manager at the Banks Group, says: “Our vision is for Kingston Village to be an outstanding, vibrant community which will integrate successfully into the west of Newcastle and we’re excited to be taking this important step forward towards realising this vision.
“The new government has stressed the importance of increasing the UK’s supply of high-quality homes, both to ensure people have the housing options they need in the places they want to live and to support the wider UK economy’s future growth.
“Significant investment that will be made in this site will be part of achieving these important objectives and will also ensure the delivery a range of new community assets that will be central to the creation of an inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable new community.”
Graeme Bruce, managing director at youngsRPS, adds: “This is the biggest open market tender exercise for a consented site around Newcastle that I can remember.
“We’ve already had substantive interest in the Kingston Village site from many of the UK’s best-known housebuilders, and we will work hard with the team at The Banks Group to ensure we identify the most suitable option for developing this landmark location.”
To register interest in the development of the Kingston Village site, please visit www.youngsrps.com.