Plans have been revealed for a new £10m retail, leisure and community hub as part of the redevelopment of a North East estate.
Bowes Gate will comprise a three-storey Victorian style building with retail shops found on a traditional high street, offices and a pavilion.
Developers have worked up designs for a four-sided town square and it is hoped to include a mix of a baker, delicatessen, butcher, grocer, florist, pharmacy, convenience store, hairdresser and beauty salon and an estate farm shop.
The upper floors of the building have been earmarked for offices or leisure purposes, including the potential for well-being activities such as yoga classes.
A proposed pavilion, with a bistro cafe and internal and external seating, will be built alongside Bowes Gate, creating the potential to host outdoor community events.
The estate is the traditional home of the Earls of Durham and is known to many people in the region as the home of the Lambton Lion Park in the 1970s.
The development is being spearheaded by the Newcastle office of national planning development consultants Lichfields, acting for Theakston Land and the Trustees of Lambton Estate.
Jonny Morris, of the estate’s managing agents GSC Grays, said: “Bowes Gate is anticipated as being the beating heart of the Lambton developments; it will be a thriving community hub with the facilities needed to service the new housing, businesses and a growing number of visitors to the Park.
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“Our vision for Bowes Gate is to provide a traditional high street featuring around 9 independent businesses, a cafe with outdoor seating and events.
“The development will act a focal point for the host of high-quality improvements and enhancements currently underway at Lambton Park. We have an exciting design for Bowes Gate and we are now inviting formal expressions of interest in the space.”
The main building of the new community hub comprises 11,600 sq ft of ground floor retail space and 26,500 sq ft of office and leisure space and features a colonnade on the ground floor. The pavilion bistro extends to 3,450 sq ft.
The development will also see creation of a new park immediately west of the pavilion.
In 2016, approval was given for a £28.5m revamp of the 1,500 acre estate initiated by Edward Lambton, the Seventh Earl of Durham.
Lambton Estate was described as one of County Durham’s ‘hidden gems’ which had fallen into decline, but money raised from modern development could be used to conserve the historic Grade I and Grade II listed buildings within Lambton Park.
The plans for changes on the estate, based between Chester-le-Street and Washington, they have so far resulted in the opening up over 11kms of estate pathways to the public and the beginning of work on over 100 new homes.
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The houses will be built in a range of styles from Victorian to Georgian, and Bowes Gate will sit adjacent to the first tranche of new houses and the existing Bowes offices.
The proposals also include landscaping, car parking and associated highway and roadworks and will be accessed from the eastern side of the estate via the new roundabout off Chester Road.
Lichfields has submitted an application for the commercial scheme and anticipate achieving approval in Summer 2021.