A large wooden plaque in Gateshead’s Old Town Hall listing its former council leaders is testament to the role it once played within the town.
For years, however, it has been empty. Its civic duties were transferred to a new building in the town in 1987, and aside from securing a bit part in an episode of Vera last year, the Grade II listed building was only been used by a few social and cultural organisations while a permanent use for it was being sought.
After a number of failed attempts to bring the building back to use – including plans for a dinosaur-themed attraction and an ‘Unnatural History Museum’ plan – new hope surfaced last August when social impact developer Capital&Centric snapped up the building.
The company initially told how they wanted to transform the site into ‘design-led’ homes, and this week co-founder Tim Heatley has been across to the Gateshead site, to reveal the firm’s plans for the building – the only surviving purpose-built Victorian town hall in Tyne and Wear.
The company behind the plans was formed in 2011 through the merger of Capital Commercial Properties, started by Adam Higgins, and Centric Property Group, started by Mr Heatley. It already owns and operates a number of successful schemes around the Ƶ. Construction is also well under way on other landmark buildings it is involved with, including the former Littlewoods offices in Liverpool.
Capital&Centric has an enviable pipeline of regeneration projects featuring over 6,000 homes and totalling nearly £2bn, spends an average £3m a week on regeneration and has over 1,000 people employed on their sites.
And their proposals really do promise to produce a fantastic regeneration project, continuing the firm’s mission to bring neglected, derelict buildings and brownfield sites back into use, transforming them into thriving neighbourhood communities.
An initial drawing shows how the Old Town Hall would form the centre piece for the residential scheme, with five other buildings surrounding the grand property.
Its design team is now working up designs for the building as well as the surrounding land it has acquired, which includes two car parks, turning it into a focal point for Gateshead town centre’s regeneration, as well as acting as a catalyst for further development.
Gateshead Council this week matched the developer’s ambition for the town centre site, with its cabinet agreeing to work with Capital&Centric on the refurb – a landmark decision which paves the way for the developer to start preparing a detailed vision to bring the building back into use.
Director and co-founder Mr Heatley says the site will create several hundred new homes once complete, while also bringing the old Town Hall back into use, for its residents and the local community. Potential residents at the site can look forward to a range of extra facilities too.
Schemes elsewhere have grown to become vibrant communities, where residents can live, work and hang out with features including gyms, rooftop cinema, yoga terraces, BBQs, resident’s gardens, terraces and lounges.
Their creation also attracted businesses keen to capitalise on the customers on their doorstep. In Manchester’s garden neighbourhood Kampus, for example, there is everything from bakeries, breweries, art studios, cocktail bars, trendy pie and mash shops and pet pampering businesses springing up.
Mr Heatley said the firm’s ethos stems from his time growing up in Greater Manchester.
He said: “I grew up in Salford and watching the regeneration of that area in the 1980s is probably what got me interested in property and the impact that regeneration can have.
“My parents worked in the care sector, and they fostered adults with learning difficulties – they still do – so I was always aware that I was in a fortunate position, and that I didn’t have those challenges in life and saw how difficult it can be for people who have grown up with those learning differences, whatever they might be, like autism.
“That informed what we do as a business around regeneration and growth. We refer to ourselves as a social impact developer and everything we do has to leave a very positive legacy in the towns and cities that we are working in.
“I think because of that approach around social impact we’ve grown more, and more quickly as a result.
“We’re in key cities like Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Sheffield, Stoke on Trent, Wolverhampton, and we’re all the way down to the south coast too, and expanding more into the North East too.”
In a prime example of local authority connections working together, the Gateshead project first got on Tim’s radar after he was put in touch with Gateshead Council by Pam Smith, Newcastle City Council’s CEO, who had worked with Tim in her previous role as chief executive of Stockport Council.
He said: “I said to Pam, we should be doing some things in Newcastle and she said: ‘Yes absolutely, and let me introduce you to Gateshead as well’.
“I asked Gateshead: ‘Where are your priority sites?’ I think that’s the best way to start – ask: ‘What do you need to see happen as a council?’ If we can help with that, that means that we will be top of the to-do list.”
The council told him that Gateshead Old Town Hall was “a problem”, so after getting in touch with the former owners, Capital&Centric agreed to purchase the site for around £1m.
Mr Heatley said plans are only just starting, but it could see involve the land and some of the roads around the building, including two car parks. The scheme will include several hundred homes and the new build phase will happen while the hall is being regenerated.
He said: “We also really want to make these pocket parks and public squares much more appealing, getting people hanging out in them a lot more.”
In Gateshead, the resulting homes will be available to rent, at an affordable price point, Mr Heatley stressed.
He said: “The homes will absolutely be affordable and they will be based on the fixed incomes based on the average salaries of the average resident in the immediate locality. I think three-quarters of our homes are affordable within the Joseph Roundtree definition, which is essentially a local income figure.
“Where they are more expensive is when we are in places like Manchester, which are right in the centre of the city, where it is a premium location. Being able to charge for a premium location like that allows us to invest in places like Gateshead where it isn’t a premium location, yet.
“They are to rent because so much is the huge cost of restoring the Old Town Hall, that if we were to take the total cost of the project and sell them at the market value, we would make a loss. So we know that we need to take a long term view of value creation. That’s why we are an operator as much as a developer.
“We are here not to extract wealth from the city, we are here to take a view on the ongoing improving outlook for Gateshead. Having done our analysis on the place we think it’s definitely on the up, and therefore we think that’s something we can invest in long-term, and hopefully it’ll be the first of other projects.”
A major focus for the company is creating central places for younger people and graduates to live and work, and the Old Town Hall project has the potential to retain the region’s university graduates and greatly aid its economic growth.
Mr Heatley said: “We noticed as well that there is student accommodation here, but after they graduate are they going to think: ‘I know I’ll stay here’? They’ve not got the accommodation that they can have in Newcastle or other places.
“And at that point, they are well-trained, have high earning potential and might want to put down roots. But Gateshead suffers from the brain drain so those students will leave the area, and capturing that wealth creation, that ability to harness that into the location of Gateshead is lost.
“A key focus for us is to harness graduate retention here, so that when people start to think about pairing up, maybe having a family and maybe staying somewhere long-term, if they are here, there’s a better chance of that happening. And that’s how you can help build wealth in a place, cater for the existing residents and also attract new ones long-term that have high earning potential.”
“Newcastle is also behind on its provision for post-graduates and young professional accommodation, and it is important to get that bit right. If it isn’t affordable and it isn’t flexible, to allow them to set down roots and grow, you are always going to struggle to attain that earning capacity.
“Businesses are looking for talent, that is their single competitive advantage. Universities spew up talent day in, day out but if you’re not capturing it and keeping it here then there’s no benefit.
“The most successful cities that I look at, like Manchester, are absolutely focused on ensuring those universities succeed and graduate stay. That’s how they were attracted to Amazon and all the other high growth nusinesses that are largely service sector and tech.
“It’s all here. Newcastle definitely has great Momentum, so it’s just about retaining and ensuring it doesn’t slow down. And Gateshead should absolutely be on the same level.”
While Gateshead is Capital&Centric’s focus for now, Newcastle is also in its sights.
The company said it hopes to be a part of the housing provision set to be built at Forth Yards in Newcastle, a major project being led by Homes England.
And the Old Town Hall in Gateshead could also be joined by other schemes there.
Mr Heatley added: “We haven’t ever done just ‘a’ project in a place. In every single city and town I’ve mentioned and others as well, we’ve gone on to do several projects. And that’s a really important defining thing for our business.
“The reason I approached Pam Smith in the first place was to ask her about Forth Yards – that’s where this all started – so we would love to be involved in that.”
