Work is under way to give a derelict plot of land in Ouseburn a long-awaited facelift.
The future of the Lower Steenberg’s Yard has been subject of a long-running saga, with redevelopment plans hit by the collapse of Carillion and dreams of a striking tower abandoned after being deemed too expensive.
But work to transform the site, close to the Toffee Factory, into 28 luxury riverside apartments has now begun.
Engineers are currently strengthening the river wall of the Ouseburn before construction of the £8m housing development itself can begin in earnest.
When complete, the development will have commercial units on the lower Ouseburn level and 28 two and three-bedroomed mezzanine-style homes on the upper storeys accessed from Ouse Street.
Newcastle City Council approved the latest designs for the project in December 2018, after a previous plan had to be abandoned.
The yard, vacant since 2005 and originally home to a cattle sanatorium, was previously earmarked for an eight-storey tower that would have transformed the Ouseburn skyline.
When PfP Igloo took over the project following Carillion’s collapse, the plans were redrawn - scrapping the tower element of the development for a more modest alternative.
The developers said that “a changing market and very high remediation costs” had meant that the more ambitious vision for the Lower Steenberg’s Yard had become financially unviable.
It is expected that the development will be completed in 2021.
The Lower Steenberg’s Yard scheme is part of a wide transformation of the Lower Ouseburn Valley which began with The Malings and could also include future developments at Malmo Quay and Spillers Quay.
The yard itself dates to around 1876 when it was opened as cattle sanatorium used mainly as temporary quarantine facilities for cattle and sheep imported into Newcastle, mainly from Denmark.
Following a decline in animal imports in the early 1900s the site was sublet and was later occupied by an oil works, confectionery factory – which is now The Toffee Factory development – and warehouses.
