Thu 19 Jun 2008

Summer 2008

This summer we are progressing the conversion of the old school at Lowgate near Hexham into two houses. The extended parish centre at Cramlington has just been handed over. There we have had to contend with holdups due to winter weather and archaeology, but the building is now complete and looking smart with its new zinc roof and cladding.

Other work at the design stage includes a housing site in Washington and feasibility stage work on an ecotourism project. As usual a few domestic extension projects are also in progress. Work on the various churches we look after continues, with projects at South Shields and Haltwhistle, as well as in Newcastle. Our scheme for a new parish centre at Holy Trinity Jesmond, linked to the grade II* listed church finally received planning approval recently after protracted discussions with English Heritage.

Michael’s article about the Byker Redevelopment (now grade II* listed) is published in the latest issue of the Twentieth Century Society Journal. So much has been written about the Byker scheme over the past 30 years but very little about the way Ralph Erskine’s team worked in Byker, so this is an attempt to redress the balance (see links).