Three years after a £200m dockland regeneration scheme ground to a halt the Homes and Community Agency has confirmed it is searching for a new partner to restart the Middlehaven project.
Middlesbrough College campus at Middlehaven
A master plan for Middlebrough’s former dock front was first drawn up in 2004. It included industrial and office units, a shopping complex, leisure facilities and more than 750 new homes. But in 2011, and with just one 80-apartment block underway, BioRegional Quintain pulled out of the scheme. The high-profile sustainable developer eventually completed the first phase of the Middlehaven development before winding itself up. Its parent company, Quintain, then focused on London’s traditional housing market.
Now, prompted by other developments at Middlehaven, the Government agency is hunting for a new private sector partner or consortium to take up the long-term scheme. An HCA spokesman confirmed the new developer would be responsible for obtaining planning consent, delivering development “on a timely basis” and working with the agency and its regeneration partner Middlesbrough Council.
The local authority has already said it wants to see a bigger commercial mix on the site, but under any future agreement a developer would take the freehold and be responsible for costs involved with the management of the property including repairs and maintenance, insurance and security.
At 140-acres, Middlehaven is the North-East’s largest remaining industrial regeneration area. Among the key developments planned for the Tees riverfront site are the building of a multi-million pound digital enterprise hub and the relocation of the town’s police headquarters.
Middlesbrough College recently moved to its new £70m Middlehaven campus and food retailer Sainsbury’s has unveiled plans for an 80,000sq ft store as part of a wider £35m retail and leisure scheme on the brownfield site. Developed as an extension to the town centre — and connected to future development at Middlesbrough’s Western Gateway — other businesses already committed to the project include a KFC drive-through, a Marston’s restaurant and a coffee shop run by a national operator. There would also be a Sainsbury’s petrol station.
“Middlehaven remains a hugely important project and we continue, along with our partners, to take a pro-active approach to its regeneration,” said Charlie Rooney, Middlesbrough Council’s executive member for regeneration and economic development.
“In recent years the site has seen investment of well over £100m, which has included the re-siting of Middlesbrough College, the banking software company Temenos moving in, and a variety of businesses and homes,” he added. “And just this month we have seen the opening of The Gateway neurological rehabilitation centre. Getting involved with the Middlehaven regeneration is a fantastic opportunity for any developer, and particularly one with the vision to see what could be achieved.”
The construction of the new Sainsbury’s store would trigger a second £55m redevelopment scheme on the site of the retailer’s existing Wilson Street premises nearby. Once demolished it would be replaced by nine retail units, a coffee shop and an 80-bed hotel.
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