Middlesbrough to develop ‘large-scale’ social housing

Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge.

Middlesbrough Council has announced plans to redevelop Middlesbrough town centre with new ‘large-scale’ social housing.

The council will enter a partnership with two housing groups, Thirteen and North Star, to develop new homes on sites it owns throughout the town.

It is expected that the first developments will be built in Gresham and Middlehaven, two areas of Middlesbrough with high numbers of derelict buildings.

The projects have been described as ‘transformative’ for Middlesbrough, while Middlesbrough’s mayor Andy Preston hailed the announcement as a ‘new era’ for town centre living.

Preston said: ‘We’ve got two brilliant partners on board in Thirteen and North Star who really share our ambitions for high-quality housing and a town centre that is safe and vibrant.

‘Middlesbrough people desperately want to see something happen with Gresham and I can promise them we are going to be getting on with it straight away.

‘Our partners bring the resources and expertise that can help us make an absolutely amazing community that really fuels the town centre.’

Middlesbrough currently aims to attract an extra 4,000 people to live in its town centre in the next 10 years.

In recent years, developers have been put off building homes in the town centre due to high development costs and low sales values, the council said.

For this reason, the council believes that building new urban housing will be crucial in kick-starting Middlesbrough’s town centre economy.

It is hoped that the new social housing will lead to the development of new commercial, leisure, and cultural opportunities for the town.

Ian Wardle, chief executive of Thirteen, which owns and manages over 11,000 homes in Middlesbrough, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with Middlesbrough Council and North Star Housing Group to deliver much-needed affordable homes in the centre of Middlesbrough.

‘There is growing demand for high quality homes close to all the amenities Middlesbrough has to offer and as people move through life, they want more choice: choice to rent, to rent and then purchase or to buy-in-part through shared ownership.

‘This is an exciting time for the regeneration of the town and over the coming months we look forward to announcing many new housing schemes.’

Earlier this year, Middlesbrough Council announced it would create its own housing company to help it build ‘high-quality affordable homes’.

The first sites to see homes built by the new company are expected to be brought forward in the Gresham, Beechwood and Hemlington areas.

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