4 December 2012
Middlesbrough’s new riverside regeneration plan will include opportunities for dozens of self build homes. And the council aims to dispose of the initial building plots by way of a competition, with various incentives thrown in to encourage early take up.
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The site of the innovative development is known as ‘Middlehaven’ and it covers the land between the town’s current retail quarter and the River Tees. It lies very close to the distinctive Transporter Bridge.
Middlesbrough Council is working with the Homes and Communities Agency on the project.
Charlie Rooney, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive councillor for regeneration and economic development, said: ”Successful places thrive on the activities, energy and pride of local people each taking an active interest in the wellbeing of an area. We want to create the conditions for Middlehaven to become such an area. One of the routes we are pursuing is helping local people, community groups or businesses to build their own homes or offices.”
The new initiative – christened the ‘Urban Pioneers’ by the council – allows people to take a plot and build a house for themselves, buy a shelf finished building or a shell that they can finish themselves, or work with an architect and contractor to build a house tailored to their own requirements.
The plots will be located along Cleveland Street and fronting onto a new Urban Park, and they can be used for individual houses, co-housing projects, business accommodation, or even retail units or other uses.
The council believes its ‘Urban Pioneer’ proposition may also be attractive to smaller developers, housing associations or local contractors or architects (acting as developers) who are looking to deliver smaller schemes. In these cases it says slightly different conditions may apply.
A workshop explaining the project will be held in January – when details are known the portal will provide information on our Events page. In the meantime you can register your interest by e-mailing urban_regeneration@middlesbrough.gov.uk
