Boat Comes in for Newgate Street

06 November 2015 | Updated 01 January 1970

Newcastle City Council has approved McAleer & Rushe’s £100 million scheme in the Newgate Street area.

The approval will lead to the creation of almost 400 construction jobs and will see a 269-bedroom hotel, student housing and 2,000sqm of commercial space for retail, leisure or professional services use and estimated boost to the local economy of over £9 million a year.

McAleer & Rushe also stated that the 575-bedroom student housing element of the scheme will be operated by the UK provider of purpose built student accommodation, Unite Standards.

The creation of 575 new student rooms is expected to deliver £2 million of net additional expenditure into the local economy. Unite already provides a home for over 46,000 students in 133 properties across 28 of the UK’s biggest university cities.

McAleer & Rushe’s has already been active in the hotel building market and is on target to deliver 7,500 student bedrooms within five years of entering this particular accommodation sector. The Northern Irish developer and contractor’s previous schemes in the locality included a major hotel, office and residential scheme at St James’s Gate and the 204-bedroom Jurys Inn at Newcastle Gateshead Quays.

The scheme will be finished in natural stone to further complement the heritage of the surrounding buildings of Grainger Town and followed extensive consultations with the council and Historic England. A revised plan has led to the overall size of the student and commercial elements reduced and the hotel size increased which has enabled McAleer & Rushe to improve the public realm with the creation of new landscaped courtyards and a roof terrace. There will be car parking and cycle storage at lower ground level.

Picture: The approval for the redevelopment of Newgate Street in Newcastle will see a local boost to the economy of over £9 million, along with vastly improved facilities

Article written by Mike Gannon | Published 06 November 2015