Contractor appointed to carry out initial work at derelict Holborn site on South Shields riverside

South Tyneside Council has appointed John F Hunt Regeneration Ltd to carry out civil engineering works on disused docks and former brownfield land at Holborn, South Shields.

The remediation works will prepare the nine-hectare site for its transformation into what council chiefs promise will be ‘a thriving riverside quarter for living and working, with high quality new public space’.

The plans will see a failing quay edge wall replaced with a new one and the raising of the former dry docks to overcome serious flooding issues. Three of the docks will be restored to preserve the area’s industrial heritage.

Council leaders say John F Hunt Regeneration will focus on overcoming existing site constraints, including contamination, flood risks and an obsolete retaining wall, to ensure it is suitable for follow-on residential and commercial development.

The site, which is currently split level, will be reprofiled to create a gentle slope from Commercial Road to the Tyne, making it more suitable for development.

‘Ballast hills’ and an existing eight-metre-high concrete retaining wall will be removed.

Earlier this year, the scheme secured £1.85million from the government’s Brownfield Land Release Fund to help deliver 250 of the new dwellings.

It also benefits from £9.4million of funding to support delivery of new office space in the Enterprise Zone opposite Commercial Road.

Councillor Tracey Dixon Leader of South Tyneside Council said: “We’re delighted to welcome John F Hunt to join us on this exciting project.

“This area has been largely derelict for many years and bears the hallmarks of its former heavy industrial use, which are currently constraints to development.

“The civil engineering works are needed to overcome these significant site issues and make it suitable to bring forward a mixed-use development that will deliver family homes and office space, creating hundreds of new jobs.

“This scheme will bring brownfield land back into use and transform it into a vibrant riverside quarter that people will be proud to call home.”

Work is expected to start on site early in the new year and will be carried out in phases, with the ground and maritime improvements being completed in autumn 2023.

Steve Johnson, Director of John F Hunt Regeneration said: “This brownfield site poses some very complex and challenging problems associated with its historical use.

“We are thrilled to be selected by South Tyneside Council as their delivery partner, to bring the site back from its derelict state into a sustainable place for forward development.”

Mott MacDonald Limited are acting as the Principal Designer for the civil engineering element of the scheme, whilst the contract will be administered by Driver Project Services.

Keepmoat, working in partnership with Cussins, were appointed in 2020 as the development partner to deliver around 350 high-quality family houses and apartments and the associated infrastructure, including a new riverside promenade.

There has, however, been a backlash over the inclusion of green space and a children’s playpark in the land allocated for housebuilding.

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