Council to revamp Simonside Outdoor Adventure in South Shields under new plans
Council plans for building upgrades at a South Tyneside climbing centre to improve its thermal efficiency have been submitted to borough development bosses.
South Tyneside Council has submitted an application to its own planning department for a building described as “Simonside Youth Centre” in South Shields.
The site sits off St Simon Street in the Simonside and Rekendyke ward, near Monkton Infant School, and according to planning documents, is currently used by South Tyneside Council’s “Outdoor Adventure Service”.
Planning documents note the site currently includes a “climbing wall, offices, teaching space, kitchen and lounge.”
It offers “land and water based activities” across a number of centres, including the “water activities centre” at South Shields seafront, Akenshawburn Cottages in Kielder and Simonside Climbing Wall, which is set for a revamp under council plans.
New plans for the Simonside site include “external wall cladding works” which a council planning application states would “better insulate the building”.
Works include installing a “galvanised steel support bar secured through the existing roofing to the existing main purlins with self-drilling fasteners” and works to “overlay the existing sheeting with a 180mm glassfibre insulation quilt”.
Other works include installing an “external wall sheet” of “galvanised steel, coated on the weather side with an embossed Plastisol PVC coating”, with the sheets “secured with nylon headed self -drilling screws and side stitched with nylon headed self-drilling stitchers”.
It was also noted that “all side and end laps [would] be sealed with butyl mastic sealing tape” and that there would be works to “fix plastisol coated steel cill, corner and capping flashings, complete with profiled polyethylene corrugation fillers bedded in mastic.”
Council planning documents added the development, which consists of external wall cladding, would “not impact any habitat or wildlife.”
A decision on the planning application is expected following a council consultation exercise.
Comments can be made on the plan, via South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website, until September 23, 2025.
For more information on the plan, or to track its progress, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: 250514