New details have emerged of a £250 million redevelopment of a major student accommodation site in Newcastle, with images revealing how the transformed area could look.
Full plans for a dramatic overhaul of Newcastle University’s Castle Leazes have now been published, showcasing the future vision for the area once its existing halls of residence are demolished and a new student village built to replace it.
The 1960s-built housing blocks are due to be torn down, after being deemed outdated and too costly to bring up to modern standards.(Image: Newcastle University)
Newcastle City Council gave approval for them to be demolished last month and, now, bosses from the university and student housing provider Unite Students have lodged their full proposals to revamp Castle Leazes with the local authority.
If approved by city planners, the major plans would see two sprawling accommodation blocks built – with room for 2,011 students, far more than the existing Castle Leazes’ maximum capacity of 1,247.(Image: Newcastle University)
The two buildings, which would vary between four and nine storeys in height at different points, would be arranged to form a series of courtyards and a central pedestrian footway through the middle of what is described as an “innovative, inclusive, accessible and adaptable student village”.
The development also includes study spaces, a gym, karaoke and cinema rooms, a games area, and a café.
A planning application lodged with the city council says that the overhaul of Castle Leazes will be key to combating an “immediate and pressing shortage” of student beds and relieving pressure on suburbs like Jesmond and Sandyford, popular locations for student HMOs.(Image: Newcastle University)
The university says it needs 4,500 bedrooms to meet a commitment to offer accommodation to all of its first year students, but currently only has 3,500.
Documents describe the existing Castle Leazes halls as “outdated and increasingly challenging and costly to maintain”, adding that they are among the least energy efficient buildings within the university’s estate.
The application states: “The positive experience which many former students have had at Castle Leazes highlight it as being a friendly halls of residence, in an attractive setting which is close to the campus and the city’s other facilities as well as being a place where new students are able to make friendships and feel welcome as part of Newcastle University and the city itself. (Image: Newcastle University)
“It is intended to capture the essence of this as part of the new development and to seek to ensure that this becomes one of the city’s exemplar student living developments, with a wide range of facilities, support and pleasant internal and external spaces that cater to many aspects of contemporary living and study.”(Image: Newcastle University)
(Image: Newcastle University)
(Image: Newcastle University)
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