BARELY pausing for breath, bespectacled Big Breakfast presenter Wayne Hemingway launches into a description of his latest project.

"We've banished the car to secondary status, every house and flat will back onto a pocket park, they will be modern, clean and airy and sit in a fantastic environment, every little detail will be planned, the kids will have things to do, everything will be linked, we've got great support from the council, we're building on a brownfield site... am I going too fast for you?"

The man behind one of the 1980s' trendiest and most cutting- edge fashion labels, Red or Dead, has found a new vocation.

After selling the business, he started with his then girlfriend Gerardine, following 21 consecutive seasons on the catwalk at London Fashion Week, the couple branched out into designing buildings.

They threw themselves wholeheartedly into the venture by designing their own abode, appropriately named "Home", which has featured on television programmes and in various newspapers, and which spawned Hemingway Design, an interior, building and product design consultancy.

Since then, the unconventional pair have created carpets for the telecommunications firm Milliken and a new wing for the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall.

So why on earth are they interested in a Gateshead housing estate? In his soft Lancashire accent, Mr Hemingway explains that the project is more than a mere money-spinning venture.

"When I was growing up in Morecambe, a few people had access to style and fashion but very few of us from my background were into those things," he says. "Now, we all see telly and magazines, and yet Britain has stood still.

"We are showing people how to do this lovely stuff, and yet we are keeping the prices high. The major difference with this development is that it's designed with people in mind, rather than just pure profit."

Under the Hemingways' guidance, Wimpey has come up with ten new house styles for the Staiths South Bank development, on the edge of the River Tyne in Gateshead.

Comprising 688 houses and flats, it espouses the concepts of "friendly modernism", rejecting uniform estates. There are unusual layouts, including loft living and upstairs lounges, and pocket parks with facilities for all ages.

While it may sound utopian, the development utilises many ideas tried and tested by Hemingway himself, who remembers growing up with a "rec" behind the house and a strong sense of community. One of his main objectives is making it accessible to the average person, with the cheapest home likely to cost £60,000.

"We are working ridiculously hard to keep the prices down," admits Mr Hemingway.

His motivation for a project he hopes will "change the way we think about housing, and the way we live", is his belief that people are disillusioned with what is currently on offer.

When surveyed, apparently 72 per cent of the population would not consider buying a new house on a modern estate, delivering the indictments "identikit boxes", "samey" and "soulless".

Mr Hemingway, does not blame commercial house builders for this, but praises Wimpey for having the courage to break ranks.

"Wimpey was brave enough to take up the gauntlet, and after almost a year of working together, I really believe this development has the potential to change the future of house building," he says.

While, in many ways, the project is a leap in the dark for Mr Hemingway, his optimism that it will succeed is characteristic. When he attracted the fashion world's scorn by selling his clothes to Miss Selfridge, he carried on, achieving huge commercial success and opening the floodgates for other designers.

Even as a child he refused to conform. While most children would have been horrified when their mum and Nan dressed them as Elvis, a Beatle and Tarzan, and paraded them along Morecambe pier, little Wayne lapped it up.

Neither did he baulk at the eccentric behaviour of his Red Indian father, Billy Two Rivers, but used it to feed his creativity. "I was brought up in a very free-thinking household, and design was very much part of it," he fondly recalls.

Gateshead may lack the glamour of the Paris or Milan catwalks, but Mr Hemingway considers his latest venture to be one of his most important yet.

"We could have gone down the route of loft apartments and made a fortune, but we haven't," he says, admitting with refreshing frankness, "We're already rich. This is our biggest and most important project of the moment. We care about it more than any other by a long way."

l Work on Staiths South Bank is due to start later this year, with the first phase to be completed next year