Year Six pupils from St. Peter and Paul R.C. Primary School
joined the Mayor of South Tyneside, Councillor Ken Stephenson this week to
officially open one of a scheme in South Shields, St Mary’s; now known as ‘The
Staithes’. It is located in Tyne Dock off Lord Nelson Street, it comprises of
31 two and three bedroom homes and six two-bedroom bungalows for older
residents. This development was constructed on behalf of Karbon Homes, it was
built on the site of the former St. Mary’s CofE Primary School and the adjacent
St. Mary’s Centre. Construction works completed earlier this year and all homes
are now fully occupied. Cllr. Ken Stephenson, Mayor of South Tyneside, said:
“I’m delighted to officially open this development, we are committed to working
in partnership to provide much-needed affordable homes to meet local need
across the Borough. I’m sure anyone living at The Staithes will be proud to
call it home.”
Year six pupils at St Peter and Paul RC Primary School were
asked to create artwork for the scheme, and they used the history of the docks
and shipyards in South Shields as their inspiration. A piece of artwork was
created to act as an entrance feature.
The Staithes was highly commended in the High Volume New
Housing Development category of the Local Authority Building Control North East
Building Excellence Awards last month. The layout for the development uses the
‘Home Zone’ principles to ensure all the homes are easily accessible, and the
site is pedestrian and cycle friendly, with traffic calming measures
throughout.
The new homes were built by Gus Robinson Developments,
designed by architects Norr Consultants and the design was approved by the
North East Design Review Panel. Portland Consulting Engineers and Elliot
Associates were also part of the project team.
Children from a Newcastle primary school got a chance to see
how a real building site works and even got to see a sneak preview of the new
homes being built in their area. The Year 1 children from Mountfield Primary
School, Kenton visited the Karbon Homes site on Burnfoot Way, just a short
distance from their school gates.
The children were walked around
the perimeter of the site to observe how the staff and machinery operate.
The children were asked to point
out some of the hazards of a building site, and also had the chance to see the
site office and check on the plans for the new homes, with an elevated view of
the development work. Ellen Hagan, technical manager for Gus Robinson Developments, said: "Hopefully this visit has given the children an insight into how many different processes go into building houses, and why building sites can be dangerous places to be, so safety is always paramount.
Gus Robinson Developments is
constructing a collection of 12 new affordable homes at Burnfoot Way, including
2 bed bungalows, 2 bed flats and 2 and 3 bed family houses on behalf of Karbon
Homes. All will be available to let at Affordable Rent levels in the autumn.
The new homes are being built at
one end of a large open area on Burnfoot Way. Karbon Homes is consulting with
the local community on a plan for Karbon to invest in developing the adjacent
public open space for local residents to enjoy.
Stephen Bell, Managing director at Gus Robinson Developments had this to say: "In 2014 I started working at Gus Robinson Dev’s. One of the first projects I started working on was this scheme in South Shields. 4 years later & after a lot of hard work from lot’s of people, here it is featured as Inside Housing development of the week"
Rebecca Hodge, 19, from Hartlepool, our trainee Quantity
Surveyor apprentice has offered advice for people thinking of following in her
footsteps by saying: “If you’re thinking about entering into an apprenticeship or
a career in construction there is a lot of room for movement within the
industry. If I wanted to change my role in a couple of years I know I would
have the support to be able to do that. The great thing about my apprenticeship
is it has given me the experience I need. My studies are being funded too so I
have the freedom to go to university when I choose to do so. I’ve also managed
to pay for my own car since I’ve been working at Gus Robinsons and I know that
this job gives me that financial security. I definitely believe I’m in a better
position financially and professionally than other 19 year olds and I owe it to
my apprenticeship.”
Rebecca said: “I first went to a different college to do my
AS-levels and it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t have a firm idea of what I wanted
to be. I had notions of being either a police officer or something involving
geography but really, I didn’t have a clue.
It’s because I didn’t have an idea that I initially looked at
construction. I thought there is such a wide range of prospects available to me
with this career path and that it was a brilliant time for a woman to join the
industry since there is so much encouragement and initiatives. At first, I did my level 3 diploma in
construction and built environment at Hartlepool FE and in my second year I
went part-time, because Ian McNeil, my lecturer had secured me a job at Gus
Robinson.”
Rebecca is now employed full time by Gus Robinson and
attends the college for one day a week to study her HNC. Gus Robinson's supports her through her studies and Rebecca hopes this can lead on to
a degree. She said: “There are others who have been former apprentices like me
and they went on to study a Surveying degree at Northumbria University. Gus
Robinson is great because they will support me through my degree and I plan to
become an assistant surveyor whilst I’m studying.”
Rebecca works alongside the commercial team on a variety of
high-profile schemes across the business.
Rebecca said: “At the moment, I’m not a fully-fledged Quantity Surveyor
but I still work closely with the Commercial Manager, primarily undertaking
what’s known as ‘take offs’, where I take off measurements on plans in order to
keep them within budget and send out quotes to subcontractors. It’s quite an
important role. If I don’t get the right costs for the job then we could lose a
lot of money.”
Gus Robinson Developments and Hartlepool College of Further
Education have a strong working relationship in the past as a number of former
apprentices have taken up roles with the Gus Robinson Developments, including
current Head of Apprenticeships at Hartlepool College, Gary Riches, who began
his career as an apprentice with the company.
East Green Care Home in
West Auckland, Bishop Auckland has stood empty for almost a decade and could be
redeveloped for housing. East Green House Care Home, was shut in 2010 and over
the years has fallen victim to vandals. In 2016 an outline application to build
a terrace of ten homes behind the site, as part of a wider proposal which
intended to demolish the home and build more housing, was given approval by
Durham County Council’s (DCC) planning committee but never materialised.
On behalf of North Star
Housing Group, Gus Robinson Developments has submitted a full planning
application to knock down the former nursing home and build 25 new homes in its
place and on the site’s brownfield land.
Rob Yorke, Durham County Councillor for West Auckland, has welcomed the proposal.
He said: “As a county Councillor I’m delighted the developer has come forward
to refurbish this site. I have had a lot of residents complain about the empty
building. If we can bring it back into use it can only be a good thing.
Hopefully the plans will come to fruition. “Developers are proposing the
construction of eight two-bedroom bungalows, 15 two-bedroom houses and two
three-bedroom houses. Each home would have a private garden and “adequate”
off road parking.
