Surprise, surprise

I was surprised and a little puzzled to find that yet another site in Shieldfield is being developed by Metnor Group plc. This 'new' site is on Stoddart Street, two hundred yards away up Shieldfield Lane from the paint factory site, which has already been granted building consent by Newcastle City Council, despite objections. I visited a public display of the former paint factory site plans together with a model of the proposed scheme last year, but evidently missed details of this extension of the scheme, if that what it is, away from the 'main' site. Is this too destined to become a student accommodation block?

Workmen busy themselves today on all roads around the area that is soon to become one very large building site to judge by the scale of current operations. Strangely, youths with skate boards and a ghetto blaster are continuing to have the run of the former paint factory's concrete hard standing, even whilst large dumper trucks are swinging in and out of the main site (as such I think we must call it now).

If the Stoddart Street site is also going to become yet more student accommodation then that will have a profound affect on the total area. It will mean, taken together with the new and existing developments throughout the district and nearby in recent years, student only accommodation will turn this area into a 'city within a city', and a very under resourced and cramped one at that. Is this deliberate?

More (and some photographs) to follow.



Warehousing built by Metnor, developers of choice for student accommodation.