Timeline firmed up for Holborn Riverside

An initial tranche of 48 homes will reach completion this spring, as a vital part of the South Shields waterfront regeneration programme approaches its final stages.

The residential part of the docklands renovation, which will comprise close to 300 homes in total, is now expected to be complete in 2028.

In a project update prepared for South Tyneside Council’s place select committee this Friday, officers said that Keepmoat Homes is expecting to finish the first phase of housing this spring.

Keepmoat started a 60-home second phase in May 203, with Cussins beginning work on 35 homes in September.

The final part of the civil engineering programme at the site is also expected to reach completion this year, in August, while the model for the enterprise zone-status office space is being refined – small businesses and growing SMEs will be the focus.

Holborn Riverside has been a long-term project, beginning under the One North East  banner before being mothballed when regional development agencies were wound down.

The project aims to bring back to use former dockland areas in South Shields, adding further momentum to an area that already has developments such as Harton Quays, the One Trinity Green business centre and residential at Trinity South.

In 2016, work started again in earnest on Holborn Riverside, with sites acquired and investigated, utilities removed, and £9.4m of public funding secured in 2020, followed by £1.8m from the Brownfield Release Fund a year later.

Keepmoat started the first homes in January 2022, with John F Hunt starting civils work the same month on a site that presented significant engineering challenges: flood zone issues, failing quay edge structures, contamination and a major wall splitting the site in two.

With civils work nearing completion and all flood issues dealt with, the final chunk of residential is inked in to start in October this year, aiming for completion of 156 homes by autumn 2028. Housing across the site is one- to four-bedrooms, with 15% of homes classed as affordable.