"Complex" Ouseburn tower block plans resurface as Free Trade Inn issues warning
Developers have submitted another set of revised plans to Newcastle City Council for the heavily-debated Malmo Quay and Spillers Quay sites.
There was a public outcry in 2021 after designs for an 18-storey block of flats on the vacant Malmo plot were unveiled.
That 223ft tower proposal was shortlived, having sparked a raft of objections amid fears the “eyesore” would loom over its surroundings and block the famous view of the Newcastle Quayside from the Free Trade Inn pub, as developer PfP-igloo redrew their plans to replace it with a smaller, 10-storey version.
However, almost three years has passed since that scaled-back design was announced in August 2022 and Newcastle City Council is yet to decide whether the construction will be allowed to go ahead or not.
And it has now emerged that another updated vision for the site has been lodged with city planners.
The proposals for Malmo Quay remain largely unchanged – with the main addition being an extra staircase for the 10-storey apartment block to help it comply with enhanced post-Grenfell safety regulations for tall buildings. 13 townhouses and a new building for the popular Cycle Hub are also still earmarked for Malmo, a notoriously problematic plot to develop that has seen a number of building projects go by the wayside over the years.
On the Spillers Quay area, however, there has been a more notable change to the plans. Up to 80 more flats are proposed there in a set of buildings now capped at four storeys tall – rather than the eight storeys previously planned.
In a newsletter sent to customers on Tuesday, Free Trade Inn manager Mick Potts said that the scheme was not as “shocking” as the original tower but that it was “certainly not without (major) issues”.
The pub boss raised concerns that the 10-storey Malmo complex would still be “by far” the tallest building at the eastern end of the Quayside.
He added that the influx of more new flats would put extra pressure on an area “already under immense strain in regards to parking”.
Mr Potts also raised concerns that the latest designs had resurfaced “with no warning” and little public knowledge – an issue not helped by the fact that the plans are “pretty much inaccessible” because the council’s web page where they are held has crashed.
While the latest deadline for public comments on the application was meant to be this Thursday, April 17, it is understood that the council will extend that once the website issue is resolved.
Alec Hamlin, development director at igloo, described the Malmo Quay site as “a complex location to develop, but one with vast potential, as a brownfield site that can provide sustainable urban homes and new public spaces”.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the firm had been working with the city council on various technical aspects of the scheme and working “to ensure that the application complies with any regulatory changes that have come into force” since it was first put forward.
Mr Hamlin said: “Essentially, it is the same design. A second staircase has been added to the apartment building to correspond to the changes in building regulations and fire safety legislation.
“There has also been a slight change on Spillers – previously the outline enabled up to eight storeys, now it is four.”
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