Historic hall in Newcastle's West End set to become luxury homes after laying empty for years

Plans to turn Pendower Hall in Newcastle\'s West End into luxury housing. placeholder image
Plans to turn Pendower Hall in Newcastle\'s West End into luxury housing. | Hedley Planning
Plans to convert a historic hall in the West End of Newcastle into luxury homes could get the green light this week.

Developers are hoping to transform the grade II listed Pendower Hall into four seven-bedroom properties.

The prominent building on the West Road was built around 1870 for Quaker banker John William Pearce and was later gifted by his family to become an open-air school, before being used as council education offices.

Plans to turn Pendower Hall in Newcastle\'s West End into luxury housing.placeholder image
Plans to turn Pendower Hall in Newcastle\'s West End into luxury housing. | Hedley Planning

But the site has now lain empty for more than a decade, with proposals to turn it into a wedding venue and conference centre having failed to materialise.

The latest regeneration vision for the hall is now set to come before city councillors for approval on Friday morning.

A plan from Fenham Properties Limited would see the building turned into four seven-bedroomed luxury homes, with another separate house also built within the hall’s grounds.

The redevelopment would also feature a private leisure and wellness facility with a gym, steam room, sauna, and swimming pool.

City planners are recommending the project for approval by the council’s planning committee this week, saying that the benefits of bringing the hall back into use outweigh the harm done to the building itself and the area’s Roman heritage.

The site lies immediately south of the line of Hadrian’s Wall and Historic England has warned that the development would cause “direct harm to the archaeology” of the World Heritage site, though it has not objected to the plans.

In a report published ahead of Friday’s meeting, Newcastle City Council planners described Pendower Hall as “integral” to the West End and said that its restoration as luxury housing “is considered to be appropriate from a historic environment perspective and would reflect the original intended use of the building”.

They conclude: “Overall, there is a need to balance the harm which would arise to the heritage assets against the public benefits which they would present. The benefits which would arise are largely to the listed building, but are considered to be significant. The building and wider site has been disused for some time. Previous schemes for its restoration and return to use have failed, so a scheme which proposes a potentially viable return to residential use, its original purpose, is welcomed and is a significant benefit of the proposal. 

“The ability to, along with works to the building, carry out sitewide maintenance and management including improvements to landscaping, boundary railings and general appearance are also significant benefits to visual amenity on West Road, which is a major movement corridor and key route into the city.”

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