Genr8 Kajima Regeneration and its partnership with Newcastle University (Newcastle Genr8 Kajima) have secured planning consent for the £500 million Health Innovation Neighbourhood masterplan – which it says will which transform a former 29-acre general hospital site in the north-east city into ‘a new, ambitious neighbourhood’ combining housing, alongside public realm allied to modern healthcare, education, and community facilities that will ‘foster research, innovation, and enterprise’.
Leveraging Newcastle University’s ‘leadership in ageing research’, the development will feature ‘advanced infrastructure to support housing solutions that promote longer, healthier lives’. The masterplan includes 350,000 sft2 of research and innovation facilities, the same volume of business, employment, and education space, 100,000 ft2 of NHS and other health-related facilities, and 1,250 new homes, up to 15% of which will be affordable. The residential space is intended to deliver a range of multigenerational dwellings across a variety of tenures – including ‘co-living’ units, market rent, later and supported living homes, and specialist housing.
Planned developments include a hub to support local community needs through digitally enhanced services, including community-accessible facilities, a café, digital learning spaces, and areas for innovation, research, training, and office use. It would be designed to establish a new southern entry point and frontage on Newcastle’s Westgate Road.
The redevelopment will include two sustainable transport hubs to support the site’s new uses, public realm, and spaces allocated for business, employment, and leisure. The masterplan incorporates ‘green corridors’, and envisions development plots centred around the site’s ‘public green heart’, enhancing connectivity with the existing neighbouring communities through new east-west links.
Richard Ingham, director, Genr8 Kajima Regeneration, said: “The Health Innovation Neighbourhood scheme has an ambitious vision to create a global exemplar for innovation in sustainable living and the longevity economy. We aim to develop a neighbourhood where housing, the environment, infrastructure, research, and education, will drive and inform healthy living across all life stages. We are proud to be a part of a project that will ultimately help people live longer and healthier lives.”
