Member Article

The Rise is up for top planning award

The Rise in Newcastle’s west end has been selected as a finalist for a prestigious national planning award.

The £265 million development on the banks of the River Tyne at Scotswood is one of just seven entries from which the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) will select its 2015 Excellence in Planning to Deliver Housing Award.

The winner will be announced at a special ceremony to be staged at the Pullman, London St. Pancras on 6th July.

The Rise has already been shortlisted for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor’s Renaissance Awards in the North East – in both the Residential and Regeneration categories. The results are to be announced on April 24th.

The development is the product of a public/private joint venture – the New Tyne West Development Company (NTWDC) – comprising Newcastle City Council and developers Barratt Homes and Keepmoat. The architect and town planning consultant is the ID Partnership’s Newcastle practice.

Eventually The Rise will be a diverse, sustainable community of around 6,000 people living in approximately 1,800 well designed, modern, energy efficient homes – supplied by a district heating centre.

So far 104 of the 107 homes released for sale have been bought – around 80% to people living within ten miles - almost two thirds of whom (64%) are 30 or under. Buyers cited design, value for money and location as the main reasons for purchasing. The next release will be available from Easter weekend.

The development is being integrated into the existing community through the enhancement of existing public spaces, the creation of new ones, an improved road network and the development of new retail and community facilities.

Claire Scott, Communities and Marketing Manager with NTWDC said: “This is fantastic news. These short listings, for awards from respected professional bodies, show the level of care which was taken in the planning of the project. This is now being reflected in the quality of the development which we are creating here. It has already proved extremely popular with local buyers and won praise from the existing community.”

For the RTPI award, The Rise is up against schemes from Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Glasgow, King’s Lynn and Woolwich. Altogether 80 short listed entries will vie for awards in 14 categories.

The RTPI represents 23,000 planning professionals worldwide and promotes spatial planning, shapes policy and raises professional standards. The Awards for Planning Excellence have been run for over 30 years to recognise planning excellence.

President, Janet Askew, said: “The shortlist reflects the very best planning projects, strategies and processes that are helping to make great places for people to live and work. They are exceptional examples of planning and it will be a tremendous challenge picking individual category winners from such a high quality field.”

Projects on the shortlist have been recognised for their national contribution to planning and demonstrate how significant schemes can be delivered speedily through the planning and other consents systems.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .