Plans by social impact developer Capital&Centric to turn a former car park, shopping centre and derelict brownfield land in Newcastle-under-Lyme into pioneering urban neighbourhoods have been given the green light.

Rather than demolishing the unloved buildings Capital&Centric are giving them a major reboot, and creating one-of-a-kind residential led-neighbourhoods. It’s thought to be the first time in the UK that a car park or shopping centre has been repurposed in this way and shows a radical approach to urban placemaking.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council (NULBC) approved the landmark plans, paving the way for 328 new homes, improved places to shop and revitalised hang out spots for the community at Carpark (former Midway Car Park), Rye Park (Ryecroft), and Astley Place (York Place Shopping Centre).

Astley Place will write a new chapter for the 1960’s former shopping centre, creating a vibrant new heart of the town centre with 42 new homes to rent, improved places to shop, and a new music venue.

Carpark will be a pioneering urban neighbourhood which will see much of the existing car park retained and turned into a new community of 111 one to three-bed. Lush landscaping will be created underneath a stunning three-floor atrium, with a social hub, gym, mini cinema and lounge also included.

Rye Park will turn a vacant brownfield site into a bustling mixed-use neighbourhood, featuring 178 new three to four-bed family homes, with 43 classed as affordable. They sit amongst a brand new urban park primed for community pop-ups, and green spaces for people to hang out in.

John Moffat, joint managing director at Capital&Centric, said:

“Most developers would have demolished these tired and under-utilised buildings but instead we’ve come up with a creative way to deliver new housing and reboot the town centre with new vibrant communities. The Council really bought into our vision to do something different and give these spaces a new lease of life. Re-use isn’t always the easiest option but it saves tonnes of embodied carbon and ultimately creates more interesting neighbourhoods – imagine being the first to say you live in a former car park!”

The radical regeneration of the town centre has seen major investment from NULBC and the Government’s Future High Street Fund and Town Deal Fund thanks to authority led bids, with the developer set to start work later this year.

The approved plans include:

Astley Place:

• 42 homes (33 one-bed, 9 two-bed)
• 11,150 sq ft of business spaces
• A new music venue
• 34 cycle storage spaces

Carpark:

• 111 apartments (78 one-bed, 33 two-bed)
• New green spaces for the community to hang out in
• 68 cycle storage spaces
• 67 car parking spaces

Rye Park:

• 135 apartments and family homes
• 43 affordable rental homes
• A new urban park for community use and pop up events

The team is speaking with main contractors interested in getting involved in the project.

Capital&Centric has a national reputation for turning unloved buildings and derelict land into homes, workspaces, hotels, shops, bars and restaurants – often embracing eye-catching architecture with energy-efficiency built in. They have delivered award-winning neighbourhoods, including Kampus and Crusader in Manchester city centre.

Locals may have seen Capital&Centric’s founders Tim Heatley and Adam Higgins on their TV screens, in the likes of Channel 4’s Big Interiors Battle and the BBC’s Manctopia. They’ve steadily gained a solid reputation for imaginative reinventions of old buildings on brownfield sites, from Victorian mills to brutalist concrete 60s relics.

Capital&Centric continue to invest £3million a week in regeneration and are currently live on eight construction sites as they continue their expansion into new towns and cities across the UK, like Wolverhampton, Gateshead, and Sheffield. The developer recently announced its biggest project to date – delivering 2,000 homes for the UK’s largest new town, Northstowe in Cambridgeshire.