Newcastle Great Park is a new suburb in the north of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Much of Newcastle Great Park is still under development and is sandwiched in between older areas of Newcastle, namely Gosforth, Fawdon and Kingston Park to the south, and Hazlerigg to the north. Newcastle Great Park is the largest housing development in the North East of England.
History
Development of this area, Newcastle City Council's 'Northern Development Area' had been in planning since at least 1991. In the 1990s the plans consisted of 2,500 houses and a 200-acre business and industrial development which could provide up to 10,000 jobs. Current indicative phasing shows plans for 3,300+ homes by 2030 and 4,100+ beyond 2030.
Prior to the area becoming a large housing and business development, the area to the north of the Great Park development was Hazlerigg Colliery. After the colliery closed the land it stood on was redeveloped into Havannah Nature Reserve. Fawdon Wagonway served the local collieries during the 19th century; the Wagonway lends its name to a street in the new development and part of the wagonway's route is still in existence as a public footpath.
Development
The Newcastle Great Park development is 15 years into a 30+ year building project. Estates within the Great Park include:
Brunton Grange (phases 1, 2 & 3) Brunton Green Brunton Meadows Brunton Village Brunton West East Moor Village Elmwood Park Court Elmwood Park Gardens Elmwood Park Green Elmwood Park View Greenside Melbury Warkworth Woods West Heath
Housing is currently under development by Charles Church, Persimmon Homes and Taylor Wimpey. Great Park town centre is under construction near Brunton Lane to the west of the A1. According to Newcastle City Council the town centre will include a supermarket, high street style shops, cafés, restaurants, a hotel, nursing home, private hospital and leisure facilities.
Housing numbers
House building in Great Park started in 2001 on the Warkworth Woods development shortly followed by Melbury in 2002. The table below shows current and planned housing numbers, in date order, up to 2030:
Education
Newcastle Great Park contains one first school, Brunton First School, and as Newcastle operates a three tier education system older students feed into Gosforth Junior High Academy and on to Gosforth Academy. Brunton First School opened in September 2009.
In 2015 the academy unveiled a bid to build an additional 1,200-place secondary school in Newcastle Great Park as potential plan to meet the demand for school places from the expanding residential community in the area. The Secretary of State for Education confirmed the proposal to build a school as part of the Gosforth Academy federation at the Great Park in Cell A with an intended opening date of September 2020. Formal approval of a first school providing spaces for 450 pupils and a middle/secondary school for up to 1,700 pupils was granted by Newcastle City Council in October 2019. The Great Park Academy (GPA) has been delayed due a judicial review process which wildlife campaigners lost in February 2020. The new schools are now expected to open in September 2022 and contingency measures, including 'bulge classes' at existing schools, are being implemented to provide for pupils.
Business
Sage
The software company Sage Group had their world headquarters in Newcastle Great Park between 2004 and 2021. Sage Group's building, named North Park, was one of the first occupants of Newcastle Great Park in 2004 as Sage moved their Newcastle-based staff into a single building for the first time having previously been spread between two buildings on Benton Park Road and also in Horsley House in Regent Centre. As of 2021 Sage's building in Great Park is vacant and up for sale/lease.
Sage's building housing approximately 1500 employees was built at a cost of £57 million. The building was worked on by Cundall, Tolent and idpartnership architects, and required the use of the largest mobile crane in the country at the time of construction. The building was shortlisted for the British Council for Offices Awards (2005 - Corporate Workplace Project) and was the runner up for the Landmark Awards (2005 - Office Development).
During the planning stages Sage's building was initially earmarked for Cell B of the development before switching to Cell C; moving further from the A1 road. The building was designed to be built in two phases and able to house up to 3000 members of staff, however this expansion did not occur.