Plans unveiled for hundreds more student flats in Newcastle city centre

More than 400 university students could be housed in a new 12-storey block near St James’ Park if proposals are given the green light by council bosses. Credit: Simpson Haugh

Plans have been unveiled for hundreds more student flats on a fire-damaged site in Newcastle city centre.

More than 400 university students could be housed in a new 12-storey block in Heber Street near St James’ Park, in the city centre, if the proposals are approved.

Property management company Downing Students has lodged plans with Newcastle City Council for a complex of 293 standalone student rooms and another 20 "cluster" flats, each of which would have four or five bedrooms, totalling 411 bedrooms.

The developer, which has been behind the nearby Verde and The View student accommodation blocks, said the latest plan “completes the vision” for the site which was a former Scottish and Newcastle brewery that has been transformed into the Newcastle Helix over recent years.

Downing Students, said the latest plan “completes the vision” for the site which was a former Scottish and Newcastle brewery. Credit: LDR

It is the latest proposal for a derelict plot of land which has been the subject of a lengthy development saga and was once home to the NE4 cafe and bar, which was destroyed by fire and subsequently demolished.

The council rejected building proposals for it in 2019 on the grounds that daylight levels within a T-shaped block would be “unacceptably poor” and subject future residents to  “poorly lit, dark and gloomy” conditions.

Previous applicants St James Boulevard Developments then came back with redrawn, scaled-back plans for 169 flats that were approved in 2021.

In the new plans submitted to the council in late November, the developers say the latest student flats idea would be an “exceptionally high-quality building”.

The application states: “The proposal will fill the derelict land on the south side of Heber St with a high-quality building, designed by internationally renowned architects Simpson Haugh, in an area that has become increasingly student residential in character.

"The application site sits in an area that has seen much change, including the A189 major distributor road (St James’ Boulevard), recent tall buildings and the wider development of brownfield land which has been cleared to make way for the development of Newcastle Helix.”

It adds: “The proposal will also provide a positive addition to the emerging student orientated area, complementing and enhancing the existing street through the provision of a high quality, well designed building which develops a positive dialogue with buildings of both contrasting and similar scales.”

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