Ouseburn, an historic riverside area of Tyneside is unique, and our development is designed to enhance its distinctiveness. The scheme aims to make a cohesive community, which takes cues from the traditional life of terraced streets. With this in mind, we have given every residential unit its own front door which opens directly onto a proper street. We have made these streets relate directly to the river, running down the contours of the site to the quayside. The south westerly slope of the site means that it is perfectly oriented for mid afternoon sun.

There are two main residential types; the terraced house, generally three storeys high with a small garden behind; and a variant of the Tyneside flat, where one maisonette is stacked over the other to create four storey units. The lower flat has a garden, the upper flat has a large terrace over the roof of the adjoining three storey house. Other house types include tower houses and courtyard houses, used appropriately in different parts of the layout.

The terraces run up and down the contours rather than along them. This creates a drama of inclined streets with a syncopated roofline whose rhythms are emphasised by avoiding running the terraces in completely straight lines.

We have aimed to create some clear foci to the layout, primarily with a triangular-shaped space in the centre of the scheme running down to a bridge over the river, and also with some less formal community magnets such as small allotment plots, and shared recycling spaces.

We want to encourage mixed uses within the scheme, for commercial and social enterprise uses, which leaven the mix and enliven the waterside.

We have avoided repetition. Each house is different, each open space within the project has a different character, in terms of its slope, its sense of enclosure, and the vistas it provides. As well as the shared surface vehicular streets running down to the river, we have provided pedestrian only paths along the contours running through the whole project.