New homes rise from blaze ashes
Jan 11 2008 by Chloe Griffiths, The Journal
A £30m housing project which went up in smoke has risen from the ashes and is now on the brink of opening.
A huge blaze ripped through the former bonded warehouse on Newcastle Quayside in March 2006.
More than 50 fire fighters battled for more than eight hours to control 100ft flames which covered the Quayside in thick black smoke.
The seven-storey warehouse, which overlooks the Tyne from The Close, was gutted in the blaze and a £30m project to convert it into 134 luxury flats by Adamson Developments went up in smoke.
The 160-year-old building was so badly damaged, Newcastle City Council was on the verge of applying for permission to demolish the Grade II-listed building.
But in December 2006, the project was given a new lease of life when Stockton-based property development and investment company Mandale Homes stepped in and bought the shell of the building from its previous owners Zirca.
Now, just over a year later the housebuilder is putting the finishing touches to the development, now named Hanover Mill, and the Victorian facade has been restored.
More than 150 of the 174 luxury flats have already been sold, and later this month a showhome will be opened to help the company sell the final few apartments.
The development is at the heart of the regeneration of the west end of the Quayside, which also involves the creation of a 14-storey tower of new build apartments. The 160ft-high Forth Banks House will overlook the Queen Elizabeth II Metro Bridge.
The £30m project also includes offices, five new restaurants and a multi-storey car park and will create scores of new jobs. Having been ravaged by three fires in just eight years, bosses at Mandale say the redevelopment of the old building has been one of their most difficult to date.
Sales director Gill Fassom said: “Hanover Mill has been one of our most challenging conversion schemes to date, with many complications and problems which needed to be addressed following years of neglect and fire damage.
“We now have a development which oozes internal and external appeal.”
Prices for flats at Hanover Mill start at £185,000. For more information call 08456 505 555 or visit www.mandale.com.
Police still do not know what caused the blaze at the former sherry store.
