Yahoo News Funding to turn historic Keelmen's Hospital housing plans into reality
A historic Newcastle building that has lain empty for nearly 15 years is to get a new lease of life thanks to funding to realise housing plans.
The Grade II-listed Keelmen's Hospital on City Road is set to be restored as affordable housing following the ÂŁ36,539 sum from The Architectural Heritage Fund. It follows previous efforts by Newcastle City Council to sell the derelict building, which is on Heritage England's Heritage at Risk Register.
The council and Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust, with funding and advice from Historic England, commissioned a feasibility study about returning the property back to its original use. The funding will now be used towards conversion of the building into 20 one or two-person flats with the potential for co-housing, specialist care support and sheltered housing.
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The keelmen of Tyne and Wear worked on keels - flat-bottomed boats that carried coal from the banks of the shallow Tyne out to ships that were too large to sail up the river. The Keelmen's Hospital was built in 1701, and operated as an almshouse for retired and sick keelmen and their families for 180 years.
A charitable trust set up by the city's 1,600 keelmen themselves covered the ÂŁ2,000 cost of construction. Since the decline of the industry, the building served as council housing and latterly as student accommodation but has been empty since 2009.
Martin Hulse, manager of the Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust said: "Keelmen's is a beautiful building that is so quiet and peaceful in the centre of the city. The proposal to revert it back to affordable housing seems appropriate and achievable. The Trust considers it to be the most significant 'At Risk' building in Newcastle. This is a huge challenge but with support from the AHF, Historic England, Newcastle City Council and National Lottery Heritage Fund then we are confident that this can be delivered."
Matthew Mckeague, CEO of The Architectural Heritage Fund, said: "The AHF is about bringing new life to old buildings and giving them a purpose in their communities. Many of our high streets have taken some hard knocks over the last few years and a lot of our work is looking at how we can help reimagine and reshape them in the 21st century. The Keelmen’s Hospital is a great example of how we can work with the history of a building and give it new life and at the same time make an impact that will improve our high streets for everyone. We are delighted to support the wonderful work of the Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust as it begins this journey to transform this important city landmark back into use."
Maria Carballeira, partnerships team architect at Historic England, said: "We are really pleased to be co-funding this project to regenerate the Keelmen’s Hospital, as well as offering specialist advice. The project is an exciting opportunity to show how the reuse of historic buildings can provide much needed affordable housing, whilst contributing towards net zero."
Funding for the Keelmen's Hospital works has come via an extension of the Transforming Places through Heritage programme, supported by Historic England, and with funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
