The Fort was named after Lord Thomas Clifford, whose name was later to become famous as the ‘C’ in Cabal, originally a group of five unpopular Ministers responsible for foreign policy in the reign of Charles II. Situated at the mouth of the River Tyne, it dates from 1676 and is one of the earliest surviving coastal batteries in Britain. The two storey, red brick Old Barracks was built around 1893 to house the quarters and canteen facilities for unmarried soldiers.

This first phase has been to stabilize the structure whilst a later phase, subject to Scheduled Monument Consent from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will extend the building to the west using contemporary building materials to provide office accommodation for up to 3 businesses.

Mac Bell commented, “The Barracks was in a very poor condition when we began in March with the fire stacks being particularly unstable. We’ve now stabilized the stacks, even sourcing the tapered spike pots to match the originals, re-roofed the whole building, using the original slates in the main, completely restored and re-pointed the exterior brickwork and replaced or repaired the windows."

Project Architect, Ross Jennings of North Tyneside Council, added, “The Barracks restoration is part of the wider regeneration of the whole Fish Quay area, but it is a very prominent building and one which we were committed to saving. Once we have approved Scheduled Monument Consent, we can then proceed to the next phase to extend the restored building.”

The station, now owned by Sunderland City Council, was originally commissioned in 1840 by the famous railway entrepreneur George Hudson and designed by Thomas Moore, who influenced a significant amount of Victorian design in Sunderland, as the terminus for trains from Newcastle and Gateshead. The station closed in 1967 and was bought by the Council for conversion into a museum, opening in 1973, to preserve the handsome, neo-classical station building and to provide displays of transport and local history, including the original booking office which had remained unchanged from 1866.

Partly funded by the The Heritage Lottery Fund and Sunderland City Council, one challenge was the proximity of the rail line next to which scaffolding had to be erected for work on the external structure. Contacts Manager, Foster Innes, explained, “For rail side work of this nature, we needed to have the line closed so that work could be safely carried out at night. Such a closure requires 18 weeks’ notice so that once we’d requested the closure, we had to be sure we could meet the very tight deadlines or lose this opportunity.”

Seven new galleries will be developed in the museum, opening up access to local people and visitors. The new gallery areas will have interactive displays to encourage visitor involvement in the exhibitions, making learning about the history of travel and transport in Tyne and Wear fun and exciting, as well as educational.

The 28 week contract at Cragside ended last month with the official handover of the project back to the National Trust. Designed by Waring & Netts Architects, the work included the refurbishment of the restaurant area, reconstruction of the old car wash-down canopy to provide extra covered sitting space in the courtyard, new kitchen and wash up areas and the re-location and extension of toilet facilities.

The Visitor Centre was originally the stable block for Sir William (later Lord) Armstrong’s Cragside and was begun soon after the main house of 1863, although considerably altered and extended in 1893. Working in a Grade II listed building requires special care and attention to detail, as Kendall Cross Contracts Manager, Simon Grylls, explained, “Renovation and refurbishment work of listed buildings is challenging as you’re never sure exactly what you’re going to find and work on one part of a building invariably has impact on other parts. The distance from major suppliers also raises certain logistical problems whilst the sensitivity of the whole Cragside environment, one of Europe’s largest rock and forest gardens, meant we had to be very careful but, at the end of the day, it was a very interesting and successful project.”

The Holy Jesus Hospital is one of only two 17th Century brick buildings surviving in Newcastle (the other is nearby Alderman Fenwick’s House in Pilgrim Street) and lies in the heart of the city, minutes away from the Tyne Bridge and set amidst Newcastle’s elevated road systems.

It was built in 1681 to house the less well-off Freemen of the city and their widows, but parts of the building date back even further, incorporating the east wall of a 13th century Austin Friars church, the remains of a 14th century window in the north wall of the church, and also a 16th century Manors Tower. Interesting architectural features include an open arcade of 30 semi-circular arches, a central black oak staircase and a large ornamental Conduit or Pant for water supply at the front of the arcade.

The building has had many uses over the years, including a Victorian Soup Kitchen and, most recently, as the Joicey Museum. The National Trust took over the running of the building in September last year with plans to use it as a base for a variety of Community Groups, including the Newcastle-based Inner City Project, and self-contained workshops for other voluntary organisations.

Nev Kirby, National Trust Regional Building Manager for Yorkshire and the North East, commented, “The £250,000 funding for the first phase of the project has now been secured which enables us to actually start work and begin the conversion of some of the offices and replace defective services. Hopefully, further funding will be forthcoming and we can bring this magnificent building back into full use.”

The park was originally opened to the public in 1876 after Gateshead Council had bought it from William Wailes, the famous stained glass manufacturer who had built Saltwell Towers as his home before falling on harder times. The Council commissioned Edward Kemp, a pupil of Joseph Paxton, the designer of the Crystal Palace in London, and one of the most renowned landscape designers of Victorian times, to set out the 55 acre park which incorporated classical formal gardens, a lake and an island with stone revetments designed by Joseph Hancock, and a natural dene.

Although immensely popular with local people, the last major work in the park was the construction of the Boer War Memorial in 1909 and, by the 1980’s the facility had fallen into disrepair through low investment and vandalism. Nicky Wise, Architect with Gateshead MBC, takes up the story, “Over the past five years we’ve been working towards gaining Heritage Lottery funding and were awarded £6.7 million last year - the largest single award for an urban park yet. The money will be used for both hard and soft landscaping to totally restore the Park to its original splendour - we’re taking out the vandalised buildings of earlier years and repairing all the remaining buildings and paths before moving onto the restoration of the Lake and Dene in a three year programme which should be completed in 2004.”

At the forefront of the programme is the 52 week, £376,000 contract for Kendall Cross to restore the boundary walls, fencing and gates including the cast iron main gates which incorporate the old Gateshead Borough logo of a goat’s head which is also carved into the flanking stone pillars.

Saltwell Park Manager, Steve Palmer, commented, “It’s important that the boundaries of the Park are refurbished as one of the first stages of the work as it sends out a very clear signal to the people of Gateshead that their park is once more being looked after properly. The actual boundary walls and fencing are a very mixed bag of original cast iron gates and stone walls together with modern fencing which we are restoring and replacing - ironically, it’s the latest fencing which is in the worst condition which will be replaced, in part, by replica Victorian iron fences.”

For Kendall Cross, better known for their major construction work in the health, housing and education sectors, the project requires managerial and logistical skills to ensure the Park remains open and safe for the public while such major work is undertaken. Site Agent, Ian Marshall, said, “The restoration of historical buildings is an important part of the company’s portfolio of skills, but is usually contained in quite small sites. Here we’re spread over the boundary of 55 acres with sub-contractors also involved, especially in the highly skilled restoration of the iron work, so that site management does present a few extra problems, but the project is running on time and on schedule with the end result being well worth the effort.”