News update 2023

ICL took two steps for­ward in 2020 towards real­is­ing its ambi­tion to cre­ate new des­ig­nat­ed hous­ing for old­er cre­ative peo­ple in the cre­ative­ly vibrant areas along the Tyne such as Hex­ham, New­cas­tle, Gateshead and the Coast.

We’d enlist­ed the sup­port of a Hous­ing Asso­ci­a­tion, iden­ti­fied a great site in a won­der­ful loca­tion, drawn up a pro­vi­sion­al design with a prop­er­ty devel­op­er and archi­tect and were near­ly ready to sub­mit a pre-plan­ning appli­ca­tion. But regret­tably, that excel­lent loca­tion for real­is­ing ICL’s vision fell through, and so too did anoth­er appro­pri­ate site a year later.

We’re dis­ap­point­ed with these set­backs and the loss of these poten­tial­ly won­der­ful sites but we’re pleased that our hous­ing asso­ci­a­tion part­ner is still on board. So, in 2023 our search con­tin­ues for a site that’s both suit­able and avail­able to us. Pro­vid­ing the draft design from 2020 can be adapt­ed to a new site, ICL could be in a posi­tion to progress rel­a­tive­ly quickly.