Smith's Dock

Have your say on the future of Smith's Dock

We are sharing our vision for Smith’s Dock – and we want your feedback.

Drop in any time between 3pm and 6pm on Wednesday 30th August 2023, to meet our team and discuss the plans.

We’ll be at The Old Low Light, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields Fish Quay, Tyne and Wear, NE30 1JE.

We have evolved our masterplan for Smith’s Dock, with proposals to extend this vibrant waterfront community with more places for people to live and play.

Our plans include more homes, as well as reconfiguring the dry docks to create open green spaces.

We hope to work with the local community to ensure our proposals meet the needs of everyone, and that’s why we are hosting a public consultation to garner your views, working together to create a lasting legacy for this community.

If you have any questions about the proposals, please contact us on pfpcndevelopments@placesforpeople.co.uk.

Download our Smiths Dock brochure

Embracing Heritage

We have evolved our masterplan for Smith’s Dock, with proposals to extend this vibrant waterfront community with more places for people to live and play.

Our plans include more homes, as well as reconfiguring the dry docks to create open green spaces.

We hope to work with the local community to ensure our proposals meet the needs of everyone, and that’s why we are hosting a public consultation to garner your views, working together to create a lasting legacy for this community.

A black and white aerial shot of the Smith's Dock area in North Shields

Building on early phases

By the mid-2000s though Smith’s Dock was on the cusp of transformation; Places for People bought the site, engaging in extensive public consultations to bring it back into use as a sustainable new place in which people could, live, work and play.

Early plans proposed homes and amenities that would establish a new waterfront community. Phases 1 and 2 came to fruition by 2018, delivering 34 houses at the Plateau and 80 waterfront apartments at the Smokehouses – each now fully occupied by a fantastic cohort of residents.

What are we proposing?

Now, we are sharing our vision to extend this community once more, with 409 new homes of varying size and tenures – helping more people move into this burgeoning waterfront neighbourhood.

We also hope to repurpose the dry docks, turning them into areas in which residents can exercise and play, with grassy areas, pedestrian bridges and feature steps.

The proposals cover the remaining areas of Smith’s Dock, all of which are ready for development having been cleared as part of the first phase works – at which time old industrial buildings were cleared and below-ground infrastructure put into place.

An illustrated aerial map of the Smith's Dock area outlining the proposal for more homes and green spaces

Key features of our proposal:

Deliver more, much needed homes for North Shields
Create accessible homes for all
Circa. 400+ new homes delivered in a phased approach over the next 8 years
2, 3 and 4-bedroom houses
1 and 2-bedroom apartments
Affordable rent - circa. 20%
Shared ownership - circa. 40%
Outright sale - circa. 40%
Repurposed docks to create open, green spaces
Parking for residents and visitors

About Places for People

We are the UK's leading Social Enterprise. We change lives by creating and supporting thriving communities.

Our business consists of complementary companies that are market leaders in placemaking, regeneration and development, investment management, property management and leisure. Working together, we have the expertise and reach to create and manage entire communities, providing homes, services support and infrastructure that enable our customers and their communities to thrive.

We own or manage more than 230,000 properties that are the homes to around 500,000 customers right across the UK.

We operate 100 leisure facilities that support the health and wellbeing of our customers with an average of 1.9m visits a month.

Using the power of partnership and working collaboratively, almost 10,500 colleagues in more than 20 specialist companies create communities and provide people with opportunities and choice in a way that few organisations can match.

If you have any questions about the proposals, please contact us on pfpcndevelopments@placesforpeople.co.uk.Our Places for People colleagues will also be at the consultation to discuss the plans.