Pillars restored to industrial finish

Waygood's High Bridge site has been covered as some of its internal pillars on are being shot-blasted to remove age old paint, clean them and return them to their original metal finish.

Waygood's Gallery roof structure put into place

The metal roof structures of the gallery are now in place and the distinctive saw tooth roof can be seen. Glass with UV filters to protect the art will be fitted and the galleries will be sealed within the next few weeks.

Waygood’s new distinctive scissor staircases installed.

Progress is continuing on Waygood’s building with the distinctive scissor staircases now installed and complete. Shown here with protective chipboard covering against the elements, the staircases join the two halves of the previous warehouses and will be the centre of the new redevelopment.

The staircases will be one of the main public accesses through the centre of the building, past the first floor commercial office space, two floors of artists’ studios and to the top floor public art galleries, viewing box and roof terrace. Each floor will be joined by four sets of staircases crossing on landings in the middle of each floor, meaning that there are 16 flights of stairs to be installed in total.

The concrete stairs are made in blocks of three or four steps by Ebor in Ripon and the concrete landings by Spancast in Bedlington. The stairs and landings are supported by structural steelwork, fabricated by Carmel in Darlington

The scissor staircase feature was designed by architects Jabornegg and Palffy to complete the centre of the horseshoe shaped building formerly the Wards print warehouse. They will form one of the architectural centrepieces of Waygood’s new building.

Passersby on High Bridge can follow the progress of the development of the building. Documentary photographs of the site taken by Katy Merrington, Debbie Bower and Sarah Bayliss are shown on the screens in the window of 31 High Bridge, from 10am to 10pm daily.

Filming the redevelopment

Katy Merrington and Debbie Bower spent a day in March filming with William Raban documenting the changes to Waygood’s building.

William Raban is a London-based filmmaker and a leading figure in his field. His particular interests lie in cities and the British landscape.

Waygood commissioned William to montor and create a film with Katy and Debbie that will capture this architectural transformation and provide a fascinating document to one of Newcastle’s most exciting regeneration projects, which will be shown as part of our re-opening programme.

ITV1 Filming "No Place Like Home" at Waygood

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Originally uploaded by caitlinread

Waygood's redevelopment on High Bridge was a backdrop for ITV1's filming of "No Place Like Home" today.

The TV reality series followed curator and artist Alan Bowman who worked with Waygood last May on the Fluxus Shoreline event.

It follows Alan and his family as they decide whether to return to the UK after 10 years in Italy. The programme looks at the options the Bowman's have to live and work in their native Newcastle.

Alan chatted with Waygood Creative Director Helen Smith as he helped to install the latest exhibition in Waygood Art Boutique and they walked round the building work on the Wards warehouses to see where Alan may work when Waygood re-opens on High Bridge.

No Place Like Home featuring Alan Bowman is scheduled to be broadcast in the New Year on ITV1. We will let you know when we know the screening date.

Visit to Waygood's High Bridge site by British Council's international young entrepreneurs

Visit to Waygood's High Bridge site by British Council's international young entrepreneurs
Originally uploaded by caitlinread

On Wednesday we hosted a visit through the British Council of international young arts entrepreneurs to our High Bridge site.

As the old internal stairs have been removed we had to climb up the outside of the building on stairs made from the scaffolding!

Today the builders have begun installing the new stairs within the building.

I have also learnt to update this blog, by sending the photo straight from my mobile phone by email via flickr!

Photos of Waygood's redevelopment can be seen in the windows of 31 High Bridge

The screens in the left hand window of Waygood at 31 High Bridge show photographs taken by Katy Merrington, of the redevelopment work taking place on the former Wards Warehouse. Katy Merrington and Debbie Bower are mentees of William Raban documenting the changes to Waygood’s building.

William Raban is a London-based filmmaker and a leading figure in his field. His particular interests lie in cities and the British landscape and he has been described as ‘one of the finest exponents of the genre known as ‘Avant-Garde Landscape’ film’. His work ranges from multi screen gallery pieces to perfectly crafted short films. Waygood has commissioned William Raban, to create a film that will capture this architectural transformation and provide a fascinating document to one of Newcastle’s most exciting regeneration projects.

Whilst the redevelopment continues on the warehouses behind, Waygood Art Boutique, a small selling gallery offering contemporary art by artists associated with Waygood, is open at 31 High Bridge, Newcastle between 12noon and 5pm Wednesdays - Saturdays.