Waygood Redevelopment

Local business visitors see first link corridor girder.

2010-01-28T03:20:00.000-08:00

We held a site visit to the redevelopment of Waygood’s High Bridge site with members of local businesses, and John Moreels, who was one of the former owners of the Wards Building. John had bought the building in the 1970s and ran the famous art supplies store from the front building. Another member of the group had memories of frequenting Rileys snooker hall on the ground floor.

We saw the first girder installed for the new link corridor linking the shop front reception and the warehouse building behind.

Cladding complete on Waygood's West Elevation

2009-12-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

Cladding on the west side of Waygood’s new building was completed in December. Made from a special Rheinsvink sheeting this oil finished cladding stops water entering the building on the side facing the Bigg Market.

Studio Artists visit their future studios!

2009-11-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

Many of Waygood’s Studio Artists visited the new venue last week to see the transformation of the building and identify their individual studios. All stated how much they were looking forward to ‘being part of the city again.’

The Studio Artists said that they will appreciate the more convenient location, feeling safer leaving at night, better security and the wider creative facilities when they move to their studios in the new venue.

Glass put into place on Waygood.

2009-11-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

The new glass panels on the stairwell have now been installed from top to bottom of the East elevation of the building, along with the external glass on the top floor viewing box, which will allow views over the city.

The Turning Point network of people from across visual arts strategy groups meet this week in the North East for their National Summit. Delegates will be invited on a special hard-hat tour of Waygood’s High Bridge site to see its progress into a major city centre cultural venue for visual arts.

Studios taking shape on High Bridge

2009-10-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

Progress on the artists' studio floors are particularly noticeable on site at the moment. The studio doors and walls have been delivered and are being installed as the individual studios for artists on the third and fourth floors take shape.

The studios have now been allocated to current studio artists located at Harkers. Visits are being planned so artists can see their new studios.

Waygood featured on ITV's No Place like Home

2009-08-18T03:20:00.000-07:00

Waygood was featured on ITV’s relocation programme, No Place Like Home yesterday. The programme follows artist and curator Alan Bowman who currently lives in Venice, and his family, as they decide whether to return to live and work in Newcastle or stay in Italy.

Alan and his family look at housing, schooling and job opportunities in Newcastle. Alan is shown round Waygood’s redevelopment of its city centre site and discusses his working experience and employment potential with Creative Director, Helen Smith. The family also visited BALTIC, Seven Stories and The Sage Gateshead.

Waygood is due to re-open its city centre cultural venue next year creating studio and gallery and social spaces for art and artists on Newcastle’s High Bridge.

The episode can be viewed online on ITV Player until 15 September 2009 (You may have to download software).

2009-08-04T04:01:00.000-07:00

The structure of Waygood’s saw tooth glass roof on its top floor is now in place on the top floor. The glass panels are almost completely fitted on the roof now.

The building is being made watertight and the internal fit out will commence shortly.

The distinctive ridged structures of the roof can be seen to the left of the yellow crane from the top of Newcastle’s Monument.

Pillars restored to industrial finish

2009-06-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-04T04:18:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-04-30T03:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-24T06:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-11-03T14:20:00.001-08:00

IMG_3339.jpg
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

2008-10-15T06:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-26T05:01:00.000-07:00

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.

Victorian Well Found in Waygood courtyard

2008-08-21T07:16:00.001-07:00

Well & Digger CR
Originally uploaded by caitlinread

Builders from Rok clearing the courtyard between the two sections of the Ward's warehouses made an unexpected discovery last week, when they uncovered a circle of bricks, capped with concrete.

Uncapped under the supervision of an archeologist the discovery turned out to be a well dating from Victorian times, filled with rubble for the first 6 metres and clay beneath. It is located in the area where the original 'High Bridge' crossed a small river or burn in the medieval heart of Newcastle.

The well shaft is currently being cleared out and will eventually have to be filled in to support the weight of the Piling machine, being delivered shortly, so create the concrete foundations. The area in question will become the base of the scissor staircase in Waygood's redevelopment to create a new city centre cultural venue.

Waygood’s Crane a feature on Newcastle’s Skyline

2008-07-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

Waygood’s crane was installed on the May Bank Holiday Weekend in the car park next to our redevelopment of the former Wards Print Factory on High Bridge.

The crane is a Potain E10-14C, 30m high, with a 40m jib, and can lift a maximum of 4 tons, and is fully radio remote controlled.

It will be used by site contractors Rok to lift materials into the site and is especially needed as the historic lanes around High Bridge are too narrow for large deliveries. It will be a feature on the skyline until the end of the year.

(Photo John Jones)

Launch Waygood Art Boutique

2008-07-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

On April 30th we launched Waygood Art Boutique, as a small shop selling contemporary art, it was a very lively launch event with drinks at the Duke of Wellington pub opposite.

An online portfolio of work by artists included within the Boutique can be seen at http://www.waygood.org/boutique.php

Creating Waygood Art Boutique

2008-07-02T07:43:00.001-07:00

Work began transforming what had been the Little Jewel Cinema into Waygood Art Boutique. This was to be a small selling gallery and information office on High Bridge whilst the development continued on the warehouse behind. The shop front of 31 High Bridge was to be shared with the Rok site office.

(photo Topsy@waygood.org)

Redevelopment Announcement

2008-07-02T06:54:00.000-07:00

On 27 February Waygood and Newcastle City Council appointed Rok building Limited as the
redevelopers of our building on High Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

We held a press launch, attended by representatives from Rok, Cllr Maureen Allen, staff from Newcastle City Council and staff and board from Waygood.

Work will begin this spring to create a new city centre cultural venue comprising of Galleries, artists studios, a learning centre, café bar and club and office space.

Animation of the redevelopment by Paul Symth

The capital redevelopment programme has been generously supported by both national and regional funding sources including Tyne Wear partnership, via Single Programme Funding from ONE NorthEast, lottery arts funding through Arts Council England, part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Newcastle City Council, Northern Rock Foundation, the Sir James Knott Trust and The Barbour Trust.