Working closely with South Tyneside Council, the £26m scheme proposes a two and three storey building which will contain 95 homes, a mix of 20 two-bedroom apartments and 75 one-bedroom apartments, 17 of which are designed specifically for people with dementia. The scheme has been designed to put the community at its heart and help facilitate community cohesion with a ground floor bistro café, which will be open to the general public, and multi-use spaces for activities.

With the café and communal facilities accessed from an entrance plaza, the scheme also features an internal residents’ courtyard garden and a separate Dementia courtyard garden, enclosed by the specialist one bedroom apartments. The development will also feature a dedicated SuDS (Sustainable Drainage System) basin which not only manages stormwater but also provides a wetland habitat area for residents to enjoy. All apartments will enjoy a private balcony or courtyard whilst internally the spaces have been designed as wheelchair friendly with wide corridors and private wheelchair storage areas in each apartment.

The Hebburn scheme is the first of three Karbon Homes projects to provide much needed, specialist Extra Care accommodation across South Tyneside over the next six years and will remodel the expectation of extra care, which is typically aimed at older adults who require support to live independently.

Combined, the schemes will deliver up to 300 new homes, helping address the lack of specialist affordable accommodation options in the borough that help people with differing levels of care and support needs to live well and independently. Zoey Hawthorne, Assistant Director of Development Delivery at Karbon Homes, said: “We’re excited to be working with South Tyneside Council to develop three, first-class extra care schemes. These quality homes will play an important role in meeting the demand for specialist housing in the area. Our vision for these schemes is to create strong and sustainable places that help empower people with additional care and support needs to live life to the full and bring the local community together.”