Central Area Housing

Situated close to the centre of Middlesbrough on Grange and Hartington Road, this scheme was developed jointly by Middlesbrough Borough Council, Sanctuary Housing Association and North Housing Association in the early 1980s. The development is laid out in the form of interlocking terraces, courtyards, parking and pedestrian routes. The terraces comprise of dual aspect flats and maisonettes with a particular urban feel of stepped facades made from projecting wintergardens, balconies, recessed communal entrances and projecting stairs to upper level flats.

Dixon Del Pozzo seem to have taken more inspiration from northern Europe and in particular Ralph Erskine’s work at Byker with the asymmetry of the prominent pitched roofs giving this urban development a distinct domestic feel. The housing has aged well with only the original timber paneling being replaced with rainscreen cladding and the communal entrances modified each in their own idiosyncratic way.