A four-year journey from initial feasibility to planning approval for one of the North East's most active private sports clubs, The Northumberland Club sought to create outdoor amenity for its growing membership, with sweeping views across the tennis courts. 

The process demanded sustained engagement with club members, the executive board, and Newcastle City Council, as well as multiple conceptual revisions to balance the competing constraints of a sensitive site. The Club sits within the Jesmond Dene Conservation Area and is flanked by three listed buildings, including the Grade I Church of St George. Every design decision was tested against this context.

A pre-application submission returned green ratings across all topics (principle of development, design, heritage, ecology, residential amenity, and transport), with the final proposal striking the right balance between contemporary and listed, nature and building, active and passive.

Modest in scale, deliberate in detail, and the product of a process built on genuine collaboration.