Keelmen’s Hospital

Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust

Newcastle city landmark to be given new lease of life as potential for affordable housing

Grade II*

The Grade II*-listed Keelmen’s Hospital was constructed in 1701 as an almshouse for retired or sickkeelmen and their families - the keelmen were a group of men who worked on the keels, flat-bottomed boats that carried coal from the banks of the shallow Tyne out to ships that were too large to sail up the river. The hospital, which cost £2,000 to build, was paid for by the city’s 1,600 keelmen themselves, who set up a charitable trust and initially agreed to contribute one penny a tide from the wages of each keel crewmember. The eventual decline in guilds meant the decline of the original use of Keelmen’s Hospital, and it later served as council housing and student accommodation. The building has been vacant since 2009 and is on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register.

Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust was commissioned by Newcastle City Council to review Heritage at Risk in the city. Through this review, the restoration and reuse of Keelmen’s Hospital was identified as a prime candidate for a partnership project. The current proposal is to convert the building into 20 one- or two-person flats, with the potential for specialist uses, including co-housing, specialist care support and sheltered housing. This will bring the building back into community use and create affordable new homes in central Newcastle.

Along with Historic England, Newcastle City Council and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the AHF has provided support to this project. In 2024, the AHF awarded a Project Development Grant to Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust, which covered the cost of design team fees to support the Trust in preparing to apply for further funding, building control and planning permission.

https://www.twbpt.org.uk/ 

AHF Funding

Project Development Grant - £36,539 (2024)

Photo Credits

Steve Brock of Newcastle City Council