Middlesbrough Regeneration & Investment Briefing

Funding, places and delivery. A briefing for the organisations bringing forward homes and regeneration across Middlesbrough town centre, Middlehaven and the wider borough.

Dates and decisions to watch

Figures in this briefing cover different programmes, geographies and periods. They should not be added into a single borough investment total.

The funding landscape

Up to £46 billion over ten years

Homes England and its subsidiary, the National Housing Bank, have up to £46 billion to deploy across England to 2036. These are the principal streams. [1]

The joint Investment Prospectus, published on 31 March 2026 ahead of the Bank's opening on 1 April, brings grant, land and finance into one framework. The Bank aims to attract more than £50 billion of additional private capital over the decade.

*The prospectus describes the agency's share as £3.1bn, subject to final confirmation. These are programme envelopes, not a ring-fenced allocation to Middlesbrough.

Programme milestones

Grant, land and finance (products and routes)

Which support fits a scheme depends less on its size than on what is holding it up: a funding gap, a difficult site, or the tenure of the homes to be delivered. [1]

Two grant routes in the Tees Valley — but not the Greater Manchester pattern. Tees Valley is not an established mayoral strategic authority and has no integrated settlement, so housing and infrastructure grant does not arrive as a devolved settlement fund. For Middlesbrough, land and remediation support runs through TVCA's Brownfield Housing Fund; Social and Affordable Homes Programme grant remains administered directly by Homes England, with no Middlesbrough-specific mayoral allocation. [1,15]

Regional routes: Tees Valley

Regional routes: see regions/tees-valley.md for the Combined Authority's Brownfield Housing Fund, the absence of an integrated settlement, the three development corporations, the SAHP first-wave regional position, the Investment Zone and the regional skills offer.

Middlesbrough sits inside two of the region's three Mayoral Development Corporations' remits in different ways: the Middlesbrough Development Corporation (MDC) is both the local planning authority and the lead delivery body for Middlesbrough town centre, Middlehaven, the Zetland Historic Quarter, Boho, Middlesbrough Station, Centre Square and the land between the A66 and North Road, and has been since it became the planning authority for its area on 1 June 2023; the South Tees Development Corporation sits over the border in Redcar and Cleveland and does not cover Middlesbrough itself. [15,37]

Because Middlesbrough sits in a region with no established mayoral strategic authority status, the sequencing differs from Greater Manchester: the national SAHP route is the primary affordable-housing door, and TVCA is chiefly the route for land, remediation and viability gaps. [15]

Who decides what (decisions and public contacts)

1. Homes England / National Housing Bank — Final SAHP funding and contractual decisions; the Bank assesses its finance investments. [1,4]
2. Tees Valley Combined Authority — Brownfield Housing Fund; Investment Zone; regional strategic context through Our Plan for Regional Prosperity. No integrated settlement and no SAHP allocation to distribute. [15]
3. Middlesbrough Development Corporation — Local planning authority for Middlesbrough town centre, Middlehaven, Boho, the Zetland Historic Quarter and the land between the A66 and North Road since 1 June 2023; chaired by Mayor Ben Houchen. [15,37]
4. Middlesbrough Council — Local housing need and Local Plan outside the MDC boundary; council land and its own new-build activity; accountable body for the borough's Pride in Place neighbourhoods. [16,20]
5. Park End and Thorntree Pride in Place neighbourhood boards — Two boards, each with a co-chair model and six local board members recruited per area (12 in total); recruitment closed 7 September 2026. Named chairs not identified in sources checked — open. [12,16,17]
6. Development and delivery partners — Thirteen Housing Group (Hillside Gardens/Grove Hill, Union Village/Gresham, Thorntree bungalows); RE:GEN Group (Thorntree, with Thirteen); Capital&Centric (Middlehaven strategic partner). [21,22,25,27,29]

Public routes for the next conversation

A useful first enquiry names the site, landowner, proposed use, delivery lead, funding gap and next decision.

Accessing programme grant: a route for smaller providers

• Continuous Market Engagement — Open for individual schemes and portfolios while funding remains available. Designed to accommodate smaller partners, new entrants and complex projects. [5]
• Strategic partnerships — Programme-level allocations. The initial bidding round closed on 15 April 2026; future rounds will be announced. [6]

Before a grant application

Organisations need Homes England Investment Partner qualification to receive grant. Because Middlesbrough is not in an established mayoral strategic authority area, Homes England's national SAHP strategic priorities apply rather than a mayor-set tenure floor. [7,15]

Middlesbrough's Publication Local Plan identifies a requirement of 420 new homes a year, a minimum of 7,980 homes to 2041; the plan's affordable-housing percentage by site should be checked against the adopted Local Plan policy wording before use in a bid, which was not retrieved in full for this brief — not verified. [20]

Places and programmes (borough programmes)

Middlehaven — up to 3,400 homes over the masterplan, first phase of 462 homes

Middlesbrough Council's strategic partner Capital&Centric (Manchester-based) is bringing forward a masterplan of up to 3,400 homes and apartments around the Old Town Hall and towards Middlehaven Dock — one to four-bedroom build-to-rent or housing-association homes. Feasibility work began March 2026, running into mid-2027. Early plans for the first phase, 462 homes around the Old Town Hall, were unveiled 2 September 2026. Planning submission expected late 2026, a decision on the first phase in March 2027, start on site summer 2027 and first occupations summer 2028. £3.6m of the council's Towns Fund allocation funds design to RIBA Stage 4 and procurement of a main contractor. [21,22]

Newham Hall — 1,000+ homes

A 42-hectare site near Coulby Newham with capacity for more than 1,000 homes; council Executive approval given, outline plans due December 2026, the site to be marketed February 2027, start on site April 2028 and first completions early 2029. [24]

Hillside Gardens, Grove Hill — 296 affordable homes

Thirteen, working with Middlesbrough Council, TVCA and Homes England, is delivering 296 two, three and four-bedroom houses and bungalows for affordable rent on former derelict land north of Keith Road. Supported by Homes England's Affordable Homes Programme and a £2.8m Tees Valley Combined Authority Brownfield Housing Fund contribution. More than half complete as at the source checked, remainder due summer 2026. Named by local schoolchildren. [25,26]

Thorntree bungalows (Fleet House site) — 40 homes, £9m

Thirteen, with developer RE:GEN Group, Middlesbrough Council and Homes England funding support, is building 39 two-bedroom bungalows and one four-bedroom house on the former Fleet House and Thorntree House high-rise site, demolished 2025. Completion expected late summer 2027. [27,28]

Union Village, Gresham — 145 affordable homes (completed)

Thirteen, with Homes England, Middlesbrough Council and TVCA, completed Union Village in Gresham in November 2025: 145 new affordable homes. Cited here as recent local delivery rather than a live scheme. [29]

Gresham (Crown Square) — paused

A separate £200m scheme, branded Crown Square and launched at UKREiiF on 21 May 2025, was approved by the MDC and paused in October 2025 as "financially unviable" on current market conditions. The council's own announcement describes its first phase as more than 230 build-to-rent properties, student accommodation for more than 400 people and one of the country's first Fairfield by Marriott hotels at the A66 entrance to the town, within a wider ambition of 1,500 new homes and 4,000 jobs; developers iMpeC and Buccleuch Property. (Earlier drafts of this brief gave 240 flats and 450 student beds; the council's figures are "more than 230" and "more than 400".) Six options for the scheme's future were reported under consideration, with a preferred option due by the end of March 2026 — no published MDC decision was found; searched Middlesbrough moderngov decision records and MDC minutes on 19 September 2026. Open. [30,31,42]

Not reconciled with the above

The homes figures above are scheme-level and should not be summed with the Local Plan's borough-wide 7,980-home minimum to 2041, which already contains this and all other future supply. [20]

Pride in Place: Park End and Thorntree, phase 2

Middlesbrough has two Pride in Place neighbourhoods, both in the TS3 postcode area — Park End and Thorntree — each carrying its own £20 million over ten years, reported locally as a combined "£40m for TS3." Do not sum the two into a single figure without naming each area separately: the programme rules treat them as two distinct ten-year allocations, exactly as Wakefield's three neighbourhoods must not be summed. [16,17,18]

Neither Park End nor Thorntree appears in the 20 March 2026 phase 2 expansion methodology note (40 neighbourhoods plus Wales), nor in the phase 1 (2023) list of 75 towns: both were selected in the phase 2 (September 2025) cohort, so no further Middlesbrough neighbourhood is expected from the expansion list, and neither area carries a phase 1 "no deadline" position. [12,13,14]

Pride in Place Impact Fund — £750,000 in each of two years

Middlesbrough appears at £750,000 in Annex A of both determinations — the 2025/26 determination (signed 29 September 2025) and the 2026/27 determination (signed 8 April 2026). Both annexes were parsed directly from the GOV.UK pages on 19 September 2026: each lists 94 authorities, 93 at £750,000 and one (Bridgend) at £1,500,000. Middlesbrough and Hartlepool are the only Tees Valley authorities in either list; Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar and Cleveland and Darlington are absent from both. [10,11,41]

Do not add the Impact Fund figure to the two neighbourhoods' £20m-each Pride in Place allocations — it is separate money with its own borough-wide allocation and no published target wards, exactly as in the Wakefield model brief.

Bring a project that can be delivered

• Need, ownership and consent — Who benefits, land control, delivery lead, consents and dependencies.
• Capital and continuing costs — Works, contingency, asset owner, operating budget and maintenance.

National delivery guidance requires each board to have at least eight members, with at least 51% living or working locally; Middlesbrough's 12-strong two-board model (six per neighbourhood, plus co-chairs) is consistent with this, though it was not checked line-by-line against the guidance for this brief. [9,12]

Local investment and project calls: different pots, different decisions

Do not add these figures together. They are different programmes, geographies and periods, and several fund activity around the same town-centre and TS3 sites.

Homes, partners and local need

The Local Plan number

Middlesbrough's Publication Local Plan sets a requirement of 420 new homes a year, a minimum of 7,980 homes over the plan period to 2041. [20] This figure was read from search-result summaries of the council's own Local Plan page rather than the adopted policy document itself for this brief — treat the plan-period start date and any interim trajectory as not verified pending direct confirmation.

Council Plan 2026–2029

Middlesbrough Council adopted a Council Plan for 2026 to 2029 setting out a vision for the town as "a thriving, healthy, safe, and ambitious place, where people want to live, work, invest, and visit," with housing identified as a key focus area; specific numeric housing commitments within the plan were not retrieved for this brief — open. [19]

Named local delivery

These are examples of local activity, not a complete provider list or evidence of a new SAHP award. Thirteen Housing Group, headquartered at Hudson Quay in Middlesbrough, is one of the 33 first-wave SAHP strategic partners (2,750 homes / £349.2m across its whole operating area) and appears on three of the five schemes named above. Thirteen's first-wave allocation is a national programme figure and must not be read as a Middlesbrough-specific award: none of the schemes above is itself evidence of a new SAHP-funded scheme, and each predates or sits outside the 2026–2036 programme's own funding decisions. [2,15,25,27,29]

Housing register and homelessness

Middlesbrough's housing register is accessed via compasscbl.org.uk (Choice Based Lettings), and most social housing is advertised weekly through Tees Valley Home Finder; homelessness assessments are made by phone (0800 130 3667 / 01642 726800). No current housing register total, band breakdown or homelessness presentation figures for Middlesbrough were found in the sources checked — open. [36]

Delivery and the supply chain

Planning authority varies by location. Inside the Middlesbrough Development Corporation's boundary (town centre, Middlehaven, Boho, the Zetland Historic Quarter and the A66/North Road land), the MDC — not the council — determines planning applications, addressed to MDCplanning@teesvalley-ca.gov.uk. Outside that boundary, Middlesbrough Council remains the local planning authority. [15,37]

Finding the actual route to work

Middlesbrough Council uses the NEPO (North East Procurement Organisation) portal for tenders and quotations, confirmed directly from the council's own NEPO page; NEPO works with twelve North East authorities. Registration is free. The council also publishes a "Buy Boro" tender pipeline and a contracts register. [32,33]

Above-threshold notices also appear on Find a Tender (find-tender.service.gov.uk), the national register under the Procurement Act 2023 regime. [34]

A funding announcement does not itself create an open invitation to tender: at Middlehaven, Capital&Centric is already engaged as the council's strategic development partner, and supply-chain work there is expected to flow through that partner relationship rather than a fresh council tender for the whole masterplan.

Skills and delivery capacity

Middlesbrough College operates a dedicated Construction Centre as part of its £120m campus, with an outdoor construction site (used for over a third of course delivery) and bespoke workshops for bricklaying, joinery, painting and decorating, electrical and plumbing trades; provision spans Entry-level Basic Construction Trade Skills through to the Multi Skills Construction Academy and adult part-time courses. [35]

The region's Construction Technical Excellence College is not in the Tees Valley: the nearest is City of Sunderland College, the North East's designated construction hub, roughly 30–40 miles north of Middlesbrough. The Tees Valley's own Technical Excellence College designation (14 April 2026) is in clean energy, held by the Education Training Collective (Stockton Riverside College, Redcar and Cleveland College, Bede Sixth Form College, NETA Training and Innersummit) — not construction, and not based in Middlesbrough. [15]

Sources

Research checked on 19 September 2026.

1. Homes England / National Housing Bank, Investment Prospectus 2026 · source
2. Homes England / MHCLG, "Homes England and government confirm strategic partners...", 25 August 2026 · source
3. MHCLG, "Historic council housebuilding comeback to help families into secure homes", 24 August 2026 (Tees Valley has no regional figure) · source
4. Homes England, SAHP 2026 to 2036 guidance · source
5. Homes England, SAHP 2026 to 2036: bid for funding using the CME route · source
6. Homes England, SAHP 2026 to 2036: bid for funding as a strategic partnership · source
7. Homes England, SAHP 2026–2036: strategic priorities in established mayoral strategic authority areas · source
8. MHCLG, Pride in Place programme delivery guidance · source
9. MHCLG, Pride in Place programme prospectus · source
10. MHCLG, Pride in Place Impact Fund grant determinations 2025–26 · source
11. MHCLG, Pride in Place Impact Fund grant determinations 2026–27 · source
12. MHCLG, Pride in Place Programme phase 2: place selection methodology note · source
13. MHCLG, Pride in Place Programme phase 1: place selection methodology note · source
14. MHCLG, Pride in Place Programme phase 2 expansion: place selection methodology note, 20 March 2026 · source
15. This briefing's regional companion page — /Users/mark/regneration/regions/tees-valley.md — TVCA structure, Brownfield Housing Fund, absence of an integrated settlement, the three development corporations, SAHP regional position, Investment Zone, skills · source
16. Middlesbrough Council, Pride in Place · source
17. Teesside Live (Gazette Live), "£40m project for TS3 moves forward with board members sought on regeneration investment" · source
18. Teesside Live (Gazette Live), "Park End set to receive 'huge' £20m as part of decade-long investment" · source
19. Middlesbrough Council, Council Plan 2026–2029 · source
20. Middlesbrough Council, Housing Local Plan / planning policy · source
21. Middlesbrough Council, "Exciting first look at transformative new development at Middlehaven" · source
22. Tees Business, "Revealed: first look at scheme to transform Middlehaven" · source
23. Invest in Middlesbrough, Housing & urban living: major developments · source
24. Middlesbrough Council, "Major housing project given green light after Executive approval" (Newham Hall) · source
25. Thirteen Group, "Drone footage shows progress as Middlesbrough affordable homes development passes halfway mark" · source
26. Middlesbrough Council, "Drone footage shows scale of change at new Grove Hill development" · source
27. Middlesbrough Council, "New £9m development to build brand new affordable homes in Thorntree" · source
28. Housing Digital, "Work starts on £9m Middlesbrough bungalow scheme" · source
29. Middlesbrough Council, "First of 145 new affordable homes unveiled in heart of Middlesbrough" (Union Village, Gresham) · source
30. Tees Valley Combined Authority, "Gresham Regeneration Takes Major Step Forward as Plans Approved for Hotel, Apartments and Student Accommodation" · source
31. Teesside Live (Gazette Live), "'Financially unviable' £200m Gresham Crown Square regeneration plans paused" · source
32. Middlesbrough Council, NEPO · source
33. Middlesbrough Council, Buy Boro / tender pipeline · source
34. Find a Tender Service · source
35. Middlesbrough College, Construction Centre · source
36. Middlesbrough Council, Homelessness · source
37. Tees Valley Combined Authority, Middlesbrough Development Corporation · source
38. Thirteen Group, About us (Hudson Quay headquarters) · source
39. GOV.UK / Local Growth Fund reporting on UKSPF succession (searched; no Middlesbrough-specific 2026/27 document retrieved) · source
40. Middlesbrough Council, Commissioning and procurement · source
41. MHCLG, Pride in Place Impact Fund grant determinations, Annex A tables parsed in full, 19 September 2026 — 94 authorities per determination (93 at £750,000, Bridgend at £1,500,000); Middlesbrough £750,000 in both years · source and source
42. Middlesbrough Council, "Crown Square plans unveiled for central Middlesbrough", 21 May 2025 · source

For the regional routes, see the full numbered source list in regions/tees-valley.md's own Sources section.

Research notes

Verified from primary or council sources

• Park End and Thorntree confirmed as phase 2 Pride in Place neighbourhoods against MHCLG's phase 2 methodology note, and confirmed absent from the phase 1 (75 towns) and phase 2 expansion (40 neighbourhoods plus Wales) lists — resolving phase and the 30 November 2026 plan deadline without relying on council or press framing alone. [12,13,14]
• Tees Valley's non-established-mayoral-strategic-authority status, and the resulting absence of a regional SAHP figure and of an integrated settlement, read directly from the regional companion page, itself built from primary MHCLG/Homes England sources. [15]
• Middlesbrough Development Corporation's planning-authority status and area, and its distinctness from the South Tees Development Corporation (which does not cover Middlesbrough), taken from TVCA's own MDC page via the regional page. [15,37]
• Thirteen Housing Group's Hudson Quay, Middlesbrough headquarters and its first-wave SAHP strategic-partner status (2,750 homes / £349.2m, national figure) cross-checked against the regional page's own reading of the 25 August 2026 partner table. [2,15,38]
• NEPO confirmed as Middlesbrough's procurement portal directly from the council's own NEPO page, consistent with the regional page's statement that all five Tees Valley councils use NEPO/Open. [15,32]
• The Local Plan's 420 homes/year and 7,980-homes-to-2041 minimum, and the £2.8m TVCA Brownfield Housing Fund contribution to Hillside Gardens, were each read from a single named page or article rather than cross-verified against a second primary document within the time available for this brief.

Not verified / press or search-summary only

• Middlesbrough's own Pride in Place Impact Fund figure (£750,000 for 2026/27) was not independently parsed from Annex A of either determination for this brief — confirm directly before use, following the same check the Wakefield model brief carried out for its own borough.
• The Gresham (Crown Square) scheme's paused status, the six options under consideration and the reported end-of-March-2026 MDC decision date all rest on press reporting; no published MDC decision was retrieved.
• Middlehaven's 3,400-home masterplan figure, and the 462-home first-phase figure and its dates (March 2027 decision, summer 2027 start, summer 2028 first occupations), come from council and trade-press coverage of an unconsented masterplan rather than a granted planning permission.
• Newham Hall's 1,000+ homes figure and programme dates rest on a single search-summarised source and were not cross-checked against the council Executive report itself.
• Middlesbrough's Council Plan 2026–2029 housing commitments beyond its general vision statement were not retrieved in full.
• The UK Shared Prosperity Fund successor position ("Local Growth Fund", Regional Economic Partnership-level allocation) is drawn from general reporting, not a Middlesbrough-specific document, and is marked open below.

Open items

• Named chairs for the Park End and Thorntree Pride in Place neighbourhood boards were not found in the sources checked.
• Middlesbrough's own Pride in Place Impact Fund Annex A row (2025/26 and 2026/27) was not read directly from the determination documents.
• Current housing register total, band breakdown and homelessness presentation figures for Middlesbrough were not found; searched the council's housing pages without success.
• Whether a fifth or sixth large live scheme beyond the four to five named here (Middlehaven, Newham Hall, Hillside Gardens, Thorntree bungalows, Union Village/Gresham) exists was not exhaustively checked; a fuller pipeline review would need the council's own housing land supply or Executive forward-plan papers.
• The Council Plan 2026–2029's specific numeric housing targets, and whether the Local Plan's 7,980-homes-to-2041 figure has been formally adopted (as opposed to remaining at publication/examination stage), were not confirmed.
• UK Shared Prosperity Fund successor arrangements specific to Middlesbrough for 2026/27.

Blocked or failed URLs

• https://www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/about-middlesbrough/improving-middlesbrough/pride-in-place/ — HTTP 403 to direct WebFetch; content instead drawn from WebSearch result summaries of this and related council/press pages.
• https://tollbit.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/middlesbrough-thorntree-park-end-project-34477314 (Teesside Live redirect target) — HTTP 402 Payment Required; article content instead drawn from WebSearch result summary of the same URL.

Verifier pass, 19 September 2026:

• Open item closed: the Impact Fund figure is now primary. The brief marked Middlesbrough's Annex A row "not verified", resting on search-result summaries. Both determinations were fetched raw and their Annex A tables parsed from the HTML directly: Middlesbrough is at £750,000 in both 2025/26 and 2026/27. Each determination lists 94 authorities, 93 at £750,000 and Bridgend at £1,500,000; Middlesbrough and Hartlepool are the only Tees Valley entries. Press/search→primary on that line. [41]
• Confirmed: Thorntree and Park End are both phase 2, read from the phase 2 methodology note's own table ("Middlesbrough | 2 | Thorntree; Park End"); the 30 November 2026 plan deadline is correct, from the prospectus and delivery guidance; neither appears in the phase 1 list (75 towns) nor on the 20 March 2026 phase 2 expansion list (40 boards plus Wales, read in full), so 26 February 2027 applies to neither. The brief's refusal to sum the two £20m allocations into "£40m for TS3" is correct and now matches the regional page's cross-borough table.
• Corrected: Crown Square scheme composition. The brief gave "240 build-to-rent flats and 450-bed student accommodation". The council's own announcement of 21 May 2025 says more than 230 build-to-rent properties and student accommodation for more than 400 people, with a Fairfield by Marriott hotel, within a wider ambition of 1,500 homes and 4,000 jobs; developers iMpeC and Buccleuch Property. Press→primary on that line. [42]
• Corrected (formatting): a stray blank line inside the "Dates and decisions to watch" table was breaking the table at the first data row.
• Confirmed unchanged: Thirteen (2,750 / £349.2m) as a first-wave SAHP strategic partner, headquartered at Hudson Quay, read from the release's own table; the £9,584.1m / 73,617-homes partner-table totals; the absence of any Tees Valley figure in MHCLG's 24 August 2026 regional breakdown; NEPO as the council's procurement portal, from the council's own NEPO page. Thirteen's Hillside Gardens (296 homes, Grove Hill, completion summer 2026) is the only Tees Valley site on Thirteen's own homes-in-development listing, which corroborates this brief and corrects the Hartlepool, Redcar and Stockton briefs.
• Still open, with what was searched: the Gresham/Crown Square preferred option — searched Middlesbrough moderngov decision records and MDC minutes; the April 2025 Executive Sub-Committee for Property minutes cover only the land and asset transfer to MDC, and no published decision on the six options was found; named chairs for the Park End and Thorntree Neighbourhood Boards (recruitment closed 7 September 2026, appointments not yet published); the Middlehaven first-phase planning decision (expected March 2027); local distribution of the Impact Fund within the borough, which MHCLG does not publish and the council has not announced.

General information only, not legal, financial or professional advice. Confirm eligibility and terms with the relevant body.