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Hopes hobby rooms will bring estate together

Evie LakeNorth East and Cumbria
Karbon Homes A group of about 30 people standing and sitting in front one of the hobby rooms which is a blue wooden building with a slanted roof. The light brick walls of the Byker Wall can be seen all around the room, with green wooden accents on the stairways and walls. There is a large tree in the centre of the photo. Some people are sitting on the walls and others standing on the stairwell on the left. All are looking into the camera and smiling.Karbon Homes
Four hobby rooms have been renovated on the Byker Wall

Four "hobby rooms" on a housing estate have been renovated in the hope of uniting its community.

The Byker Wall Estate, in Newcastle, was built between 1969 and 1982 and designed by architect Ralph Erskine, who was worried about the lack of social space in such a high-density development.

Across the estate there were about 80 rooms designed specially for people to socialise in, but over the years many fell into disrepair and were sitting empty.

The rooms now host a community kitchen, artist's studio, a group space and Byker archive.

Karbon Homes owns and manages the Byker Wall and its place partnership strategic lead Victoria Keen said about a dozen of the original 80 rooms were turned into housing 10 years ago.

While some of the remaining rooms were small and used for storage, others were large enough to turn back into a community space, she said.

Northern Cultural Projects Two old white sinks attached to a green wooden shelf. The sink on the left has a shower head lying in it, with the box with the on button lying on the top of the shelf. In the sink on the right is an old booklet which reads 'Koleston 2000 shade chart' with a photo of a woman with long brown curly hair at the bottom. Everything looks like it is covered in a layer of dust and there are chips in the turquoise coloured wall to the left.Northern Cultural Projects
One of the hobby rooms used to be a hairdressers

The room on Raby Street used to be a hairdressers and Keen said walking through the door was like a "time capsule".

"There were posters around the building with images from the late 1980s," she said.

"There were the most amazing perms and there was a price list, you could get a cut and blow dry for £1.99."

The room has now been renovated and will be run by Byker Community Co-op, which will host a range of community-focused groups and activities.

Northern Cultural Projects The outside of the community hub hobby room which is a light brick building with a red door which is open. There is a large window to the right of the door which is partially covered by a large colourful mural which reads 'The community hub'. Two people can be seen through the top of the window.Northern Cultural Projects
The room which was once a hairdressers is now a community hub

Another refurbished room used to be a photography studio.

It has now been transformed into a community archive to tell the story of the estate, led by Northern Cultural Projects CIC.

Karbon Homes The inside of the archive hobby room which has different photographs and memorabilia on the wall on colourful red and green boards. On the far wall is a street sign which reads Albion Row. There is a group of 15 people in the space, looking at the exhibition or facing each other and talking.Karbon Homes
A former photography studio has been turned into a Byker community archive

Director of the group Silvie Fisch said: "The problem with the modern social housing, there was very little space for people to socially interact, to have spare rooms to pursue hobbies.

"The hobby rooms were used for all sorts of things like printing the newsletter for the estate, The Phoenix.

"There were some strange things like a mice club, we're not quite sure what actually happened there."

The Byker Wall which is long wall-like building consisting of number a number of flats. There are about five storeys with lots of windows and green and blue balconies run along the building. The bottom of the building is brown brick, but the top is made out of a white material. Towards the right, the roof slopes upward with a blue corrugated material. There are trees at the base of the building.
The Byker Wall Estate was designed by architect Ralph Erskine

Northern Cultural Projects hopes the archive will bring people together.

They have interviewed residents, some of whom lived on the estate when it was first built.

The Wall was controversial at the time, with streets of terraced housing being torn down to make way for the structure.

Mirrorpix via Getty Images An old black and white photograph which shows the Byker Wall being built at the bottom of a hill. On the left is a row of terraced brick houses which slope down the steep hill. On the path in front of the houses is a man and two young boys looking at the structure which is covered in scaffolding. It has lots of different-shaped windows and the building slopes down on either side. It is about eight-stories tall. In front of the wall are more houses being built. There is rubble on the right side of the road, opposite the houses.Mirrorpix via Getty Images
Terraced housing was torn down to make way for the Byker Wall

Fisch said: "There's a lot of problems between people who hate the new estate and it's all about the old Byker and that was beautiful and nothing else counts.

"We do have interviews with people saying they wanted the new housing.

"The old stock survived two World Wars, it wasn't well built from the start, I mean some said could could just kick a wall and it would fall over.

"We want a bridge to be honest, the old and the new."

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