End of road for BioRegional Quintain

Sustainable community developer BioRegional Quintain is to be wound up leaving question marks over who will lead the future development of the HCA-owned Middlehaven docks site in Middlesbrough.

Parent company, property developer Quintain, has decided to “no longer develop separately under the BioRegional Quintain brand”, as it chooses to focus on the London market.

“The expertise we have developed under this brand is being embedded within the mainstream regeneration business and our corporate focus is on the 275 acres we have under development at Wembley and Greenwich in London,” said a company spokesman.

The company is currently working on its Community in a Cube (CIAC) residential block at Middlehaven - the first phase of the UK’s largest zero carbon development Riverside One.

The development is part of a wider mixed use scheme and the site is also home to Temenos, a 50-metre high sculpture created by Turner-prize winning artist Anish Kapoor and structural engineer Cecil Balmond.

BioRegional Quintain is working with The HCA and Middlesbrough Council to complete the CIAC building and to ensure the successful marketing of the apartments in 2012. It will also complete the car park; infrastructure and landscaping around the building to enhance the connections to the railway station and town centre and to enable the next phase of development to take place in due course.

“With regards to Middlehaven, we’re completing the scheme’s first phase of residential and the HCA is focusing on the start of construction of the sixth form college on the site and the next project, which will be the neurological rehabilitation centre,” said the company’s spokesman.

The HCA confirmed that work will continue on the sixth form college and the consultation for the £10 million neurological rehabilitation centre that is expected to create 100 jobs.

It also said that the final space in the Manhattan Gate office building has been acquired by a “prestigious occupier” who will be moving in shortly.

David Curtis, executive director at the Homes and Communities Agency, said: “While this is disappointing news, we remain firmly committed to Middlehaven, building on the success of Middlesbrough College, Manhattan Gate and Temenos. We are in discussions with local partners, to find the best way forward for their work at Middlehaven.”