In the late 1990s, English Partnerships and their consultants Urban Villages Forum (UVF) invited architect / design consortia to prepare a comprehensive master plan for the redevelopment of the former Westoe Colliery site. The Westoe Colliery site is one mile south east of the South Shields town centre, adjacent to the South Shields foreshore, with dramatic views of the foreshore and the North Sea beyond.

English Partnerships were seeking to procure a mixed-use development on this site and required consortia to adopt design criteria which utilised and promoted the urban village approach in the establishment of new neighbourhoods. When the Westoe Colliery closed in 1993, the South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council were keen to replace traditional industry with modern industrial units. However, given the nature of the site, there was general agreement by the Local Authority and English Partnerships that residential development should be the predominant use of the site. Terry Farrell and Partners submitted a masterplan in February 1999; however, the eventual development contract went to the Princes’ Foundation.