NORTH-EAST

MARINA DEVELOPMENT Work on a new café-bar restaurant and marina services building at Royal Quays Marina in North Shields, at the mouth of the River Tyne, is due for completion in the autumn. A glazed frontage on the water’s edge will provide views over the marina from the restaurant and outdoor seating areas. Newcastle restaurant The Herb Garden has been appointed to operate the new café bar restaurant. In the meantime, The Herb Garden plans to run a pop-up restaurant at marina events during the summer. The rest of the building will incorporate new berth-holder facilities including new showers, toilets and changing facilities, which will feature individual shower rooms and disabled access as well as a family-friendly bathroom. OFFSHORE WIND FARM

EDF Energy Renewables is to build a new offshore wind farm off the coast of Blyth in Northumberland. Construction work has begun on shore, and offshore work will start in 2017 to install five turbines of 41.5MW in capacity. The turbines will provide enough low-carbon electricity to power 33,000 homes. The project has permission for a maximum total generating capacity of almost 100MW.

The power generated by the wind farm will be supplied to an electricity substation at Blyth for transmission to the National Grid. At its peak, there will be around 200 people working on the project. Construction of the first five turbines is expected to be completed in 2017.