Nicholas Craig column

Jul 22 2005 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal

The Tall Ships will be a dazzling sight when they parade down the Tyne next week.

A million people will watch a hundred ships sail into the Tyne, and local businesses look set to benefit to the tune of £50m.

We hosted the largest ever Tall Ships' Races in 1993 at a waterfront that looks very different to the one NewcastleGateshead boasts today. Then there was no Quayside business quarter, no Millennium Bridge and no life to speak of at Gateshead quayside.

The prime mover in creating what I believe is one of Europe's finest waterfronts was Tyne and Wear Development Corporation, a body with a short life, extraordinary powers, a healthy budget and a remarkable focus.

It faced criticism and hostility during its time, but it achieved huge, lasting change along our waterfronts. The banks of the Tyne and Wear went through the most dramatic transformation imaginable in one dynamic decade.

The success is now echoed on the Gateshead side of the river, with the Sage building, Baltic Arts Centre, new apartments, business park and Knowledge Campus. Without the £170m investment by TWDC and the private sector, it is unlikely they would have seen the light of day in this decade. The Tall Ships is a great time to celebrate the changes - all for the better - along our riversides.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton LLP