A VICTORIAN mill is to be turned into a specialist centre for children's books.

The Centre for The Children's Book (CCB) will be housed at Ouseburn Mill, in the Ouseburn Valley, near Newcastle, where readers can take advantage of many of Britain's finest literary creations.

One of the region's largest independent building contractors, Bowey Construction, won the £3m contract to transform the seven-storey mill and an adjacent 1950s warehouse, previously owned by Trade Union Printing Services Ltd.

CCB is a charitable organisation whose aim is to bring together as many original manuscripts and artworks from some of the best-loved children's books as possible and to make them accessible.

Bowey will begin the project with the demolition of the single storey 1950s warehouse.

The programme, expected to take 42 weeks, will start with the construction of a two-storey extension.

This will be added on to the original Grade II-listed mill by a stair tower clad in concrete panelling similar to that used on the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

The company will also carry out extensive renovation on the mill, which was built in 1872, including stripping out the original floors so they can be levelled, and restoring the original timber internal roof structure.

Due to the listing of the building, all work has to be sanctioned by English Heritage.

It is the first centre of its type to be built in the UK.

Ian Walker, Bowey Construction's managing director, said: "The site is set in a tidal location and because of this, we will have to erect the site set-up on the opposite side of the river and construct a scaffold bridge across to gain access.

"Fortunately, we have a wealth of experience of working on sensitive sites such as this one and I am confident that we will be able to overcome any hurdles this project may present to deliver the project on time and to budget."

Funding for the project is being provided by Newcastle City Council, One NorthEast via the TyneWear Partnership, the European Regional Development Fund, the Arts Council Lottery, the Northern Rock Foundation, the Barbour Trust, Walker Books, the Robert Westall Charitable Trust, Trusthouse Charitable Trust, Foyle Charitable Trust, HarperCollins and with the balance from other trusts, companies and individuals.

Published:03/02/2004