Wates is mobilising on site to kick-start work on Middlesbrough’s biggest regeneration scheme in a generation.

Hoardings have now gone up around the Gresham site earmarked for the £200m Crown Square project, with scaffolding also being erected around The Crown building on the corner of Borough Road and Linthorpe Road ahead of preparatory works.

Developer duo iMpeC and Buccleuch Property are leading the ambitious scheme in partnership with the Middlesbrough Development Corporation, backed by a recent land and asset transfer from the council.

Wates has been named as lead contractor for phase one, which includes more than 240 build-to-rent flats and residential blocks for over 450 students, along with a 200-bed Fairfield by Marriott hotel – one of the first in the country.

The wider Crown Square vision promises 1,500 new homes, 4,000 jobs and a major new city gateway designed to retain talent and boost the local economy.

Middlesbrough Development Corporation chair Tony Parkinson said: “This site is primed for regeneration and local people will now be pleased to see activity taking place.”

A new pedestrian link is also planned between Diamond Road, Linthorpe Road and King Edward’s Square.

The Crown’s future will be decided in a later phase by the Middlesbrough Development Corporation board.