Rethinking New Towns with Wayne Hemingway

**Please note that this lecture will take place at Fine Art Lecture Theatre, not the Farrell Centre.

Join designer Wayne Hemingway in a discussion on New Towns – those that exist, those to be built, and those we might imagine.

Another generation of New Towns is a central plank of the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes in the current parliament, unclog the planning system, and unleash economic growth. The government is consciously looking to the achievements of the previous generation of New Towns, from the late 1940s to the 1970s. However, despite there being significant North East representation from that era, there is no site north of Leeds among the seven due to be taken forward.

In this event, we therefore explore the motivations behind the creation of New Towns – social, economic, cultural – and reflect on what the experience of the current generation of New Towns might offer future ones.

To do this, we are delighted to be joined by the leading designer Wayne Hemingway. Born in Morecambe in 1961, Hemingway grew up in Blackburn. He studied Geography and Town Planning at University College, London before establishing with his wife Gerardine the designer label Red or Dead, which became globally celebrated. After selling the label, in 1999 Wayne and Gerardine established HemingwayDesign as a new vehicle for their multi-disciplinary design practice that is rooted in community.

Notable projects include leading the masterplanning for the regeneration of numerous UK seaside towns. As part of this work, the practice reimagined Dreamland, Margate, Europe’s first-ever pleasure park. They have worked with numerous national cultural institutions and have established a number of highly successful place-making festivals across Britain.

In the North East, the studio also led the Staithes South Bank development which came about in usual fashion, as their recall on their website: ‘When we used the national press to criticise the “Wimpeyfication” and “Barrattification” of Britain, George Wimpey reacted in a way that we didn’t expect – they asked us to come in for a chat and challenged us to do better.’ The result is a development inspired by European urbanism, offering residents choice in how they live, carefully landscaping and places for play built in.

At the event, Hemingway will be joined in conversation by Owen Hopkins, Director of the Farrell Centre.

About the series

This event is part of our Where We Live Now lecture series, tackling the big questions facing housing in Newcastle, the North East, and beyond.

The event also forms part of a symposium – Re: New Towns – organised by Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, which runs from Thursday 16 – Friday 17 April 2026. Further information, including how to book your place, can be found here.

Image credit: Apollo Pavilion, Peterlee by Euan Lynn