Parklands is not a single estate but a council ward covering the northern edge of Gosforth, north of the Metro line, up to the city boundary. The A1 forms its western edge and the A189 its eastern edge, with the Great North Road running up the middle. Inside it are several distinct neighbourhoods: Garden Village, Brunton Park and North Brunton, Melton Park, the Grange estate, Whitebridge Park and the Halls estate, North Gosforth Park, and the parts of Newcastle Great Park east of the A1.
Those areas were built across a full century, so roofs in Parklands vary a great deal. Newcastle Roofs repairs and replaces roofs on every type of home here, from early 20th-century houses to those built in the last few years. Quotes are free, there is no call-out charge, and we start by working out what your particular roof needs.
Parklands neighbourhood by neighbourhood
Garden Village
Built in 1921 by the North Eastern Railway on garden suburb principles, Garden Village takes in Harewood Road, Grange Road, Strathmore Road, Langholm Road, Linthorpe Road and Granville Road, plus some houses on the Great North Road and Broadway East. These houses are now a century old, an age at which roofs often need more than occasional patching.
Brunton Park
The oldest parts date from the early 1930s, with most of the estate built in the 1940s and 1950s and Burnside Road following in the late 1950s. Roofs from this era are typically pitched and tiled, often with chimney stacks, and many houses have since been extended.
Melton Park, Grange and Whitebridge
Melton Park is made up of established streets of detached and semi-detached homes, with local shops, as at Brunton Park and the Grange estate. Whitebridge Park and the Halls estate sit on the eastern side of the ward. Melton Park also contains the remains of a medieval chapel, a scheduled ancient monument, which is a reminder of how long people have lived on this land.
Warkworth Woods, Melbury and North Gosforth Park
The newest housing in the ward, from the early 2000s phases of the Great Park to the homes now going up on fields to the north.
Century-old roofs in Garden Village
Houses built in the early 1920s have usually seen at least one major round of roof work. When we survey one, we pay attention to the age and condition of the covering, the state of the battens and underlay beneath it, and whether earlier repairs used matching materials or were simply patched in.
Chimney stacks are another priority. On houses of this age, the mortar around pots and the pointing on the stack will often have weathered badly, and lead flashings at the base may have been replaced with cement fillets that crack. Restoring the original style of the street, where you can, keeps these homes looking as their designers intended and usually lasts longer than a cheaper patch.
Post-war Brunton Park and Melton Park
Mid-century houses are now old enough that the first replacement coverings, often put on in the 1970s or 1980s, are themselves wearing out. Typical issues include:
- Concrete tiles that have become porous, mossy or brittle.
- Ridge and hip tiles loosening as the mortar breaks down.
- Valleys where two roof slopes meet, lined with lead or mortar that has cracked.
- Flat-roofed garages and kitchen extensions with failing felt.
- Original fascias and soffits in timber that have rotted behind the gutter.
Many of these can be repaired individually, but where several are happening at once, a full re-roof with new battens and a breathable membrane can work out better over the long term. We will lay out both options so you can compare.
Trees, rain and drainage
Parklands is one of the greenest parts of the city. Gosforth Park, with Newcastle Racecourse, Gosforth Wood, the nature reserve and its lake, sits within the ward alongside several golf courses. Homes close to mature trees collect leaves, twigs and moss in their gutters and valleys, and roofs in shade stay damp for longer.
Brunton Park also has a history of flooding from the Ouseburn and the drains, which led to a flood alleviation scheme completed in 2016 to reduce risk to more than a hundred properties. Roofs play only a small part in that picture, but gutters and downpipes that overflow or discharge against walls add to surface water. Keeping them clear, sized correctly and properly connected is a simple, worthwhile step for any home in Parklands.
Newer homes in the north of the ward
Warkworth Woods and Melbury were the first parts of the Great Park to be built, starting in 2001 and 2002, and houses there are now roughly 15 to 25 years old. That is roughly when dry-fix ridges and verges, sealants around roof windows and flat roofs over porches or garages begin to need attention.
Elsewhere in the ward, new homes are going up on fields in North Gosforth Park, and houses have been built inside the old walled gardens at Gosforth Park after archaeological investigation between 2016 and 2019. For very recent homes, check the warranty position first; for everything else, we can inspect and quote. We also fit Velux roof windows and carry out loft insulation and boarding for owners wanting to improve the roof space.
