John Buddle Work Village

The development of this centre follows 5 years of hard work by the Reviving the Heart of the West End partnership. Set up in 1997, our clear remit was to bring the regeneration of the West End of the City of Newcastle to the forefront of the agenda for the creation of employment opportunities for residents and the community as a whole.

Reviving the Heart of the West End registered as a community charitable trust in 2002 and following successful bids in 2000 and 2003, a funding package of £2.9m was secured to develop and build the John Buddle Work Village, offering office and workshop accommodation as part of the CityWest development.

The Work Village is named after John Buddle, a prominent local mining engineer, who using his entrepreneurial skills invented and developed the means of mining coal deeply and therefore began the industrial development of the area in the early 1800’s. Widely recognised as an international consultant, he is said to have been a "friend of the poor and a zealous promoter and supporter of charitable and scientific institutes."