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These should be the good times. We have seen some major movement in recent weeks, with the completion of the 拢68m Middlesbrough College at Middlehaven, and the new 拢16m Infinity Bridge at Stockton's North Shore.

"If we just say, 'Build what you want,' then we're back to the bad old days and future generations have to put up with it."

Ray Mallon

But these key building blocks in the plan to redefine our towns in the eyes of the world are finally coming to completion just as we enter the biggest financial crisis in eighty years. They come to completion right at the end of eight years of property boom. You would be forgiven for thinking Teesside has missed the boat.

Middlesbrough's Mayor Ray Mallon who promised to turn the town into a building site, is cautiously confident that Teesside will be better placed than many to ride the coming storm and says that, so far, none of his ambitious building plans have been shelved. He admits though, that things may well change in the very near future.

"There will be a problem. I just can not see the government being able to give towns and cities across the country the kind of money they have been."

That brings us to quality. When Aldi wanted to put up a supermarket on the site of the old North Riding Infirmary, Middlesbrough Council sent the planning application back three times, demanding a better quality building. The result is probably one of the best looking, best-built Aldi stores you are ever likely to see.

That demand for quality becomes far more risky, though, when property prices are falling. When Mandale Properties wanted to build on the sites of Jumpin' Jacks and the former Cleveland Scientific Institute, Middlesbrough Council followed a similar strategy; insist on the best. When property prices tumbled in the first half of 2008, Mandale did the maths and pulled out of the developments. Both sites, right in the centre of town, are now up for sale.

DONE: Middlesbrough's new Centre Square

So that leaves Teesside's leaders with the question, "Do we wait until we can get what we want, or do we compromise and get something less impressive now?"

There is little appetite for the latter. When asked whether Stockton North Shore should be less ambitious, former council leader Bob Gibson said simply, "We didn't spend 拢16 million on a bridge to a housing estate."

UNDONE: A vacant development site just yards away

Doing the Maths

For the moment, despite the credit crunch, Teesside's chemical, manufacturing and engineering sectors are still confident they can get through the coming economic decline, without losing as many jobs and small businesses as other sectors. On the banks of the Tees, you can maybe see why.

Companies from Denmark, Germany , Singapore and the United States to name a few, are crowded along a short stretch of the Tees Estuary, but while we're still able to sell Teesside across the world as a place to work, our real problem is how to sell ourselves as a place to live and play.

"There is still a demand for quality office space in the Tees Valley ... It is difficult to provide that accommodation in the current market."

Martin Vickerman, Terrace Hill

MIMA is perhaps the most evident example of a regeneration project that made it to completion before the good times rolled off the edge of a cliff, but alone, it can serve only as a totem of Teesside's aspirations.

It is only as part of a bigger picture that it can have the impact it was designed to.

The backbone of the surrounding regeneration is office space. There is still a demand for high quality office space on Teesside, but, says Martin Vickerman of developer Terrace Hill, the maths is very different.

"It is difficult to provide that accommodation in the current market, given a combination of interest rates, build costs and in effect, your investment yields upon them, so it's not that easy to just say, 'Okay, you want 35,000 square feet. I'll start building it for you tomorrow,' which should be the case.

"But also in the North East, we've learned through time that, really, speculative office development is the way forward, so you've got to build offices first and wait for the tenant to come."

There is one development on Teesside that we're still being given a guarantee on. Middlehaven stands as perhaps the epitome of regeneration on Teesside. While Billingham, Thornaby, Eston, Newton Aycliffe, and any number of other towns that have waited through endless false dawns and flash plans, and many are still waiting, it is Middlehaven's potential, ambition and infuriatingly slow progress that has come to symbolise the public's attitude towards regeneration on Teesside. "Nice plans. Come back to me when you've actually built it."

Ironically, with the opening of Middlesbrough College on the site, and the arrival of new buildings in neighbouring St Hilda's, there is finally a real sense of movement at Middlehaven, just as the job of getting developments to completion becomes more difficult.

拢1bn regeneration planned for Hartlepool Docks

Mayor Ray Mallon agrees the development has missed too many opportunities.

"We should have had it built 15 years ago. We've had six good years ... I still believe it'll happen. I don't think there's any problem there. I think that's one of the flagship projects that will occur, because it has to occur."

So for the moment, the idea of trading in these prestige developments for cheaper alternatives that can get done quicker in these troubled times - doesn't seem to have much backing either side of the Tees.

Those in charge say they'll stick with the ambitious plans, we just might have to wait a little longer for them to happen.

But then, we're used to waiting around here.