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NEWS
to live, work and play.
“Riverside Sunderland is just the
beginning. Sunderland is springing back
to life. We’re seeing more and more
investment ooding into the city. The
private sector is alive to the opportunities
and that is bringing about transformation
at a pace not seen for decades.
“This will be a ‘magnet city’.
Aspirational families will move here.
Corporates will see this as a place they
want to do business – and their people
will spend money in the city centre
stimulating new jobs and business growth.
Visitors will come to enjoy our unique
oer – riverside, seaside and city centre.
We will attract people – we will reinvent
the heart of Sunderland and send a
message that this is the place to be.”
added Cllr Miller.
“The masterplan is our blueprint for
the development of Sunderland, and
we’re very proud to be driving it.”
Sunderland City Council’s bold and
ambitious plans are already underway,
with the rst wave of projects moving
forward, including the construction of
new City Hall, and the 450-seat
Auditorium, part of the Fire Station arts
complex. Work will start soon on the 120room Holiday Inn in Keel Square and a
planning application has been lodged for
two new buildings in the central business
district that will create 200,000 sq ft of
modern oce space.
The Riverside Sunderland masterplan
has been backed by business leaders from
across Sunderland and the North East.
Adam Serfontein, managing director of
The Hanro Group - who are investing in
Gilbridge Police Station, converting it into
an oce facility – said: “We’re very
excited about this development.
Gilbridge will be the fth acquisition that
the Group has made in and around
Sunderland over the course of the last
four years.
“And what particularly excites us about
this, is that it is a natural consequence of
the investments that Sunderland City
Council have made, alongside Legal &
General and other partners in the city.
What dierentiates this area is that it is
really comprehensively thought through,
in terms of the relationship between
oce space, space for people to live,
space for people to enjoy. It all gels
together really very well.”
James Ramsbotham, chief executive of
the North East England Chamber of
Commerce (NEECC), said: “Right now, the
North East of England provides huge
opportunities for businesses wishing to
invest, with great transport links by sea
and air, road and rail to all parts of the
United Kingdom and indeed around the
rest of the world.
“Sunderland in particular oers the
most wonderful space in which to create a
business. With new cultural venues, with
improved transport links with a great
sporting tradition, it oers a quality of life
for all. But now, particularly with the
Riverside development, the investments
by Legal & General and others, providing
oce space living accommodation and so
much more, I encourage everybody to
take a fresh look at what the city of
Sunderland really is capable of providing
any ambitious business.”
Allison Thompson, who has a
consultancy – Ashmore Consulting –
which is based in the city centre, said:
“This masterplan will not only create a
place people who live here can be really
proud of, it will attract new businesses
and visitors to Sunderland and actually
write a dierent narrative about the city.
And it’s not just the city centre, but how it
then begins to connect and the rest of the
city-region.
“Sunderland has some incredible
assets, that have been massively
underplayed - we have an amazing river,
marina and coast. I think the dierence
now is it has all been connected back into
the city centre so it will actually feel like a
city, and not just a town.”
Sharon Appleby, head of business
operations at Sunderland Business
Improvement District, said: “I think the
news around the Riverside Sunderland
masterplan is just fantastic. It's very, very
exciting news for the city.
“It's brilliant to see things really taking
shape on that site already, never mind the
new things that are coming. The oce
buildings will make a huge dierence to
the city centre with the number of people
working here who will make their way into
the heart of Sunderland. Also the plans
and the real ambition for more people to
live in the city centre is fantastic - we need
that, so that we can help the economy
throughout the whole day and into the
evening. And from a connectivity point of
view, it's brilliant to be able to connect the
two sides of the river together, with some
really good quality development on the
other side of the Wear actually
connecting back into the city centre.
That will be really positive for
all of the businesses
that operate in the city
centre.”
To read the full Masterplan, and to keep up to
date with the latest developments on Riverside
Sunderland, visit www.riversidesunderland.com
or search @Riversidesund on social media.
ISSUE 10 : AUTUMN 2020
59