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Riverside 2024
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Change welcomes opportunities
By 2024, Sunderland’s cityscape will be undergoing the most rapid period of change in living memory…
The UK’s most ambitious regeneration project, Riverside Sunderland, is gathering pace. New buildings are rising from the ground while the city’s unpolished gems – heritage buildings that had fallen into disrepair – are shining once again. Now, the city sets its sights on the projects it intends to take forward by 2024, as Riverside Sunderland moves into its next phase. Just a few short years ago, the former Vaux Brewery site stood barren. A gaping hole in the city centre, having once been an industrial heart, where beer that was pumped out in bars around the world was brewed. Now, it’s a new inviting landscape that is beginning to form. A cityscape befitting of the ambitious place Sunderland now is, two striking buildings stand proudly on the site, piercing the skyline and marking the intent of the council as it drives ahead with its plans. But this is merely the start.
Riverside Sunderland – led by the council – has aims unlike any masterplan seen before in Sunderland. And unlike those of the dim and distant past, this is a vision that is delivery focused and - for the most part – funded. It’s happening now, and by 2024, there will be undeniable change right across the site, from the former Vaux Brewery site at the heart, to the Crowtree site and from Farringdon Row to Sheepfolds. The whole footprint of this important city centre site will be changing. In 2019, the council revealed it had the backing of Legal & General, to the tune of £100m, which would deliver three important buildings on the Riverside site. First, City Hall, which now stands as a remarkable flagship. And then two further commercial buildings, Maker and Faber, set to open their doors in 2024. 2024 is a key moment for the city. We’ll see new office buildings opening, we’ll see new pedestrian routes bringing communities together and an extension of the city centre, as well as health buildings, leisure spaces, and homes appearing that will make this the most exciting place to live, work and play. And these are all committed investments that we know will be underway or in train within the next three years. All of this investment will create thousands of new jobs for people in Sunderland as well as a city centre to be proud of.
