Sunderland celebrates success and looks to future on National Manufacturing Day.

Sunderland's leaders have been shouting about the city's successes and the vision for its future as the UK marks National Manufacturing Day.

Wearside has placed itself at the beating heart of Europe’s automotive and advanced manufacturing industry, home to Nissan - the nation’s largest car producer and exporter - and with a growing cluster of businesses making everything from protective clothing to car parts.  

Nissan has grown from humble beginnings in Sunderland in the 1980s to one of the main driving forces behind the global move towards electric cars, with the launch of Nissan and AESC’s 36Zero EV Hub, a £1 billion flagship development in Sunderland, that will create a world-first EV manufacturing ecosystem.

Centred around the carmaker’s record-breaking Sunderland plant, Nissan EV36Zero will supercharge the company's drive to carbon neutrality and establish a new 360-degree solution for zero-emission motoring. 

The transformational project has been launched with an initial £1billion investment by Nissan, partner AESC which is a global player in world-leading battery technology, and Sunderland City Council, building on AESC’s existing 1.9 GWh battery plant in Sunderland, producing lithium-ion batteries for 60,000 vehicles annually. 

It is now developing a new 109,000 sq m Gigafactory on the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) at a cost of more than £450 million, creating 750 highly skilled jobs. This will initially have a capacity of 9GWh, rising to 25GWh by 2030 and eventually 35GWh.

Comprised of three interconnected initiatives, Nissan EV36Zero brings together electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery production, setting a blueprint for the future of the automotive industry.

Councillor Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “This is game-changing.  And it’s happening in Sunderland.  Not only are we manufacturing the cars, we are building a new ground-breaking eco-system in Sunderland that is enabling us to build next generation cars in a more sustainable way. 

"We are pioneering innovation - setting new standards for automotive manufacturers to follow.”

And the innovation that is being put into practice by Nissan and AESC is only part of a larger picture. 

Cllr Miller said Sunderland City Council's 'Smart City' agenda will bring huge benefits for business through the deployment of leading-edge connectivity across the city.

He said the 5G Connected and Automated Logistics (5G CAL) pilot, powered by Sunderland’s connectivity, recently succeeded in its mission to prove the potential of next generation technology in overcoming barriers for a more efficient future for last mile logistics. 

Becoming the first in the UK to prove the delivery of zero emission automated logistics, the 5G CAL pilot kicked off a series of projects to develop the technology and establish a testbed for connected and automated logistics in the city. 

Cllr Miller said more companies are seeing the appeal of creating a Wearside HQ. 

Hyperdrive Innovation just one of the city’s success stories.  The company designs, develops and manufactures lithium-ion battery systems for clients such as JCB and Hitachi Rail.  It relocated to Sunderland in 2014 to be at the centre of the emerging electrification cluster and now employs 65 highly skilled design and engineering staff from its city base. 

With a standardised design, the company's modular product range provides a flexible and scalable battery energy storage solution.  R&D is core to the business, which holds patents covering battery pack design, battery management systems and assembly methodology. Through the Advanced Propulsion Centre, it has been working with Nissan and Newcastle University on a high-density battery project.  

In 2021, Hyperdrive won the coveted Queen’s Award for Innovation.  In the same year it was acquired by USA firm Turntide Technologies, along with other leading EV component manufacturers in the region, BorgWarner and Avid. 

Hyperdrive is continuing to invest in the development of technologies that will reduce emissions in the road freight, rail, marine and aerospace sectors.  And the company is located just a stone’s throw from a nationally significant development site, that is establishing itself as the destination of choice for automotive and advanced manufacturing.

A partnership between Sunderland City Council and South Tyneside Council, the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) is at the heart of the North East’s automotive industry, standing on the doorstep of Nissan UK.  Within an hour’s drive from major road, rail, sea and air links, IAMP is already home to tier one auto suppliers, with AESC’s new UK battery manufacturing facility currently being developed on site.  

“IAMP has been a huge success story, capitalising on the blend of assets that have made Nissan so successful in the region,” said Cllr Miller.

“The proposition was always very clear, and the market responded.  And we’re now building on that with further schemes to support further industrial development.”

Cllr Miller is referring to the regeneration of brownfield sites like Hillthorn Business Park, which will deliver circa 582,000 sq ft of the highest quality industrial buildings in a prime Washington location.  The £60 million development, led by Legal & General, will create ten new buildings expected to create over 1,600 new jobs upon completion.

Hillthorn complements the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) and Turbine Business Park, which is also the chosen location of a range of advanced manufacturing businesses. Collectively, the sites position Sunderland at the heart of advanced manufacturing in the UK.

“The city is well-established in this field, and, when you prove you can support businesses to scale in the way that Nissan and the supply chain have done, it creates a level of magnetism that reaps rewards,” added Cllr Miller.  

That magnetism has seen investment pour into places like the Port of Sunderland.  The municipally owned asset is now home to a world-first end-of-life tyre recycling plant spearheaded by Norwegian Government backed Wastefront AS, a company helping manufacture low carbon aviation fuel, as well as Quantafuel, a plastic recycling plant breaking waste plastics down chemically to produce oil used in the production of virgin-grade recycled plastic. 

“The city is well positioned for developments like this.  We have skilled people and a rich talent pool; excellent connectivity and relatively low property costs,” said Cllr Miller.  

“And there is a collaborative and supportive business community here, which is also key to success and is something we are keen to continue to build on.”

The North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) is an industry-led automotive cluster, established to support the economic sustainable growth and competitiveness of the automotive sector in the North East of England.  Sunderland will play host to its annual Expo on National Manufacturing Day, and it is just one of the organisations that is building upon the region’s significant capabilities.  

The city is also home - on behalf of the North East - to one of the UK Government’s Driving the Electric Revolution Industrialisation Centres.  The Centres are the brainchild of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), aiming to make the UK globally recognised as the centre of excellence in power electronics, machines and drives (PEMD) manufacturing processes.

“There is so much happening in Sunderland – it’s a real focal point for businesses that are manufacturing goods for use in the domestic market and overseas, and we’re rightly proud of that,” said Cllr Miller. 

“We are a city of makers – a showcase to other parts of the country and a place that will be celebrating National Manufacturing Day more than most, with thousands of our residents playing a direct part in the success of the incredible businesses that call Sunderland home.”