Drone footage shows progress on Sunderland's £42million City Hall

The building is taking shape on the Vaux site, with construction firm Bowmer + Kirkland building the 190,000 sq ft hub.

It will house council staff currently based at the Civic Centre and a range of public sector partners including Gentoo and the Department for Work and Pensions.

The coronavirus lockdown in March meant work ground to a halt – but it resumed in May.

The new drone video shows how far the project has progressed.

Sunderland City Council leader Coun Graeme Miller said many people would be surprised by how much the city’s skyline had changed since spring: “The progress really has been incredible over the last few months, and anyone who has not been into the city centre since lockdown in March will see a very different skyline to the one they witnessed prior to the crisis.

“The safety of people working on site has been paramount, and we have sought reassurances at every stage that work has been able to progress in-line with Government guidelines. The nature of the

development and the stage we were at with the build meant work could safely resume, so the transformation over the last few months is really dramatic.

“We’re determined to deliver a city centre that our residents can be proud of – a place where visitors want to play and businesses want to invest – and the £100m commitment we secured from Legal &

General last year was a huge vote of confidence in that plan. We’re on course and very excited about the future.”

The footage gives a bird’s-eye glimpse of the building, which is the first of a trio of new office spaces that will be delivered by Legal & General.

City Hall, designed by award winning architect Faulkner Brown, is due for completion in Autumn 2021, and is twice the size of The Beam, the first building to be constructed on the site.

The project creates a number of full-time and apprenticeship opportunities for local Sunderland residents, with a commitment that £29million will be spent in local supply chains and £9million with local SMEs.

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