Decision date set for The Culture House in Sunderland city centre

The ‘Culture House’ is among several new buildings included in Sunderland City Council’s masterplan for Riverside Sunderland, which aims to reimagine the heart of the city.

Standing four storeys high, the modern hub would face into Keel Square housing a range of facilities for adults, children and young people and spaces for creativity and innovation.

Traditional and digital resources would also be available, as well as flexible community and meeting spaces, a café and roof terraces.

The council have said the building would boost city spending while attracting more than half a million visitors a year from across the city and beyond.

If approved by the council’s Planning and Highways (East) Committee next week, the plans would take another step towards becoming a reality.

A planning application for the Culture House, validated by the council’s planning department in December 2021, sets out detailed designs for each floor.

The main space in the building ‘The Forum’ would encourage families to learn and play together, with large digital screens promoting the range of activities delivered across the building.

One floor would focus on children and young people, with areas for different age groups, library collections, an immersive storytelling area and a ‘play garden / tree house.’

An adult library on another floor would provide traditional non-fiction and fiction collections while mixing open plan landscapes, study spaces and lounge environments.

The Culture House would also boast an events hall which could be used for book launches, business functions and weddings, as well as housing a separate local studies and archive centre.

A submitted planning and heritage statement adds the building has been “designed to achieve a high level of sustainability reducing energy demand and targeting low carbon technologies”.

Designs for the building have been developed by FaulknerBrowns Architects, the firm behind Sunderland City Council’s new headquarters City Hall.

Council planners have said the scheme would introduce a “high quality and visually striking contemporary building at a prominent city centre site”.

During consultation, Historic England provided comments saying the building would “complete Keel Square with a building of landmark quality and public focus” and would “greatly enhance the quality of the square”.

But the Sunderland Civic Society, in a consultation statement, said the building’s intended “monolithic” appearance would “give the look more of a forebidding institution rather than a welcoming destination”.

According to a report prepared by council planners, separate comments from another consultee were submitted raising concerns about potential impacts of the Culture House on the operation of the Bridges Shopping Centre.

The report adds that most impacts of the Culture House have been identified as neutral or negligible, apart from “adverse impacts” of the “potential overlooking and loss of daylight” for The Peacock and Gilbridge House.

As the plans require the demolition of buildings at 275, 278-284 High Street West, the report notes the Culture House scheme would lead to the “loss of an established restaurant”.

However planners concluded that the “significant benefits of the scheme outweigh the moderate adverse impacts” and have recommended the scheme for approval.

The final decision on the Culture House rests with councillors on the Planning and Highways (East) Committee, who will meet on Monday, March 28 from 5.30pm.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at City Hall and will be open to the public.