Revised plans approved for Culture House in Sunderland - outdoor cafe and broadband cables fix among changes

Original plans for the Culture House – a new cultural attraction in the heart of the city centre overlooking Keel Square – were approved in 2022.

With a mix of library, creative and community spaces, the towering building is linked to Sunderland City Council’s ongoing regeneration at Riverside Sunderland.

The project, part funded through cash secured from the Government’s Future High Streets Fund, is expected to boost city spending while attracting more than half a million visitors a year, according to city leaders.

Works so far have seen the demolition of a block of buildings to prepare the site for development, including the former home of restaurant Luciano’s.

A planning application presented to the council’s Planning and Highways Committee this week asked for permission to alter the previously-approved design of the Culture House.

This included “stepping back” the front elevation and reducing the building’s floorspace by around 705sqm, as well as the addition of an external bin store, a light installation, new windows and an outdoor café seating area.

The bid to reduce the building’s footprint followed council discussions with utility providers, and the discovery of broadband infrastructure which had not initially been identified in ‘radar scan surveys’.

A report presented to councillors said the “critical and sensitive” Openreach network line “provides the majority of Sunderland city’s network connectivity” and that diverting it would be a “significantly complex process”.

Revised Culture House designs aim to step back the northern elevation to “avoid this piece of infrastructure” and to use some of the space to house an outdoor café seating area instead.

Following discussion, the amended plans were given the green light at a meeting of the Planning and Highways Committee at City Hall on Monday, January 9.

Councillor Graeme Miller, vice-chair of the panel and leader of Sunderland City Council, asked for clarity that the revised plans would avoid the “enormous costs” involved around utility works.

This was confirmed by council planning officers at the meeting, although the specific costs were not discussed.

Cllr Miller said: “To avoid the enormous costs that would be involved if we built over [the utilities] we have just pulled the frontage of the building back and expanded the other front corner of the building so that we don’t lose too much square footage for Culture House, while freeing up the area for the café.”

Designs for the Culture House were developed by FaulknerBrowns Architects, the firm behind Sunderland City Council’s new headquarters City Hall.

During a planning meeting to decide the original Culture House plans in March, 2022, a number of concerns were raised about the design.

One objector included a former senior landscape architect for Sunderland City Council involved in the design and implementation of Keel Square.

Concerns at the time included the new development potentially obscuring “long views” along High Street West and the designs “diminishing the design of [Keel Square] and reducing the presence of The Peacock”.

However, the revised plans were supported by the former objector who, in a consultation comment, welcomed the building’s footprint “not intruding beyond the building line of the Primark building”.

The four-storey Culture House will offer a range of facilities for adults, children and young people and spaces for exhibitions, storytelling, learning, media and arts and crafts.

As well as adult and children’s library facilities, the venue is expected to offer a café, business and faith spaces, an events hall, a local studies and archive centre and a roof garden.

Revised plans , approved this week, will see the Culture House provide 6,661sqm of floorspace in total.

Planning officers also confirmed that cycle parking, which was previously proposed within the site, would be provided in the wider Keel Square area.