Stunning plans to make Sunderland a 'magnet' city win backing from business leaders

Sunderland City Council today unveiled its dazzling new masterplan for the city centre, setting out a programme of ‘rebirth’ which includes creating up to 10,000 new jobs, 1,000 homes, a new cultural centre and ambitions changes to the fabric and landscape at the heart of the city.

Council leader Councillor Graeme Miller said the plans would make Sunderland a ‘magnet city’ pulling in aspirational families, big companies and visitors alike to the new, thriving centre.

“We will attract people – we will reinvent the heart of Sunderland and send a message that this is the place to be,” he said.

And business leaders like what they see.

James Ramsbotham, chief executive of the North East England Chamber of Commerce (NEECC), said: “Right now, the North East of England provides huge opportunities for businesses wishing to invest, with great transport links by sea and air, road and rail to all parts of the United Kingdom and indeed around the rest of the world.

“Sunderland in particular offers the most wonderful space in which to create a business. With new cultural venues, with improved transport links with a great sporting tradition, it offers a quality of life for all.

"But now, particularly with the Riverside development, the investments by Legal & General and others, providing office space living accommodation and so much more, I encourage everybody to take a fresh look at what the city of Sunderland really is capable of providing any ambitious business.”

Adam Serfontein, managing director of The Hanro Group, which is investing in Gilbridge Police Station, converting it into an office facility, said: “We’re very excited about this development. Gilbridge will be the fifth acquisition that the Group has made in and around Sunderland over the course of the last four years.

“And what particularly excites us about this, is that it is a natural consequence of the investments that Sunderland City Council have made, alongside Legal & General and other partners in the city. What differentiates this area is that it is really comprehensively thought through, in terms of the relationship between office space, space for people to live, space for people to enjoy. It all gels together really very well.”

Allison Thompson, who has a consultancy – Ashmore Consulting – which is based in the city centre, said: “This masterplan will not only create a place people who live here can be really proud of, it will attract new businesses and visitors to Sunderland and actually write a different narrative about the city. And it’s not just the city centre, but how it then begins to connect and the rest of the city-region.

“Sunderland has some incredible assets, that have been massively underplayed - we have an amazing river, marina and coast. I think the difference now is it has all been connected back into the city centre so it will actually feel like a city, and not just a town.”

:: To read the full masterplan, and to keep up to date with the latest developments on Riverside Sunderland, visit www.riversidesunderland.com or search @Riversidesund on social media.

A message from the Editor:

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to the Sunderland Echo website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.sunderlandecho.com/subscriptions to sign up.

You can subscribe to the newspaper with 20% off here: https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/

Thank you.