Plans in to transform brutalist civic centre into beds

Vistry Partnerships has submitted plans to turn Sunderland’s civic centre into a 265-home scheme. The brutalist building is no longer in use by the local authority following the opening of the new City Hall in November. Andrew Rennie, development director at Vistry Partnerships North East, said: “Taking another step towards delivering this project before the end of the year is an exciting development. We are confident this will be instrumental in improving housing choice, employment opportunities and will regenerate a key, high-profile site in Sunderland.” Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “The former civic centre site represents an exciting development opportunity, and Vistry’s plans maximise it, delivering an attractive new residential community with plenty of open spaces that will allow people from neighbouring communities to pass through to make their way into the city centre. “We are working hard to double the residential population in the city centre, because we know this will make a step change in the area and deliver on the social and economic objectives in our City Plan.” The new homes on the civic centre site are part of a wider plan to build more than 7,000 new homes across the city by 2030. Sunderland City Council announced plans to relocate from its civic centre base to Riverside Sunderland in 2019, and work commenced on a new 19,000 sq ft City Hall later that year. The new City Hall was funded by institutional investor Legal & General, which is also working with developer Landid to build two speculative offices that will stand adjacent to City Hall.   To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@eg.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @EGPropertyNews Image from Vistry