Sunderland riverside regeneration plans with film studio boost

Plans designed to accelerate the building of thousands of new homes and a revitalised stretch of the Wear between the Northern Spire bridge and the coast by 2040 were agreed by North East mayor Kim McGuinness and council chiefs on Tuesday.

The area will be designated as a new Riverside Sunderland Creative Mayoral Development Zone (MDZ), which it is hoped can also speed up the start of building work on the promised Crown Works film and TV studios as the search for a new investor in that flagship project continues.

Sunderland City Council leader Michael Mordey said that he hoped that Wearsiders would see the city go “even further and faster” after the transformation of the old Vaux brewery site over recent years and the building of the new Keel Crossing bridge.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the MDZ could “put rocket boosters on” Sunderland’s regeneration and expressed hopes that an announcement could be made about the Crown Works “in the next couple of weeks”, after it emerged earlier this year that financiers Cain International had pulled out of a potential £450 million redevelopment on the riverbank at Pallion.

Real estate firm CBRE has since been hired to find new investors for the scheme after its future was thrown into question.

Plans for the MDZ presented to the North East Combined Authority (NECA) on Tuesday outline an ambition to deliver the first phase of the Crown Works, with an initial four sound stages rather than the originally planned 19.

It will seek to develop a Riverside Sunderland 2040 masterplan that will also include the completion of the Sheepfolds neighbourhood, the Vaux housing development, and the transformation of High Street West in partnership with Capital + Centric.

That vision also promises “thousands of high quality and affordable new homes” in areas including Deptford, Old Sunderland, Sunniside and St Peter’s, creating a “dynamic, lively, walkable inner-city area” along the Wear.

An MDZ board bringing together the council, NECA, Homes England and others will be set up to develop the strategy and investment plans, champion the city and attract funding.

It follows on from a similar body being established for Newcastle and Gateshead, which will target key sites like the Gateshead Quays and Newcastle’s Forth Yards, while further plans are in the pipeline for the city of Durham.

Ms McGuinness said on Tuesday that redevelopment of Sunderland had been “absolutely unbelievable” and the new bridge in particular had “lifted” the atmosphere on Wearside.

She added: “This is all about accelerating delivery. We want people in Sunderland to be able to feel the difference that this makes and so by putting in place this development zone it will increase the number of houses, get us delivering Crown Works studios, and developing that riverbank so that people know it is for them. New homes, new businesses, new opportunities – it is great for Sunderland.”

An initial £600,000 investment will be put into the creation of the MDZ, split evenly between NECA and the city council.