Machem rebirth: Sunderland's riverside revival is underway

 

Riverside Sunderland is a key part of this goal as the development goes beyond climate mitigation, choosing instead to reconnect the people with nature. Restoring the ecology and biodiversity of the lower Wear Valley and introducing a “shadow board” to ensure inclusive decision-making, forms part of the framework.

Its environmental strategy reimagines urban resilience in the face of a changing climate. It incorporates low-carbon active travel, growing the green economy and creating an energy-efficient built environment. By integrating climate into the fabric of the city, Sunderland is positioning itself as a forward-thinking model of climate adaptation. In 2023, it won the World Wildlife Fund One Planet City Challenge, alongside Istanbul, demonstrating Sunderland’s commitment to balancing climate action with social and economic progress.

 

For all the optimism, a visit to Sunderland reveals the scale of the work and the challenges that lie ahead. It’s impossible not to feel a mix of awe and disbelief at how much has already been achieved in just five years, mainly due to the council’s drive and determination to turn the vision into reality.

The striking St Mary’s boulevard, designed to prioritise active travel over cars, does however feel curiously  oversized, and the 657-space Riverside Multi Storey Car Park, which overlooks the city, brings to question how it can support Sunderland’s carbon-neutral goal. Across from City Hall is the new Holiday Inn, which has started to welcome visitors. You can see the glimpses of what could be a bustling city centre as young people skateboard and cycle by while others choose to sit, scrolling through their phones even in the blistering northern cold. Fast and free Wi-Fi reminds me that Sunderland is leading the way as the first city in the UK to deploy 5G-ready Wi-Fi.

 

Technology underpins much of Sunderland’s vision, with Smart City infrastructure embedded into the development and the wider city strategy. Its partnerships with organisations such as Boldyn Networks have helped it advance projects in manufacturing, education and social care. An extensive internet-of-things network is used to monitor air quality among other factors.

 

In the days just gone, Sunderland was named the UK’s smartest city by The Times. But while these systems promise to enhance urban living and improve quality of life, they also raise concern over surveillance, misuse of data and the amount of energy that is actually consumed to run the network.

 

 

Even with all the construction taking place, Sunderland’s industrial legacy remains etched in its landscape. The distinctive “Sunderland cottages”, single-storey terraced homes with backyards, stand as testament to the city’s 19th-century boom.

 

New housing is being built, with one particular scheme acting as a flagship of the regeneration: the Vaux neighbourhood, which has been designed as a model for sustainable, high-density urban living. The steel and timber frames perch on the edge of the Wear gorge, where 91 houses and 41 apartments will be delivered, built to high environmental standards which helped it achieve the Homes England Masterplanning Award at the 2022 Housing Design Award.

 

The neighbourhood will be home to Sunderland’s first Passivhaus-accredited housing, embracing a “fabric-first” approach and equipped with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems, and air-source heat pumps. Its public spaces are carefully designed to encourage community interaction and connect residents with nature. It also embraces RIBA 2025 embodied carbon standards and aims for over 10 per cent biodiversity net gain by restoring and enhancing natural habitats across the site.

 

 

Igloo Regeneration, the developer behind Vaux, worked on the Building with Nature Standards to prioritise ecological stewardship and community wellbeing. Shared spaces, pedestrian-friendly streets, and terraces overlooking the Wear gorge encourage interaction while connecting residents with nature. Innovative “car barns” move vehicles off-site, transforming streets into safe, walkable areas where children can play freely.

“We have created a scheme that will be transformational for Sunderland,” says Igloo Regeneration’s chief executive, Peter Connolly. “Not only because of the quality of the housing being delivered but also because of the positive impact that these homes will have on people’s lives.”

Sunderland’s transformation isn’t just about buildings. It’s also about preparing the city and its people for the future. Key to this is the Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy, a training hub designed to upskill local residents in the techniques required to build, retrofit, and maintain modern, sustainable homes, with support from the Ministry of Building Innovation and Education, an educational charity founded by local architect and TV presenter, George Clarke.  

 

Sunderland City Council leader Graeme Miller says: “As we move forward with the Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy, we’ll begin to create a new housing ecosystem. It will see the city’s next generation building the homes of the future while delivering on our low-carbon aspirations.”

 

 

Key milestones have already been achieved. The Beam, Sunderland’s flagship commercial development, was completed in 2019 and quickly attracted anchor tenants such as Ocado. Sunderland’s new City Hall, a striking 18,000 sq m structure designed by FaulknerBrowns Architects, opened in late 2021, providing a civic hub and shop window for the city. Meanwhile, the Fire Station, a restored Edwardian building converted into an arts and music hub, has brought a vital cultural boost that the city has craved. 

Phase two is well underway and includes the Vaux housing development and the New Wear Bridge, a pedestrian and cycle “smart bridge” featuring creative lighting and augmented reality, which will connect the city centre to the Sheepfolds district. The bridge is envisioned as a dynamic link, not just physically but socially and economically, bridging historic divides between neighbourhoods. Future phases include projects such as Riverside Park, Farringdon Row North and Ayre’s Quay. 

Despite these successes, Sunderland’s regeneration journey is far from complete. The city has a declining population, and healthy life expectancy for both men and women is seven years shorter than the national average. Narly one in two children (45 per cent) in Year 6 are overweight or obese. As with other parts of the North East, wages lag behind national averages, and child poverty levels are among the highest in the UK.

 

Just this summer, Sunderland, like other parts of the country, saw violence unfold on its streets, fuelled by anti-immigration rhetoric. The city centre formed the backdrop of the violence. This is the same Sunderland that voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. The social landscape and the inequalities the communities face raise some uncomfortable questions about how the city’s transformation will affect existing and prospective communities. 

 

 

Whether developers, planners or architects want to admit it or not, they have an important role to play in bringing communities together and helping to reduce inequalities, whether that’s by building homes that are well insulated and more efficient to heat, or by creating spaces that encourage community connections and active living.

Sunderland is putting in the work to ensure that the city is welcoming and inclusive, and is developing a co-created cohesion strategy. A development like Riverside Sunderland could foster hope that communities can come together to overcome challenges such as the climate crisis. Alternatively, unchecked, the development could be seen to worsen inequalities and wedge the divide. As Sunderland strives to give its residents “the city centre they want and deserve”, it must continue to tackle the difficult questions.

Sunderland’s history offers valuable lessons. The city has long been defined by resilience and reinvention. The river, once a lifeline for coal exports, is now the centrepiece of a bold new vision for sustainable urbanism. It attempts to redefine what a city can be in the face of socioeconomic and environmental challenges.

For coastal cities across the UK facing similar challenges, Sunderland’s journey offers both inspiration and reflection. In the end, regeneration is about more than buildings; it’s about relationships – with one another and with our environment. For now, the River Wear flows as it always has, its waters carrying the weight of Sunderland’s past and the promise of its future.

 

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Loujane Alasi (she/her) is a communications professional and freelance journalist. She holds a master’s in media and journalism from Newcastle University and a bachelors in architectural technology from Northumbria University. Her professional career spans the built environment, non-profit, and media sectors, where much of her work has focused on promoting and advocating for underrepresented communities and raising aspirations of young people.