Sunniside On The Up

Major steps forward are being made in the historic area of Sunniside in Sunderland thanks to a sensitive regeneration programme.

Investment of £130m is planned for the area and £44m has already helped breath new life into its elegant Victorian and Georgian streets, which house 160 listed buildings. Sunniside is fast becoming the cultural hub of the city once more.

Spearheading this change of fortunes is the Sunniside Partnership, which is supported by Sunderland City Council, English Partnerships, One NorthEast, Sunderland arc, TyneWear Partnership and Government Office North East.

Assisted by commercial property grants of up to £60,000, owners and developers are improving properties and businesses are moving in, creating a new buzz about Sunniside. Commercial property grant scheme administrator Howard French was appointed to Sunniside Partnership in October last year. He is responsible for assisting people interested in investing in Sunniside to access funding, helping them to bring derelict or under-used buildings back to life.

A TyneWear Partnership supported property grant scheme has ensured a Grade II listed former Embassy is now a £500k Italian restaurant, Angelos. The business owner Maused Farrahi said: “The grant I received from the Sunniside Partnership was extremely helpful. It contributed to us restoring the building in a sympathetic way and it has reaped rewards as the restaurant has been more successful than I had ever imagined.”

Other Sunniside businesses to benefit from the scheme include Gordon Brown Associates, Solicitors in West Sunniside. The firm, which has been offering legal services for 22 years, has recently received a £30,000 cash boost towards the refurbishment of its basement to make way for a new estate agency side to the business. It is set to open by the middle of May and will create five new jobs.
Partner Moya Mason said: “There are real benefits to having the estate agency on the same site as the solicitors. The grant money has helped transformed our dingy basement into a spacious, beautifully lit office. It has been a great help.”

TyneWear Partnership through One NorthEast has contributed just under £1million to the grant scheme as part of its ongoing investment plan. So far Sunniside Partnership has awarded £448,954 in grants, supporting 18 businesses. Further grant support of £177,000 is due over the next four months.

Chris Thompson, chair of TyneWear Partnership, said: “The regeneration of Sunniside is a success story for Sunderland and all the partners involved. The area is now home to some stunning properties that, thanks to the renewal funding, are attracting modern new businesses and people to the area. Sunniside is a blueprint for successful urban regeneration and I hope other Tyne and Wear areas will benefit from the lessons we have learnt here.”

The Heritage Lottery Fund in partnership with Sunderland City Council was the first scheme to offer grant assistance in the Sunniside area, contributing £1.2 million to the initiative. The current grant scheme has built on the hard work and success of the Sunniside Townscape Heritage Initiative, where projects assisted have included the former Post Office Sorting Office and the East side of Foyle Street. Particular attention is paid to re-instating the architectural detail that the area is renowned for.

Theresa Smith runs Norfolk Clinic in Norfolk Street, Sunniside. The business, which offers counselling, hypnotherapy and reflexology, was awarded a grant towards a much-needed refurbishment for the 200-year-old building.
Ms Smith said: “The building dates back to 1803 and the windows have not been replaced in all that time. The grant enabled me to carry out extensive renovations to the building, including new sash windows and glazing, and has improved the image of the property and the business. It has also freed up floor space for retail and commercial use.
“I fully support the work of Sunniside Partnership. Without its help I would not have been able to make these vital improvements.”

Chairman of Sunniside Partnership, Cllr Bob Symonds, said: “There is a lack of good quality office space in the city and while Sunderland arc is addressing the large floor plan office, we can offer the smaller spaces needed by a different type of smaller business.

“Through the grants we can also help improve existing businesses and encourage them to continue trading in the area. This means we can get the balance right in Sunniside.”

The overall Sunniside vision is for a new and vibrant quarter of the city with a popular restaurant, café and bar sector and a specialist retail area that, as well as being a drive-to destination for people from outside of the area, is supported by an expanded residential community and a ‘creative’ business sector, made up mainly of companies working in traditional design, new media design, the financial and legal sectors.

A thousand new homes are also planned for the area and many other buildings have already taken on a new lease of life thanks to the grant scheme and Sunderland Housing Group.
Investment into this important eastern city quarter has helped Sunniside to quickly establish itself as the fashionable, thriving sector it once was, offering specialist niche shops, beautiful apartments in restored Victorian townhouses and modern offices surrounded by century’s old history and architecture.

Stunning £2m gardens, funded by English Partnerships and One NorthEast via TyneWear Partnership, were completed at the beginning of this year and officially launched in March. Overlooking the gardens is the new Argent Business and Conference Centre. There are also newly refurbished offices, which are part of an exciting £6.1m arts and business venture currently under construction called thePlace. Occupying another prominent corner of Sunniside is ndhomes impressive Biscop House, offering 22 luxury apartments and a 4327 sq ft retail unit.

Ben Hall, director of Sunniside Partnership, said: “Regeneration is mostly associated with large brownfield development sites, whereas in Sunniside it was felt that a more fine-grained approach was needed. Our model of a sustainable mixed development project is specifically designed to bring Sunniside back to life.”

While some £7m of public funding has already been spent in Sunniside, the project has also attracted over £40m of private sector money – so far.

“The original target over 12 years was £120m from the private sector but we’ve managed to attract one third of that after just three years or a quarter of the time scale, so we are well ahead of schedule,” Mr Hall added.

Further information is available from the Sunniside Partnership office on (0191) 567 4822.