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Sunniside Planning and Design Framework

The Sunniside Partnership was established in 2004 to lead the regeneration of the Sunniside area, which which was significantly under-performing but had considerable potential to contribute to a vibrant city centre. The partnership ceased in December 2010.

The founding partners were:

  • The City Council 
  • The city's area regeneration company Sunderland arc
  • The regional development agency ONE NorthEast
  • The national regeneration agency English Partnerships, now the Homes and Communities Agency
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As a result, Sunniside is enjoying a new and exciting era of change and growth. Since the partnership was formed, there have been huge improvements to and investment in the area's historic core. Sunniside Gardens was completed early in 2007 and the Place business and arts centre in 2008. Many historic buildings have been refurbished with the help of grant schemes, some as business premises, others converted into stylish living accommodation. New businesses and residents are moving into the area.

Public realm improvements including features designed by internationally renowned artists have been carried out in key streets linking Sunniside with the rest of the city centre.

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Discussions and negotiations have continued between Sunniside Partnership, council officers and the prospective developers of several key sites. A number of buildings and sites have been acquired as part of the land assembly process required to facilitate comprehensive development of key parts of Sunniside.

However, whilst much activity has focused on Sunniside's historic core, the private sector has not so far invested significantly in the eastern part of the regeneration area. In response to an increasing number of inappropriate speculative development proposals and to ensure the co-ordinated future development of the East Sunniside area Sunniside Partnership commissioned consultants Elder and Cannon to prepare a masterplan for the eastern part of Sunniside. The masterplan establishes a high quality planning and development framework for three key areas in east Sunniside:

  • North East sector - a mix of uses is proposed including commercial, leisure, small-scale retail and residential uses. A potential hotel site is identified and the proposed uses arranged to enable the development of an area of open space
  • Eastern sector - based around Villiers Street and Nile Street the retention of the grid street pattern and historic buildings provides the framework for a mix of uses including family led housing, small footplate commercial use and hybrid, light industrial and office units 
  • Tavistock - the area around Crown House will remain mainly commercial and accommodate increased public parking provision at this key gateway to the city centre. The area south of Borough Road is identified primarily for low-rise family housing with both private and public open spaces.
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The masterplan has been incorporated into a revised Sunniside Planning and Design Framework, adopted by the City Council as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) in July 2008 in support of Policies EC10A and SA55B.1 in the adopted UDP Alteration No2. The SPD now provides the detailed planning policy and design framework to guide new development throughout Sunniside.

With effect from March 2011 Sunderland arc ceased to exist. Areas covered by the arc now fall within the remit of the City Council. For general enquiries please contact the Planning Implementation team at implementation@sunderland.gov.uk. However, if you have an investment or developer enquiry please contact the our Business Investment team on business.investment@sunderland.gov.uk or 0191 305 1194.

Conservation in Sunniside
A large part of the Sunniside area is also designated as a Conservation Area in line with the Sunniside Planning and Design Framework SPD, the council has also adopted a Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (CAMS) that provides detailed guidance on issues such as:

  • Shop front design
  • Essential maintenance and repair of historic buildings
  • The importance of a heritage-led approach to regeneration
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