The Vaux Site is an area of brownfield land in the centre of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

currently undergoing development. The area of the former

Vaux Breweries Vaux Brewery was a major brewer and hotel owner based in Sunderland, England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was taken over by Whitbread in 2000. History The company was founded in 1806 by Cuthbert Vaux (1779–1850), p ...

until its closure in 1999, the council are recreating the site in a multi-million pound joint venture with

Carillion Carillion plc was a British multinational construction and facilities management services company headquartered in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, prior to its liquidation in January 2018. Carillion was created in July 1999, following a ...

. The development will create up to 19 new buildings for leisure, retail, living and office purposes. Phase one of construction started in 2016 with work on a series of offices valued at £25 million

History

Vaux Breweries closed in 1999, leaving the site vacant. Whilst Sunderland City Council aspired to redevelop the site, in 2001 the land was acquired by

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

who sought to create a hypermarket on it. The situation generated a legal row which lasted until 2011, with Sunderland Council obtaining ownership over the site. In 2014, the council created a joint venture in partnership with

to redevelop the land. This coincided with the creation of

Keel Square Keel Square is a public space and boulevard based in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, completed in 2015. Located to the north of the City Centre opposite the Vaux Site, the square was constructed as part of the larger St. Mary's Way redevelopment. The to ...

, designed to supplement the site. In January 2018, Carillion collapsed. However, new contractors took over the development and work continued. At the end of the year, the first office building known as "the beam" was completed and now hosts several companies including the food delivery firm

Ocado Ocado Group is a British business based in Hatfield, England, which licenses grocery technology. It owns a 50% share of Ocado.com (the other 50% is owned by UK retailer Marks & Spencer) and licenses its grocery fulfilment technology to global ...

. This was then followed by the creation of the New City Hall in 2020, which is now in the final stages of completion. In 2021, plans for a new eye infirmary unit on the site were revealed. Plans for a £31 million footbridge development were also approved.

References

{{City of Sunderland Buildings and structures in the City of Sunderland Proposed buildings and structures in England North East England City of Sunderland Buildings and structures under construction in the United Kingdom

History

See also

References