Vaux Site

Sunderland

Over a period of 100 years, the Vaux Brewery acquired the whole of the land north of Sunderland city centre, effectively cutting it off from its river – the Wear. A 60s inner ring road then completed the severance. The CZWG Masterplan reunites the town with the river. It uses two strong desire lines, one to an existing pedestrian bridge across Galley’s Gill Park, the other a proposed bridge across the Wear, to generate two major new public spaces. One is on two levels under roof cover surrounded by shops and public buildings, the other open to the south showing off the fine existing Magistrates Court. The ring road is split into two separate less severing halves which also serve the area, where it is proposed to provide a limited addition to the city’s shopping, achieve a critical mass of city centre office space and add a hotel and residential accommodation around cliff-top gardens overlooking park and river. Client: Sunderland ARC