TOWN co-founding Director Neil Murphy joined some of the most progressive voices in development at the “Delivering Future Cities Forum” as part of EXPO Sunderland last month, contributing to a speaker panel on ‘Creating Successful Places’. The two-day event was one of a number of events being held in the run up to the 2025 EXPO Sunderland programme, and showcased the range and calibre of partners that Sunderland City Council has gathered together to deliver their ambitious vision for the city.

As part of a panel chaired by the BBC’s Mark Easton, Neil spoke about TOWN’s work on the Nile + Villiers project and the challenges and opportunities posed by bringing a new generation of urban pioneers to live in the city centre. Neil also reflected on the wider role TOWN is taking in the Sunniside area of the city centre, as TOWN develops a partnership driven regeneration strategy for this urban neighbourhood.

Mike Palin, Homes England’s Executive Director for Markets, Partners and Places, speaking at the opening panel applauded Sunderland for positioning themselves as a Council that can – and is – delivering, providing solid grounds for investment. “Sunderland is one of the leading places in what a future city might look like. There are five key tests to measure successful delivery: firstly, there is a clear vision, second is a good partnership approach – including partnerships across the private sector – third is alignment of effort to deliver on the plan, fourth is flexibility because you never know what might happen and finally the fifth test is bringing together the right capability. If a place meets those five tests, that’s where you should be investing.”

Expo Sunderland, organised by Sunderland City Council, culminates in a series of events in 2025 that explore the future of homes, living and cities. For more information, see ExpoSunderland here.

For more information on the Nile and Villiers scheme from TOWN, and our work on the Sunniside regeneration strategy visit the webpage here.