TOWN is delighted to have supported Sunderland City Council in bidding for £20million of Levelling-Up Fund Round 1 funding for its city centre housing ecosystem.

This is an ambitious plan to regenerate the centre of Sunderland by building hundreds of high-quality, sustainable new homes in and around the urban core, densifying the population living close to existing amenities, transport links and existing and new workplaces; and creating new jobs in the supply chain through a focus on innovative methods of design and construction. Within the bid, over £4 million is earmarked for Nile + Villiers, a mixed-use scheme including 80 homes for rent proposed for a vacant brownfield site in the creative neighbourhood of Sunniside, just east of the city centre.

TOWN has worked with the City Council, Create Streets, local charity Back on the Map and architects Mawson Kerr to develop the concept and strategy for the scheme, which will restore the old terraced form of Nile and Villiers streets and provide homes within which creatives can also make space for work, referencing the wide mix of uses that historically occupied the site.