Wates steps in on Vaux housing
Delivery of the 135 homes within the £40m sustainability-led neighbourhood at Riverside Sunderland will be taken on the contractor.
Steelworks operator Remagin has now topped out on the seven-storey frame of the tallest building of the four that will make up the Vaux housing. Remagin is due to hand over the site in September.
Wates is now undertaking preconstruction work ahead of recommencement of main construction activities on site later this year. The firm was appointed following a competitive process to find a replacement contractor after Tolent went into administration earlier this year.
The project, led by the city council, is due for final completion in autumn 2025.
Homes here make up part of the 1,000 that are mapped out across the Riverside Sunderland masterplan area, the bulk of them across the Wear in the Sheepfolds area.
The Vaux housing plot stands next to the Beam office building, close to the parkland that will undergo a major upgrade as part of the regeneration scheme.
Most of the homes within Vaux Housing will be built to 2025 Future Homes Standard with 21 built to Passivhaus standard.
Included in the scheme will be a cluster of home designs selected as the best in the national Homes of 2030 Design Competition managed by RIBA.
Working with Useful Projects, Expedition Engineers and Mawson Kerr, igloo’s +Home was the joint winner, along with Connector Housing designed by Openstudio with Hoare Lea, LDA Design and Gardiner & Theobald.
The former brewery site will be the site of the Expo Sunderland in 2025. The first tranche of homes will be completed early that year.
Neil Guthrie, development director of Sunderland City Council, told Place North East: “It’s great to see progress made with the Vaux housing site, which is going to play such a crucial role in showcasing the homes of the future at Expo Sunderland.
“There are major projects right across the Riverside Sunderland masterplan, from the new footbridge and the eye hospital, Vaux housing and the HICSA project. We’re really gearing up for this next phase of delivery.”
The homes have access to Riverside Park. Credit: SCC
The development will comprise apartments, townhouses, and maisonettes, using modern methods of construction, renewable energy systems and smart technology to reduce the carbon footprint of the development, while producing high quality, energy efficient properties in the beating heart of the city.
David Wingfield, regional director for Yorkshire & North East at Wates Construction, said: “This scheme will offer more than just new homes – they’ll be cheaper to heat, better for the environment, and support a strong community in the heart of Sunderland. We applaud Sunderland City Council’s commitment to sustainability through Vaux and its wider Riverside programme, and we’re proud to have been appointed to deliver this first phase.
“We’re well on with the preconstruction phase, drawing upon our extensive expertise delivering sustainable builds across the region and nationally to ensure we meet Passivhaus standards wherever possible. This is alongside creating a thorough programme of community investment initiatives which will ensure the benefits of Vaux are felt by more than just residents, but the wider Sunderland region.”
