Two Vaux Brewery applications to move forward

Plans for the construction of two new office buildings at the former Vaux Brewery site – which now forms part of Riverside Sunderland – look set to be approved. They will go before the city council alongside amended proposals for a business hub at the site.The detailed application for the offices relate to plots 16 and 17 of the Vaux land.Building one would have a net internal area of more than 82,600 sq ft and the sixth floor would feature an outdoor terrace and a club room.Building two would span in excess of 71,000 sq ft, with the fourth floor providing two outdoor terraces with views across the river.The application is set to go before Sunderland City Council’s planning committee later this week (20 November 2020).Approval is subject to conditions but planners said the “proposal will deliver a sustainable and architecturally significant scheme that will enhance the design quality and character of the Vaux and wider Riverside Sunderland”.Plans for the 194,500 sq ft business hub on plots 13 and 14 of the site were initially approved in May 2019 and included space for offices and a medical facility. Uses of the amended scheme – which has also been recommended for approval – includes offices and education, as well as financial and professional services.As such, there are also some changes to the floor layout, particularly on the ground, mezzanine and first floor. The ground floor layout has been reconfigured to provide education teaching facilities, while the mezzanine will provide financial and professional services space.The hub would rise to between six and seven storeys.A hybrid application for the wider regeneration of the Vaux Brewery site was approved in 2016.