The next phase in the redevelopment of the City Campus got underway this month (May) with work beginning on CitySpace– the new sports and recreational facility being constructed on the Wearmouth Hall site. The new build is the latest stage of an ambitious multi-million pound vision to dramatically change the face of the City Campus.
As well as CitySpace, long term plans for the former Chester Road Campus include a high quality hotel and conferencing facility, new student accommodation and widespread redesigning of the landscape. The “new” City Campus will further improve the student experience, provide modern facilities for staff as well as enhancing Sunderland’s changing city centre. The flagship of the new development, however, is the new CitySpace. The £11m development will have a six-badminton court multi-use sports hall, 70 station fitness suite, sports massage and injuries centre, multi-purpose room, indoor climbing wall, retail, social, catering, leisure and exhibition spaces. CitySpace is very much a building for everyone and it will be the social heart of the “new” City Campus.
University of Sunderland Sport will be based in the new building, increasing its ability to help provide expertise to the University’s own elite athletes, Olympians and the region’s professional sportspeople. But above all, the building is for staff and students to use daily – whether for serious sport, social sport, recreation or social gathering. The latest developments build on the very successful redevelopment of Edinburgh building, in particular the Gateway Building, and level 2 of Murray Library. When complete the “new” City Campus will undoubtedly be a campus fit for the 21st Century, offering modern, attractive, state-of-the-art facilities.
The “new” City Campus development will change the face of the former Chester Road Site, which in its day was one of the best in the country. However, over the past several years the campus has been showing its age. This development, as you can see, will breath new life into the campus, offering some fantastic facilities for staff and students.
