Civic Centre

South of the town centre, this civic complex takes account of the topography to create a terraced ensemble with a modesty to its mass and a material consistency that makes it feel as if it was carved from the rocky mound upon which it sits. A rigorous triangular structural grid gives way to hexagonal geometries that could feel contrived but were effective in accommodating the 18 council departments in low blocks where most public facing services could be accessed at grade. Primarily composed from two distinct irregular hexagonal blocks, each with an inner court, the north court is a generous public space with a combination of steps and ramps finished in brown brindling paviours that harmonised with the brick slips on the precast wall panels of the buildings. The civic hall was in its own discrete, but connected, block at the south-west of the building. Described in the AJ as ‘modest, informal, yet handsome’ [1], this municipal modernism was befitting of Sunderland’s civic atmosphere. Approaching from the town centre, the solid plinth, beneath which was the car parking, afforded the scheme a podium that tallied with its status. A pedestrian bridge linked the centre across the cutting of Burdon Road and connected the parkland setting of the centre with Mowbray Park. The site served Sunderland Borough Council until 1974, when it became the local seat of government for the enlarged Sunderland Metropolitan District. At the time of writing (2022) the scheme is under threat of demolition and the council occupy a new premises on the site of the former Vaux Brewery.

[1] Architects’ Journal, 18 November 1970, p.1173