Sunderland news
FINAL DESIGNS FOR £ 14M MSCP UNVEILED
Recruiters – the Gillespie Recruitment team ( left to right ) Melissa Brown , Becky Sleep , Adele Robinson , Del Rowbotham and Laura Gillespie .
Eye-catching final designs for Riverside Sunderland ’ s new car park have been unveiled in CGIs released .
Designs have been fine-tuned to deliver a striking ‘ mesh ’ -wrapped building , with a stunning living wall , in a planning variation submitted to Sunderland City Council for the 650-space multi storey car park ( MSCP ).
Artist , Tonkin Liu , was commissioned to develop designs for the MSCP , which will be constructed by Sir Robert McAlpine after the business won a competitive tender for the £ 14m project , which will stand on the edge of the city ’ s Riverside Sunderland development .
Riverside Sunderland is a world-class urban quarter , with the MSCP providing a very prominent welcome point to the area .
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School transformed into £ 1m luxury apartments
Luxurious loft apartments are now open after a two-year renovation , as part of a bid to save the derelict , Grade II listed Sunderland School Building .
The million-pound transformation of Simpson Street School is complete , with the eight loft apartments marking the completion of the renovations .
The project to restore the building was led by Sunderland-based architecture , structural and civil engineering practice , Building Design Northern ( BDN ), the same company that recently announced plans to transform the stables at Sheepfolds into an exciting new city centre food , drink and leisure venue .
RAPID GROWTH
People focus pays off for fastgrowing recruiter
A
recruitment consultancy born out of the pandemic has announced ambitious plans to boost its own headcount after only nine months in business .
Gillespie Recruitment , set up by consultant-turned-entrepreneur Laura Gillespie in May , has relocated to a new office three times the size of its original space as it looks to create jobs of its own in the coming months .
Laura , who has more than 30 years ’ experience in recruitment , media sales , marketing and fundraising , launched the business while working from home and becoming disillusioned with the traditional way of working across the industry .
She said : “ Recruitment has traditionally been seen as a very stressful industry and I wanted to change that , so I set out to really turn the sector on its head by focusing more on our company culture rather than company profit .
City Hall officially opened
School children , dignitaries , city businesspeople and council staff were among the invited guests for an event to celebrate the opening of Sunderland ’ s new civic hall . A choir of Sunderland schoolchildren from East Herrington Primary Academy and Fulwell Junior School performed for guests , and the mayor of Sunderland , Councillor Harry Trueman , carried out the traditional ribbon-cutting , as the 200,000 sq ft space – that will be home to a range of resident support services – was declared open .
Other guests included chief executive of Gentoo , Nigel Wilson , and Education
“ By fully embracing flexible working , we ’ ve been able to ensure our employees benefit from the best possible work-life balance and create a workplace culture that champions personal and professional development , by really caring and catering for their needs , be it training and upskilling or opportunities to grow within the business .”
When looking for office space , Laura chose the North East BIC as she had previously been based there with two former employers .
Situated just off the A19 , the BIC provides flexible workspaces allowing small and medium sized businesses to grow at a rate that is sustainable , and this flexibility has been key to helping Laura scale the business .
BIC centre manager Donna Surtees said : “ Seeing Laura take what was an idea during the pandemic to a fast-growing business in such a short space of time has been absolutely incredible .”
For more information on the North East BIC , visit www . ne-bic . co . uk .
Partnership North East leader Ellen Thinnesen , with both organisations set to take up space in the building alongside the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ).