Shipbuilder gets the go-ahead for striking building

Jul 2 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

SHIPBUILDER Pallion Engineering has won outline planning permission for a striking new 120,000sq ft development next to the Queen Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland.

The firm of architects Anthony Watson has drawn up plans for the eight-storey building, which is intended to sit on a part of the Pallion Engineering site which would be split from the main shipyard as and when a link road into Sunderland is built from a proposed new £100m bridge across the River Wear.

The scheme will include offices, apartments and potentially a restaurant too.

Sunderland City Council is currently considering plans for the new river bridge and road link that would cut through the Pallion Engineering site, not affecting the operation of the shipyard but cutting off that bit of the site next to the Queen Alexandra Bridge.

Pallion Engineering is very keen to develop its yard, but recognises that the upper part of its site, at the top of an embankment, could be cut off from the rest if the road scheme gets the go-ahead.

The mixed-use landmark scheme is said to be not dependent on the new road being built, but Pallion say that development has been the catalyst for looking at it.

Tony Watson, head of Anthony Watson architects, said: “This is a critical site, in terms of the existing access to that part of Sunderland, and it’s also the part of the city where the new road will be, with the new bridge to the west.

“We have been involved in this project for about five years now.

“Pallion Engineering have their shipyard on the riverside, then there is a huge embankment, then a plateau at the level of the Queen Alexandra Bridge, and the new road along that plateau would isolate this part of the Pallion Engineering site.”

Pallion Engineering is one of the firms in line for a share of work on a near £5bn contract to build aircraft carriers for the Ministry of Defence.

The carriers are to be manufactured in sections at various yards around the country, with companies such as Pallion and A&P Tyne contributing to the overall project before final assembly at Rosyth in the east of Scotland.

The outline planning application is said to have been intended as a way of seeing what type – and scale – of scheme would get the backing of Sunderland planning bosses, with detailed plans needing to be approved before construction could begin.