Play the name game for old shipyard site
By Jeremy Wicking
Echo readers have been given a unique chance to pick names for buildings and roads at a £14million business park.
Developers want suggestions for an area that was once part of the most famous shipbuilding firms in the world - Austin and Pickersgill.
Adderstone Group won planning permission from Sunderland Councilearlier this years, and the site's landmark 400 tonne crane, which had stood there since 1955, came down in April.
Company boss Ian Baggett said: "There will be a lot of knowledge about the Austin site in the Echo readership and we always like to place our developments into some historical perspective.
The company has already revamped other historic buildings across Tyne and Wear such as the Tyne Theatre complex, which is the world's last remaining working Victorian theatre, and Gateshead Railway Club.
Mr Baggett said: "We believe that by paying tribute to the site's heritage we give a development an extra dimension. Street and building naming is one of the best ways to do this, and we are also interested in any old photographs the readers may have.
"Altogether, we are looking for about 35 names for the buildings and another six for roads. Perhaps there could be a Pickersgill House?"
Work is expected to start next year, once clean-up teams have checked and decontaminated the site.
The Austin and Pickersgill yard, which closed in 1988, was admired for its SD14 designs which replaced the old Liberty ships and were first launched from Southwick in 1967.
Mr Baggett said the site would become owner-occupied business buildings, and a key selling point was its riverside position.
He said~: "The most successful business and office parks are based on rivers. There are numerous examples elsewhere in the UK, including Gateshead and Newcastle, where redevelopment has spread along the quay sides."
Long-term plans for the riverside bridge north of the Queen Alexandra Bride include a new Wear bridge and a massive road revamp plus a "riverside village" of about 1,000 homes on the former Groves site.
Mr Baggtt added: "People just need turn to the Tyne to see the same regeneration process that has taken place a decade earlier, and, arguably, the proposals for this part of the Wear are even more ambitious."