Fire Station Auditorium, Sunderland

by Flanagan Lawrence Architects with delivery architect Howarth Litchfield

Client MAC Trust

Award RIBA North East Award 2024 and RIBA North East Client of the Year Award 2024

Sitting at the centre of Sunderland’s masterplan for the Music, Arts and Culture Quarter, the Fire Station Auditorium provides a fantastic flexible events venue for all music genres as well as dance and theatre. It is scaled to meet Sunderland Music, Arts & Culture (MAC) Trust’s challenging brief to accommodate audiences of 500 people seated to 800 standing.

The auditorium sits comfortably next to the Edwardian fire station, with the use of red brick and terracotta sympathetic to the surrounding heritage buildings. The MAC Trust, together with the architects’ design expertise, have been successful in creating a new arts destination with a compelling social focus at the heart of the city.

Read the full citation from the RIBA Awards Jury on RIBA Journal.

Contractor Brims Construction Ltd

Acoustic Engineer Idibri

Structural Engineer WSP

Environmental / M&E Engineer WSP

Quantity Surveyor / Cost Consultant Artis

Contractor's Delivery Architect Howarth Litchfield

Gross internal area in m2 1,800