Centre forward: Sunderland sets sights on a revival by

In the 1980s Thatcher helped attract the likes of Nissan to the region, but it could not revitalise the city itself. Now a new industrial strategy, backed by the local council, is aiming for more sustainable results

When Richard Marsden looks across the Wear gorge to the centre of Sunderland, he has never seen so many cranes. His design and build firm, BDN, is rushing to renovate an old stable block in the shadow of the city’s football stadium.

“Now there’s a bit of a resurgence, I want to be part of that,” he says of Sunderland, as joiners and carpenters fit out bars and a microbrewery ready for the new season.