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Delivering the Future City 2025 - Feedback

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2025 Feedback Form

Q3. Please rate the following on a scale of 1-5 (with 1 being the lowest, and 5 being the highest):

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Register your interest for 2026

Delivering the Future City events aim to report annually on Sunderland's regeneration journey and provide opportunities for sharing knowledge and best practice with other cities and regions as part of the two-day programme. every October.

Mark Easton, former Home Editor at the BBC, expertly guides the event with keynote speakers and panellists to a conference audience of 200+ industry leaders each day.

They debate Sunderland’s transformation in the context of Government’s growth ambitions and particularly commitment to housing delivery, planning reform, community building, infrastructure and the skills needed for the future workforce. 

To register your interest in attending the Delivering the Future City Conference in 2026, please click NEXT.

Event Partners

Speakers and Panellists

Outline Agenda 2025

Day 1 - Growth, Regeneration and Placemaking (14th October 2025)

Day one will set the strategic direction for how cities can grow and thrive in the years ahead. Discussions will be structured around three interconnected topics: Housing, exploring delivery at scale and pace while ensuring quality and sustainability; Community, focusing on placemaking and the creation of cohesive, resilient neighbourhoods; and Infrastructure & Resilience, examining how transport, digital connectivity and low-carbon systems underpin long-term regeneration. This day will establish the foundation for how growth can be delivered in ways that are both ambitious and inclusive.

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08:45
  1. City Hall
    45 mins
09:30
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    15 mins
    • Mark Easton
    • Cllr Michael Mordey - Sunderland City Council
09:45
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    60 mins
    • Pat Ritchie - Homes England
    • Henry Kippin - North East Combined Authority
    • Cllr Michael Mordey - Sunderland City Council
    • Tim Heatley - Capital & Centric
10:45
  1. Break
    Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
11:15
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
    • Andrew Taylor - Vistry
    • Riette Oosthuizen - HTA Design
    • Dominic Waugh - Pegasus
    • Niall Durney - FaulknerBrowns
    • Moderator:  Mark Easton
11:45
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
    • Tracy Harrison - Northern Housing Consortium
    • Yolande Barnes - Yolande Barnes Consultancy
    • James Reid - Miller Housing 
    • Joanne Gordon - Gentoo
    • Moderator:  Mark Easton
12:15
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
    • Tom Chance - National Community Land Trust Network
    • Pete Swift - Planit
    • Susan Fulton - Gentoo
    • John Nordon - igloo Regeneration
    • Moderator:  Mark Easton
12:45
  1. Lunch and Riverside Sunderland Site and Venue Tours
    City Hall & Riverside Sunderland
    75 mins
14:00
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
    • John Saunders - 1energy
    • Julie Kjestrup  - VELUX
    • Hayley Cormick - Useful Projects
    • Moderator:  Mark Easton
14:30
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
    • Rachel Hurdman - Arup
    • Phil Blythe - DARe, Newcastle University
    • Heather Jones - North East Combined Authority
    • Mark Wilson - Sunderland City Council
    • Moderator:  Mark Easton
15:00
  1. Break
    Chamber, City Hall
    15 mins
15:15
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    15 mins
15:30
  1. Breakout Rooms, City Hall
    60 mins
    • Planning & Design
    • Housing Delivery
    • Community Building
    • Infrastructure & Resilience
16:30
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    15 mins
16:45
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    15 mins
17:30
  1. Stables @ Sheepfolds
    180 mins

Day 2 - Activation, Repopulation and Opportunity (15th October 2025)

Day two will shift attention to the dynamics of re-energising city centres and creating opportunities for residents and businesses. Sessions will explore City Centre Activation, with a focus on cultural, digital and leisure-led strategies to reinvigorate high streets; City Centre Repopulation, examining how workplace and mixed-use development can drive continuous vibrancy and support thriving business ecosystems; and The Future of Work, considering how skills, innovation and investment will shape new opportunities. This day will provide a future perspective on how cities can be repositioned as engines of opportunity and inclusive growth.

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09:00
  1. City Hall
    30 mins
09:30
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    15 mins
    • Mark Easton
    • Cllr Michael Mordey - Sunderland City Council
09:45
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    45 mins
    • Graham Thrower - University of Sunderland
    • Ellen Thinnesen - Education Partnership North East
    • Samantha McClary - BCO
    • Paul Kingsmore - Sunderland AFC
10:45
  1. Break
    City Hall
    15 mins
11:00
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
    • Michael Brown - Altered Space
    • John Wood - The Other Retail Group
    • Louis Lupien - Turner.Works
    • Allison Thompson - South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
    • Moderator:  Mark Easton
11:30
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
    • Peter McIntyre - Sunderland City Council
    • Patrick Matheson - Knight Frank
    • Andrea Walters - University of Sunderland
    • Moderator:  Samantha McClary - BCO

    In collaboration with the BCO

12:00
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
    •    Toni Rhodes - Education Partnership North East
    •    Richard Williams - VELUX
    •    Sonya Anderson - Education Partnership North East
    •    Dan Kerr - MawsonKerr
    •    Grant Glendinning - Education Training Collective
12:30
  1. Lunch and Riverside Sunderland Site and Venue Tours
    City Hall & Riverside Sunderland
    75 mins
13:45
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    15 mins
14:00
  1. Breakout Rooms, City Hall
    75 mins
    • City Centre Activation
    • City Centre Repopulation
    • Future of Work  
15:15
  1. Break
    City Hall
    15 mins
15:30
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    30 mins
16:00
  1. Chamber, City Hall
    15 mins

Event Partnership

WANT TO GET INVOLVED? 

Event Partners will be invited to share their expertise & thought leadership in the most appropriate space or place within the event programme. This could include fringe sessions, rolling slides during networking and breakout sessions, round table session sponsorship, inclusion of materials in delegate packs, logo representation throughout the entire event etc, branding and merchandise opportunities etc.  Enjoy advertising space on the event website and during speaker invitations to catapult your reach & influence.

Join our other partners and stake your place on the agenda.

Event Partnership package - £3,000    CONTACT US

 

Future City Regeneration Board

Please click on the profile to find out more about each of our advisors.

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