The 18-month project is intended to be the first phase of a major overhaul of the station to create a new transport hub for the city.
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00:00 Jonathan Calvert is Principal Portfolio Manager for Network Rail. It's been in
00:04 the pipeline for quite a while but it's finally finished. How are we feeling?
00:09 We are absolutely thrilled to have completed this building with Sunderland City Council and
00:13 not all our construction partner. It's fantastic, it's a transformation of the building now compared to what was here previously.
00:20 And is there anything left to do or is this pretty much it?
00:22 No, there's some minor snagging work, some pumping ground work happening outside but the station is open, it's fit for purpose,
00:27 fully accessible and ready for rock and roll.
00:31 And how long has it taken?
00:32 So we started the site approximately 18 months ago but that was a deconstruction of the old building,
00:36 we included that before we reconstructed and got what you see today.
00:39 Were there any particular challenges in the project?
00:42 Yeah, so the key challenge was keeping the station operational while we did the work.
00:46 So we've always had the northern entrance operational and we've had the stations and the trains operating normally throughout.
00:51 So that in itself brings challenges in the working environment.
00:54 Sunderland City Council Leader, Graeme Muller, there's a lot of work going on in the city centre, a lot of improvements.
00:59 How important is the new station?
01:01 It's vital that we have a welcoming rail gateway into the city which is why I'm so pleased that we've completed the work here
01:09 on the southern entrance of the station.
01:12 The old one was not the best welcoming perhaps for new first time visitors to Sunderland?
01:17 No, it was very old, it was very jaded, it was very dark, it was not welcoming at all.
01:24 And then now you look at what's around us, it's open, it's light, it's airy, we've fixed getting down onto the platforms so it's easy.
01:32 And it's important that as a city we have this style of gateway because otherwise people will come once and they'll go 'I don't like that' and they'll not come again.
01:43 Southern Sunderland MP Julie Elliott has been campaigning for a long time now for improvements here at the station. What do we think?
01:48 It's absolutely fantastic. More than a decade of hard work has gone in to try and get both the old station upgraded but this new entrance is just beyond our wildest dreams.
01:58 And the really key thing I'm happy about is we've got a public toilet for the first time.
02:03 Unbelievable we've had to wait this long but I'm very, very pleased it's here.