Wellbeing Case Study: Sunderland

Context of the project

In October 2019 Historic England commissioned Newcastle-based research consultancy ERS Ltd to assess the impact of Sunderland’s High Streets Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) on local residents and better understand the relationship between people’s wellbeing and the character of their local area.

The project forms part of Historic England’s strategic research to improve understanding of how the historic environment can help to achieve positive social benefit and to explore ways of delivering projects to enhance wellbeing outcomes. The three-year project by ERS Ltd led and developed activities focused on two groups of local residents, one older, one young, and their sense of place and belonging in relation to local history and developments in the Sunderland Heritage Action Zone.

We will publish a report on the project here in due course.

Preliminary findings

The project organised meetings which evoked lots of memories, of trades and tradespeople, local factories and high street shops that have come and gone. Residents were very positive in their comments about how the project’s activities enabled them to meet, to learn new things and to share memories in a friendly atmosphere.

Residents felt strongly connected to the city’s industrial heritage and the sense of purposefulness and value it provided. They were fiercely proud of Sunderland’s shipbuilding past. Rather than buildings to ‘look at’, people talked of buildings with an everyday function and how quiet and deserted the high streets are in contrast now, compared to how they used to be.

Working with the dedicated staff and students at Hudson Road School everyone enjoyed learning about the Heritage Action Zone, with evidence of measurable improvement in their knowledge and positivity about Sunderland’s heritage. Feedback indicated how they spread the impact by telling friends and families what they had learnt. The children also produced some terrific materials to display in Local Studies to celebrate the end of the Heritage Action Zone programme.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic seriously impacted on the programme and engagement was hard-won in the circumstances, however on the other hand, given the worries and anxiety of this time the project had a value in supporting the recovery of confidence after the lockdown and made gains in connecting people and places.