A vibrant, exciting education and sports facility, the first of its kind in the UK.
Foundation of Light
£16.5m
October 2016
March 2018
Identity Consult were appointed in late 2013 by the Foundation of Light to Project Manage and Cost Manage a feasibility study to develop a building that would house the Foundation of Light (the charity arm of Sunderland Football Club) as a base to deliver their community based learning and development programmes using football as the medium. Identity Consult have led the project which started on site in October 2016.
The Beacon is being built on land adjacent to the Aquatics Centre and the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, a prominent position within the City on a brownfield site on what used to be the Monkwearmouth Colliery .
The building contains facilities for sport, office, education, events and community learning and cafés. The unique sporting provision is ‘dry’ and focuses on badminton, futsal, basketball and netball, with a football barn on the top floor designed to FA standards.
Funding has played a critical role in the delivery of the project and therefore there has been a number of stakeholders to consider as the project has develop. These have included Sunderland City Council, the Football Foundation, Sport England and the ESFA as well as private donors to name a few.
The project has been procured on a Design & Build basis using a Two Stage tender approach following European Directives. The project is being administered via JCT Design & Build 2011 contract with client amendments.