Member Article

Planning Approval Granted for £5m tombola new HQ

WORK on a new £5m HQ for Europe’s biggest online bingo company is due to start in Sunderland after planning permission was granted by Sunderland City Council.

Tombola’s new 25,000sq ft. building will be adjacent to its current headquarters, the Rose Line Building at Wylam Wharf.

Tombola is working with Newcastle-based Ryder Architects on the three-storey building. “We’re delighted to have been given planning permission and are keen to make a start on our new HQ,” explained tombola Director Mike Cronin.

“We’re hoping to create the best possible working environment for the tombola team.”

The company envisages a tombola riverside campus that will incorporate both old and new buildings and a landscaped area. The main entrance to the new office will be off Low Street within the landscaped area. The development will also include improvements to the river frontage, including a ramped connection to Riverside Walk.

A large café will look out from the ground floor of the building on to the Wear. The ground floor will also have a reception area and a gym for employees. Modern spacious offices will be on the first and second floors and an atrium will provide natural light throughout the building.

The company currently employs 140 people at its Rose Line Building and in other nearby office space – and a further 180 people working from home. Some of these employees will be moved into the new building.

Both tombola and Ryder’s want to ensure the new building will complement buildings nearby as well as providing a link to the area’s shipbuilding heritage. The Rose Line Building is a former bonded warehouse, dating from the late 1700s. It is one of only two warehouses surviving in what was formerly a densely occupied commercial quayside area. The architects see the new building as a contemporary twist on the traditional design of a bonded warehouse.

It is hoped work on the building will start within a few weeks and be completed by October next year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by tombola .