Significant improvements have included the opening of the Millennium Galleries and the start of the £17m refurbishment of the city museum.
On, VR announced it would start a refurbishment of all its Sm3 units to improve the operating conditions during winter.
"We expect to start the refurbishment next week, and we will develop the overall plan to renovate the entire downtown Baldwin area over the course of the coming year".
In architecture, this translates into rolling programmes of refurbishment.
The spaces were also in need of refurbishment.
On top of this, the halls of residence were in urgent need of refurbishment.
Right now there's £25m of refurbishment work going into the pedestrianised spaces of the city.
The current work is part of a £136m scheme of refurbishment of 6,000 homes.
"The removal of asbestos will make way for a further programme of refurbishment to modernise facilities.
"I'm pleasantly surprised, they've done a lot of refurbishment," he said.
Middlesbrough Bus Station will close for £1.5m worth of refurbishment work.
