HTW-STORY2B-110424-FB
Last year it was announced that the National Glass Centre building would be shutting in summer 2026. Jo Howell, the lead campaigner of the ‘Save the National Glass Centre’ group, discusses the potential closure of the building, the future of the Wearside venue, and what Sunderland stands to lose by its’ closure.
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00:00Losing the National Glass Centre would be a massive tragedy, I think, because we don't
00:06have another national organisation that's globally facing. All of our other organisations
00:12have Sunderland in the title, but this one actually is the National Glass Centre.
00:19When Sunderland's National Glass Centre was opened by Prince Charles in 1998, it was hailed
00:23as a symbolic testament to the city's industrial heritage. The building played a major role
00:28in the regeneration of Sunderland's riverside and attracts over 230,000 visitors each year.
00:35Currently housing the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, the glass centre has become
00:39a cultural and educational hub for the city, providing exhibition space for some of the
00:43world's finest contemporary glass and ceramic artists.
00:47In the end of January 2023, the university announced to the staff and to the students
00:56that they were considering closing down the National Glass Centre. They didn't really
01:01give too many details about it, but that immediately kick-started a response from myself and a
01:07few other alumni and local people from the community.
01:12Last year it was announced that the National Glass Centre building would be shutting in
01:15summer 2026. Unfortunately, the site has been plagued with structural problems, with repairs
01:21having to be carried out on the glass-panelled roof almost immediately after the centre first
01:25opened. Six years ago, the roof had to be closed to the public completely due to safety
01:30concerns.
01:32A spokesperson for the university stated that their recent announcement of the closure of
01:36their glass and ceramics course does not have an impact on our work to find alternative
01:41locations for other activities based at the National Glass Centre. In the meantime, the
01:45National Glass Centre building and the activities within it remain open.
01:49I think it will take a lot of engineering and a lot of thought, but that's what Sunderland's
01:54famous for. We are engineers, we're scientists, we're artists.