About to be demolished Mayflower Glass in Bolden. Photography by Jo Howell
Dive into the history of glass ships in bottles – the changing identity of a post-industrial northern city as told through the eyes of Japanese glass artist Ayako Tani, who is preserving the endangered art of sculpting the hand-crafted glass ships which once put Sunderland on the map. Following industrial decline in the 1970s and the closure of the Pyrex factory, many of Sunderland’s newly redundant scientific glassblowers turned their talents to giftware, and from the ashes of a former glassblowing empire this new booming practice emerged. But today, scientific glassblowing is considered an endangered craft, and with Sunderland’s own National Glass Centre now facing imminent closure, the art of glass is once again under strain. After arriving from Tokyo in 2006 to Sunderland, a city famous for its all-but-lost legacies of shipbuilding and glassblowing, Ayako discovered a passion for documenting the history of glass ships in bottles. Vessels of Memory follows Ayako’s journey of discovery, learning from Sunderland’s now mostly retired glassworkers and engineers who once pioneered these ornamental giftware ships sold worldwide. Ayako was inspired to research and recreate her own glass ships in bottles, and keep the memory of this once booming industry alive. Hear the deconstruction of a glass ship in bottle, as Ayako guides you through experiences that have shaped her journey exploring and learning this fragile, endangered heritage, alongside those who taught and inspired her. Featuring the voices of Keith Clark, Catherine Forsyth, Zoë Garner, Keith Hartley, Jo Howell, Brian Jones, James Maskrey, Joseph Percy, Christine Sinclair, Ayako Tani, Andy Thompson, and Norman Veitch. Producer: Jay Sykes A Sister Sounds production for BBC Radio 4
Dr Ayako Tani looking at dusty samples in the shelves of the about to be demolished Mayflower Glass in Bolden. Photography by Jo Howell
Glass Quarterly have made the article about the National Glass Centre public! It’s so important that they have put it up for free. Glass Quarterly is a subscription magazine. Please read and share!
Dive into the history of glass ships in bottles – the changing identity of a post-industrial northern city as told through the eyes of Japanese glass artist Ayako Tani, who is preserving the endangered art of sculpting the hand-crafted glass ships which once put Sunderland on the map.
Following industrial decline in the 1970s and the closure of the Pyrex factory, many of Sunderland’s newly redundant scientific glassblowers turned their talents to giftware, and from the ashes of a former glassblowing empire this new booming practice emerged. But today, scientific glassblowing is considered an endangered craft, and with Sunderland’s own National Glass Centre now facing imminent closure, the art of glass is once again under strain.
After arriving from Tokyo in 2006 to Sunderland, a city famous for its all-but-lost legacies of shipbuilding and glassblowing, Ayako discovered a passion for documenting the history of glass ships in bottles. Vessels of Memory follows Ayako’s journey of discovery, learning from Sunderland’s now mostly retired glassworkers and engineers who once pioneered these ornamental giftware ships sold worldwide.
Ayako was inspired to research and recreate her own glass ships in bottles, and keep the memory of this once booming industry alive. Hear the deconstruction of a glass ship in bottle, as Ayako guides you through experiences that have shaped her journey exploring and learning this fragile, endangered heritage, alongside those who taught and inspired her.
Joanna has studied her PHD at the National Glass Centre. Her work is an in-depth research into the endless possibilities of mirror applications to interior cast glass spaces.
Iris Obscura, solo exhibition by Joanna Manousis in Abject gallery, Sunderland. Photography by Jo Howell 2024Iris Obscura, solo exhibition by Joanna Manousis in Abject gallery, Sunderland. Photography by Jo Howell 2024
I thought you might enjoy these photographs I took of the exhibition and talk last night at Abject Gallery in Fawcett Street, Sunderland.
As a photographer who works in analogue I can totally relate to the never ending subtleties and nuances of using chemistry.
Obviously, there are many more high risk variables involved in glass making than I would ever have to deal with but as Joanna explained the wheels within wheels I felt excited for her ongoing investigations.
Iris Obscura, solo exhibition by Joanna Manousis in Abject gallery, Sunderland. Photography by Jo Howell 2024
Then I remembered that her livelihood, as well as 100s of others who have come to rely upon the vast wealth of experience and specialist facilities of the National Glass Centre. That shimmering constellation upon the wall was representative of all of us.
I’m interested in optics and the unique ability of glass to scatter, diffuse, direct, reflect, refract, split or focus light.
The importance of glass to the science of seeing and observation cannot be underestimated. The Iris Obscura purposefully representing eyes and the process of looking.
To really look at something is an art in itself.
Iris Obscura, solo exhibition by Joanna Manousis in Abject gallery, Sunderland. Photography by Jo Howell 2024
To look at it again and again ad infinitum.
To still be excited at the endless possibilities is the beautiful madness of creatives and scientists alike.
Iris Obscura, solo exhibition by Joanna Manousis in Abject gallery, Sunderland. Photography by Jo Howell 2024
At 25 years old the National Glass Centre is really just coming into its stride. The prestige and power to coalesce great minds is hard won and will be an irrevocable loss to all of us.
Each surface and approach is unique. Coming together to add to a wealth of the whole. As we are from the stars it felt right to mirror that.
Joanna Manousis 2024
Iris Obscura, solo exhibition by Joanna Manousis in Abject gallery, Sunderland. Photography by Jo Howell 2024
Please sign our petition and share our campaign ❤️ we have to make it untenable for everyone to accept the loss of the National Glass Centre.
St Peter’s in Roker has been breaking glass ceilings since 674 AD and celebrates 1350 years of continuous glass making on the river Wear.
Jo Howell, Save the National Glass Centre campaigner and photographic artist tells us about the importance of the National Glass Centre after attending the Contemporary Glass Society conference on 20/04/24
I was very grateful to attend the Contemporary Glass Society conference. It was held across two venues at the University of Sunderland on Saturday 20th April 2024. All of the organisers, speakers and the attendees themselves should be immensely proud as they were absolutely fascinating. I need a whole week to replay it in my head so I can absorb the experience! I spent the entire time with my mouth open in awe.
There was so much to take in and think about. The speakers did a tremendous job of showing us how glass, new technologies and reclaimed materials are all taking centre stage in contemporary arts practice. Informed by the climate crisis and new digital ways of production. All of the artists surpassed and surprised us with their innovative approaches. From Helen Pailing’s explorations of re-using the waste from glass processes in conjunction with embroidery practices.
To the commercial and artistic journey of Jo Mitchell, blending together computer aided design CAD and new technologies in glass production.
To some intensely AMAZING demonstrations of glass blowing ginormous stuff by Zac Weinberg whilst assisted by Colin Rennie
Then a quick gander at flame working as we settled into the 3pm vase blowing demo.
The artworks were all intriguing but I happened to spot a cyanotype on glass with a glass walking stick on top. Anyone who knows me knows that I love cyanotype. Blue maybe twee to you but it ain’t twee to me!
Wrong end of the stick by Liz Waugh Macmanus
The artwork ‘Wrong end of the stick’ by Liz Macmanus Waugh was so much fun! You hovered your hand above an electronic sensor hidden in copper plated text to activate it. The sensors were hooked up to a micro processor that then played snippets of audio. The cyanotype showed pages from a notebook that had half conversations written by her grandmother who was deaf. The audio was of the random half conversations! A really lovely interactive piece.
I was lucky enough to catch the final knock off of a humongous glass vessel by Zac Weinberg. The heat and the weight of the glass! Really skilful. I was melting and feeling tired just watching. The choreography of movement always impresses me. To be in the ‘zone’ and in the moment is integral to the glassblowing success. There are so many things both physically and mentally that the glassblower must be in complete control of or else risk some awful injury.
I can’t stress enough how impressive the talent, the skill, the facilities and the building are. Okay. The building doesn’t look the smartest on the outside but it still proudly commands the riverside skyline. Its silhouette is unmistakable to all who love it. Buildings are never just buildings. For 25 years the National Glass Centre has been an icon of the Sunderland landscape and has a firm grip on all of our hearts.
Art of the North – save the national glass centre
The value of what we stand to lose far outstrips the need to demolish a building and landscape contaminated land. Maybe the National Glass Centre doesn’t need or want the University either. Maybe it’s time for a conscious uncoupling, as the wise Gwyneth Paltrow once said. It would be nice to remain friends when we gain custody of the NGC.
I digress! The open day held by Contemporary Glass Society was informative and inspiring. Though everything was tinged with heartfelt sadness the important contributions of the National Glass Centre to the British studio glass movement cannot be understated.
What will happen to all of this specialist equipment? Will it go the same way as the brise soleil? Quietly removed and scrapped. How much money will they spend demolishing and landscaping a site they have repeatedly said they have no plans for? In a climate crisis we really cannot afford to demolish buildings. End of story.
NGC see yourself reflected in the impressive mirrored silhouette of the building
Are we not responsible to save the heritage both tangible and not, so that future generations can access it? And the upward social mobility that having a national cultural asset on your doorstep has? I want my nieces to be able to dream big.
I took my niece age 14 to the contemporary glass society day and as we walked home she excitedly told me that she wants to be an engineer. Then she said that she will help me make the building what we think it should be. She could see the opportunity. She understood the dramatic importance of hands on skills. This inspired her as it did me.
Keep tagging us on social media in your posts, sign the petition, share everything. We only have one chance to make the difference here. Let’s make it count. Use the hashtag and ask everyone what they think.
#savethenationalglasscentre
We at Save the National Glass Centre campaign have solutions and funding pots that we will be able to access that cannot be accessed by the university or Sunderland Culture because of the structures of their business model set up. We believe that a new model of ownership should be explored.
Written by Allyn Walton solicitor and local heritage activist. (Amended and republished 10/04/24)
It’s rather depressing to note the lack of basic maths and fact finding present at the very top of our academic institutions these days. And what makes it worse is when you consider that the particular institution in question can’t even accurately quote from their own expensively purchased Architectural report. It’s here if you want to read it.
Glass art outside the National Glass Centre referencing the long heritage with glass at St Peter’s church
Yes folks, it’s official the University of Sunderland (UoS) gets no more than a D-minus when it comes to their custodianship of the National Glass Centre. And now that the ‘evidence’ has finally been revealed, we know that the so-called £45 million pounds figure for restoring this glorious Sunderland Monument to Glass, is more than 3 times the real cost!
Yes, that’s worth saying again isn’t it? The real cost of restoring NGC to the pristine condition it was in when UoS were gifted it in 2010, according to the university’s own report, is actually less than £14 million.
And what is the basis for this? Are we going to have one of those battles of the experts played out in front of the High Court? Well no actually we’re not! Can you believe that the £45m sum they’re quoting includes mechanical and electrical work already carried out in 2013.
Even in its present configuration it is something UoS have shown they are completely incapable of maintaining to the most basic standards. What about this quote from UoS Head of Estates as far back as 2013:
“the centre has suffered as a business and its maintenance regime hasn’t been as robust as it could have been.”
University estates officer 2013
In February 2024 the University Finally Admitted they DO NOT have an Operation and Maintenance Document! this maintenance guide would have guaranteed the professional upkeep of The National Glass Centre.
So what, you might say! £14m is still a lot of money isn’t it? You can virtually hear the sound of the bulldozers behind those words can’t you! Who is going to come up with £14m? Well it isn’t going to be Sunderland City Council, not according to the reported words of Councillor Paul Stewart:
We’re open sign outside the closed off public footpath on the river front of the National Glass Centre
Though not necessarily agreeing to this himself, the Council’s position is to keep the Glass Centre at a distance from the Council as they see it as the responsibility of the University.
It looks as though we are on our own.
So, let’s use just a little bit of that expensively purchased university education to look at these figures a bit more closely shall we. Guess what it does include?
It includes an array of Solar PV across 550m2 of newly refurbished roofing.
That’s sufficient to radically reduce the running costs of NGC for the next 40 years! In what world are we expected to live where an organisation pretends to want to expand its incompetence to an additional floor of a building they’ve admitted they can’t properly maintain, at the expense of that? Just imagine those electric furnaces being fired up every day with carbon free electricity!
And according to the experts that have been brought in to look at this situation, the contingencies built into the significantly lower £14m figure are much too generous than they need to be for work of this nature in this sector!
How the light used to flow through the building photograph by Gill Helps
That brings the cost or refurbishment down again to below £10m when this job is properly put out to tender with a serious intention to get the price right. Okay I can still hear you saying it… Who’s going to come up with that amount of money? Who’s got £10m tucked away for this rainy day?
Now we get to the most important cost of all. Guess what? The monetary cost of moving in those bulldozers and demolishing this fantastically important building is actually MORE than the cost of restoring it!
That’s definitely something worth saying again … the cost of demolishing the National Glass Centre is MORE than the cost of saving it.
And we’re not just talking here about money. We’re talking about the cost to the people of Sunderland for whom 1350 years of glass manufacturing finally comes to an end.
We’re talking about the environmental cost of demolition, releasing thousands of tonnes of carbon back into the environment, not even mentioning the big unseemly hole that’s left, where once stood the mighty JL Thompson shipyard. And yes, we are also talking about the mammoth mistake and reputational cost to the university itself for failing so drastically in this test.
University of Sunderland sign in front of the National Glass Centre stacks
University of Sunderland are not listening to us, at least not yet! So, why don’t you help say it for us?
Tell your friends the shocking truth, get your family to sign the petition, have your work colleagues write to their MP. Or, if you’re not able to do any of that don’t worry, why don’t you just join the 35,000 of us who are already part of stopping this nonsense!
Article written by Nigel Taylor, Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. I also have over 40 years experience on large construction projects and was an Operations Director for a tier one national building contractor.
Glass optics circa 1950’s curtesy of Tyne and Wear Archives, Sunderland Museum collection. Pyrex magazine.
Have you heard that the University of Sunderland has decided that one of our City’s landmark buildings, the National Glass Centre (NGC), is to close in 2026?
I am a member of a campaign group set up with the aim of stopping what amounts to vandalism of one of the City’s cultural assets and visitor attractions. Would you like to support the campaign to keep glassmaking alive on the River Wear? We would love more residents of Sunderland, Washington and the coalfields to get involved, along with any other friends and family far and wide who believe that the decision by the University is short sighted and against the wishes of the vast majority of the people of the area.
The NGC was opened by Prince (now King) Charles in October, 1998. Sunderland was chosen as the preferred site, due to our long history in glassmaking. Indeed, this year, sees the 1350th anniversary of Benedict Biscop bringing craftsmen from Europe to start making glass on the banks of the Wear at St Peter’s Church.
1350 years of glassmaking on Wearside
Over the years, glass making grew as an industry. Sunderland glass developed a worldwide reputation and, by 1860, more than 1,000 glass makers were employed in the area working in more than 20 companies.
Most of us will have some glassware made in Sunderland in our cupboards. Who hasn’t got the odd Pyrex bowl, plate, or casserole dish, which often has been passed down through the generations. These were all manufactured on Wearside by Jobling, the glassmakers. Some of the designs are quite valuable now, so hang on to these prized possessions.
The NGC itself is not only a place for local glassmakers and artists to showcase their innovative designs, but is alsokeeping the tradition of glassblowing alive for new generations to see. Many of you may have been on one of the short, day courses to make a Christmas bauble, paperweight, or tile, and have felt the satisfaction, as I have, of creating something unique and beautiful. I am reminded of this every year when the Christmas decorations come out and I see the bauble I made some years ago, with a lot of help from one of the excellent craftsmen employed within the NGC. All of this will be lost if the NGC closes.
Pyrex science department circa 1950’s curtesy of Tyne and Wear Archives, Sunderland Museum collection. Photograph by Leslie Bryce.
This area’s cultural heritage has already been decimated over recent years with the loss of the mining and shipbuilding industries. Are we prepared to let people from outside of the area now running the University of Sunderland make arbitrary decisions without proper consultation and without fully understanding the impact this will have on the local community?
Local children will lose the experience of seeing the traditional skills, for which Sunderland was once famous; school trips to the NGC were often a high point of a school year. Local history is made more real by experiencing an activity, rather than reading about it in a book. Can we afford to lose this important landmark for ever?
Over the years, the NGC has evolved into more than just a museum or workshop space—it has become a cultural landmark and a symbol of Sunderland’s regeneration. It has attracted many visitors to the region from all over the world, which helps the local economy. Glass artists who have studied at the NGC have gone on to receive worldwide acclaim for their work and even now sing the praises of where their journey started, in Sunderland.
Pyrex science department circa 1950’s curtesy of Tyne and Wear Archives, Sunderland Museum collection. Photograph by Leslie Bryce.
Our group has been set up to try to prevent this closure. We meet regularly and have set up a petition which already has over 32,000 signatures, a website and a blog, to keep people up to date with the campaign. You are all welcome at the monthly meetings
If you are as affronted as us by the impending closure, pleasesign the petition and add your weight to the cause.
Save the National Glass Centre campaign fully supports any action the unions or the workers wish to take. Solidarity!
We stand in solidarity with all of the staff and students. We are distraught to hear that like a thief in the night Sunderland University is taking away our glass and ceramic courses leading to inevitable loss of highly skilled staff, valued teachers and of course eventually the building itself. Filling their boots with Sunderland’s heritage and the future of glass making in the North East.
By Jo Howell Sunderland based photographic artist and save the National glass centre activist
Save the National Glass Centre needs you to share the petition!
2024 marks 1350 years of glass making on the banks of the river Wear. A humongous triumph to be celebrated.
Yet there is silence.
The cathedral for glass is no longer permitted to shine with pride. This is a great tragedy that we have the power to stop.
Glass heritage on the river Wear, St Peter’s
We need radical change. Right now. To stop the cultural vandalism that is going to be inflicted on Sunderland. The City builds towards net zero and digital infrastructure whilst denying the people their authentic cultural identity.
Now is not the time to divest in our unique skills and throw away more than a millennium of prestige. As we move away from plastic towards sustainability we need to be investigating the potential of glass in future technologies.
The City is enjoying success for the local film industry after the chancellors budget announcement allows for the Crown Studios to go ahead. It seems crass to allow the decline and disappearance of a unique building with such specialist artisans inside. Let me propose a UK blown away! Let me suggest that we may need glass for props in period dramas and science fiction productions.
The National Glass Centre 2024
We are a City of scientists, artists, engineers and innovators. Let’s innovate and not capitulate ❤️
Our campaign is still here and we think it’s time to supercharge it to maximum effect. Whilst we are extremely proud and grateful for every single one of you. That’s 33,000 inclusive of our local paper based petition. We want 100,000 of you on board so we can take this to government level.
I know you all agree to the vital part that the National Glass Centre has played in all of your lives is worth saving. Whether you live in one of the 78 signing countries, or right on the doorstep this legacy means something to all of you.
Please get sharing across social media ❤️ the longer we wait the harder the fight will be. Let’s get a wriggle on!
All our heartfelt thanks from everyone at
Save the National Glass Centre campaign
If you can help further please email us. We are calling all hands on deck ❤️
Professional children’s, and mental health writer, gives us a brief history of glass, and its legacy in Sunderland
Photograph by Emily Kitching
Some facts and myths about glass
1. Glass is 100% recyclable and can be reused time and time again, making it very environmentally friendly. It can be remelted, without ever losing its quality. https://www.britglass.org.uk/our-work/recycling
2. Glass is a bit of a free spirit! The atoms in glass, are not arranged in an ordered, crystalline way, like other ceramics. They are more random and ‘amorphous’ – literally meaning without shape! This leads to the question – is glass a liquid or a solid? https://edu.rsc.org/analysis/do-you-really-know-what-glass-is/3008331.article
3. Glass is highly durable, transparent and resistant to many chemicals, which makes it ideal storage for many substances.
4. Glass can both transmit, and bend, light. This makes it useful for lenses and prisms.
7. Glass helps us see on the roads! Glass beads are used in the manufacture of reflective road marking paint.
8. Even sea glass can be valuable. Lots of people in the North East like to comb the local beaches for sea glass. While most is white, blue, or green – red, or orange sea glass is regarded as rare, with red being the most prized. https://realseaglass.com/pages/all-about-red-orange-and-yellow-sea-glass
9. When glass breaks – the cracks move at 300mph!
10. The National Glass Centre, which is based in Sunderland, is in danger of closing, despite gaining a Traveller’s Choice Award, from Tripadvisor, which is only awarded to the top 10% of properties and attractions.
You can help us to save it by signing our petition and sharing our content 😌
Professional children’s, and mental health writer, gives us a brief history of glass, and its legacy in Sunderland.
This is the story of how a wealthy nobleman, a lord in the court of a Northumbrian King, became a man of religion, innovation and patron of the arts, bringing glassmaking to Wearside.
I am talking of course about Biscop Baducing, who lived in the North East of England in the 7th century, and first started his career at the court of King Oswiu of Northumbria. Biscopwas such a brave and dedicated member of court that, on his decision to devote his life to religious study, he was gifted 70 hides of land, by Ecgfrith, who had succeeded Oswiu, on which the monastery of St Peter, Wearmouth was built, with its associated church. The church was consecrated in 675AD and Biscop, who now adopted the name, Benedict, became its first abbot, leaving his old life, and indeed his marriage, behind.
The church and monastery at Wearmouth were unusual for the time, built, as they were, of stone. Most buildings in the North East, at that time, were of wooden construction; but this was not enough for the well-travelled Biscop.
St Peter’s church and monk, illustrated by Jo Howell
Being a physically fit, as well as devout man, Biscop made the pilgrimage to Rome, on foot, five times in his life. He also visited Gaul, now modern day France. It is said that he marvelled at the stained-glass windows in the European churches he saw on his travels and loved fine art. He must also have been quite persuasive, as, on each journey, he not only brought back books, icons and relics, but also stonemasons and glassmakers from the balmy Mediterranean climate, to the windswept coast of North East England.
It was during one such trip in 675 AD that Biscop crossed paths with a gifted French glassmaker, and persuaded him to come to Britain and pass on the rare knowledge of glassmaking. He brought back a shipment of key raw materials – quality beach sand, essential salts and mineral soda ash. Now glassmaking could start in earnest. This was not only for making beautiful items for the church; this was the start of a glassmaking legacy on the Wear, that would continue for more than 1300 years.
The glassmaker showed the monks how to use beach pebbles to raise the temperature high enough to fuel the newly-built furnaces. A ‘secret ingredient’, Gaulish dust, was used to diffuse the bright coloured glass. Soon, not only windows, but tableware, vases, flasks and tiles were being produced in Wearmouth, whilst training local monks in these skills.Previously, glass goods would have had to be transported to England carefully by ship – a very delicate process. Now glass could be made on the banks of the Wear – and in colour too! It must have been awe-inspiring for the small population who lived near the monastery, to see this innovation of stone and glass take shape.
By the time of Biscop’s death in 689 AD, glassmaking was firmly established on Wearside and the practice had spread to St Peter’s sister monastery at Jarrow. This small town, which eventually became the City of Sunderland, had started a revolution in glass. Over the following centuries, Sunderland became famed for its wares, from bottles to high class dinner services; with many factories setting up home here, during the industrial revolution, such as world-renowned glassmakers,Hartley-Woods, and, later, the famous Pyrex ware wasmanufactured here, by James Jobling, from the early 20thcentury.
St Peter’s Church on Instax wide, photograph by Jo Howell
It seemed natural, therefore, for Sunderland to house the National Glass Centre (NGC), which was opened by Prince, now King, Charles, in 1998, and is a popular, free to access, tourist attraction. Currently a home for independent glass artists, the NGC is both a working glassmaking centre, and the provider of a wider exhibition space. Visitors have the opportunity to see traditional glassblowing, or to take part in workshops to create their own glass objects, at a reasonable cost. These courses are always in high demand.
Sadly, the building, which is now owned by the University of Sunderland, is under threat of fairly imminent closure. If this venue disappears, the mighty fire of the furnaces, first ignited by Biscop, 1300 years ago, will be extinguished on Wearside, possibly forever. A campaign group has been set up with the intention of preserving this Centre and support is gathering momentum.
If you would like to read more about the NGC and how supporters are campaigning to save the venue, please sign the petition! And if you would like to get involved with the campaign email us at:
Save the National Glass Centre campaigner Keith Brown explains
On the 8th of December 2022 the University of Sunderland announced its shocking decision to close the National Glass Centre (the NGC) on the banks of the river Wear in Sunderland.
The campaign to reverse that decision and to keep the NGC open in some form is gathering momentum. Campaigners have highlighted the NGC’s iconic architectural status; the devastating cultural and artistic impact of the NGC’s work, not only upon Sunderland but also upon the north-east and the entire UK. People need to be made aware that the cost of repairs widely broadcast by the University are grossly inflated.
MA exhibition photography by Gill Helps
Well-over 31,000 people have signed a petition against its closure and demolition. Campaigners are now calling for more people to help save the award-winning NGC, cited as a “World-class cultural asset” in Sunderland council’s 2021 UK City of Culture bid. The campaign already involves many local people, and also receives support from key national bodies.
Renowned international architect Piers Gough in the 20th Century Journal has said that
“Sunderland cannot afford to lose such an icon. It would seem ideal for a forward-looking University to use or repurpose, but should it be superfluous another more appreciative owner should be found.” He also stated that “the NGC references Sunderland’s shipbuilding heritage as well as glass making past, making this unique building special to its particular location. It is the best and most apposite 21st Century Building of the region“.
Architect Piers Gough in the 20th Century Journal
The 20th Century Society (C20) , the professional organisation which saves endangered buildings, has sought independent advice from experts in building lifespan and sustainability. They have cast doubts on the figures quoted for repair and renovation.
“condemning this landmark building that’s barely 25 years old and in the process losing one of the few purpose built glass blowing facilities in the country, is unconscionable“.
C20’s article 21.6.23
Architecture photography by Gill Helps
In 2000, the Design Council awarded this unique building Millenium Product Status in recognition of its creativity and environmental approach. The building also received commendations from the Craft Council, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the DTI.
The National Glass Centre is owned and maintained by the University. Sir David Bell, the vice chancellor and chief executive stated in May 2023 they could close it as early as 2025, he also stated, without any prior consultation, that the National Glass Centre will be demolished.
The building sits adjacent to the University campus where the University is planning to undertake significant capital works over the next five years. This suggests it intended all along to expand onto the NGC site.
National Glass Centre photography by Gill Helps
The University’s Intention to demolish and redevelop, releasing embodied carbon in the process, is the wrong decision given the concern over accelerating climate change. Retro fitting is by far the best solution. This academic institution should focus on STEM subjects and treat The National Glass Centre as a case study for sustainability and growth rather than managed decline and potential destruction.
The repair costs of £45m broadcast by the University are now widely believed. How the costs can be so high for what essentially should be the refurbishment of the existing building needs further clarification by the University because such an inflated figure is guaranteed to deter any potential funders.
The published costs are not for repair alone, but for an array of other enhancements including replacing the entire roof (solid & glazed) all the glass curtain walling, installing photovoltaic panels, and replacing all the mechanical and electrical systems. Even with these enhancements the reported figure appears seriously inflated, particularly when the construction cost for Culture House, a brand new building in the centre of the city, is reported as being £25m.
MA exhibition photography by Gill Helps
Retired planning inspector David Vickery wrote in a recent campaign article: “Sunderland City Hall was completed in November 2021 costing £42m (which is £3 million less) and for that £42 million Sunderland got two large glass and steel office blocks, one of five storeys high and the other of six storeys (190,000 square feet), both buildings connected by a glass atrium. How can it cost £45 million just to repair a roof?”
Early in 2023, the campaign gave the University a Freedom of Information request to enquire how the University had come to their decision to close the National Glass Centre.
In March 2023 the University published documents online, showing the consultation that they had based their decision on.
The campaign followed up by meeting in person with executives from the University on 22.06.23. (The day of the public meeting at Saint Peter’s church.) During this meeting the campaign requested access to all of the NGC’s maintenance records.
Save the National Glass Centre public meeting photography by Phil Vickery
In August, the University stated via email that the FOI was not received, the campaign issued a new FOI request on the 14th of August ’23 (FOI 2323/0814).
The University said they were gifted the NGC when it was 12 years old, however the land registry document appears to show they were given it for no recorded price when it was only 8 years old, (GOV.UK Title register for: National Glass Centre, title number: TY454590).
There is no doubt that the University has struggled to maintain the NGC, a fact that was recently noted in its Future Strategy Statement.
Also the University’s Head of Estates stated in 2013 ” the centre has suffered as a business and its maintenance regime hasn’t been as robust as it could have been.” Since then, the exterior has further deteriorated under their stewardship.
” The centre has suffered as a business and its maintenance regime hasn’t been as robust as it could have been.”
Future Strategy Statement. The University’s Head of Estates stated in 2013
Sadly, the deterioration and destruction continues and in January 2023, due to some corrosion and safety concerns the University removed and rapidly disposed of the massive heat sink (brise soleil) which was a superb and crucial design feature on the front of this monumental building.
National Glass Centre photography by Gill Helps
In addition, in 2013 the NGC received £2.5m for an internal refit. This grant aided alteration allowed the University to move their glass and ceramics course into the NGC, also Sunderland Council moved the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art into the building. Two property moves that achieved substantial ongoing financial gains for the University and in particular Sunderland Council.
Opened on the 23rd of October 1998 by Prince Charles, now our King, this iconic building encompasses a vast array of crucial delights: substantial visitor experiences and facilities; brilliant collections and exhibition spaces; the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art; workspaces for the academic courses, the tenanted artists’ studios; and the specialist facilities for the creation of ceramic and glass artwork – all housed within the building. Plus, there are numerous creative and constructive magical children’s workshops, some where children see their designs being cast in molten glass.
Also this extensive and marvelous property used to occasionally be used for weddings, and could actually accommodate many special events if properly managed and promoted.
National Glass Centre photography by Jo Howell
We cannot afford to let this delightful institution go, not just for the enjoyment of locals and many visitors, or even for its national and international status promoting glass and the Arts… but for the cultural heritage of our future generations.
Amid this tangled tale let us not forget that Sunderland is the birthplace of stained glass in the UK; The National Glass Centre can have a viable future and should be allowed to continue the tradition of glass making that was first started here in 674AD.
Please come and visit this unique wonderful place and see why it must be saved.
We strongly urge the University of Sunderland to reconsider their plans, and for local and national politicians to become actively involved. And you can help by supporting the campaign:
William Pile’s Shipyard, North Sands, Sunderland c.1830, oil on canvas Photo courtesy of Tyne and Wear Museum Archives
In 1988 the last shipyard closed on the River Wear. We had been ship builders since as far back as 1346, when Thomas Menvil created a shipyard at Hendon docks. Some would argue that we were boat building for far longer than that. Proved adequately by a well-preserved Neolithic canoe being pulled out of the anaerobic sediments of the river Wear, near Hylton. This canoe was hewn out of a single log and is now housed at Sunderland museum.
The river and the proximity to the sea is the common thread that runs through all of us Mackems way back into pre-history.
Blind children touching the canoe in 1888 courtesy of Tyne and Wear Museums Archive
Ship building on the Wear was inextricably linked to the boom of coal mining. Back in the 1700’s, large shipments of coal were needed regularly and speedily by the South. The Wear and the Tyne were geared up to take the coal from the North to the need. This was via the olden days super highway – the sea.
And the production of glass was tied in with these two industries in turn. Coal was needed everywhere and they needed ships to ship it. Empty ships came back ballasted with good quality sand. A by-product of sending the coal south.
We used sand mixed with soda and lime to create batch glass. Then we heated it together using the coal.
A holistic system. Not separate from normal life, but integral to it.
These industries were historically our region’s trifecta of success and power. We created a whole host of new rich people to give the aristocracy a great run for their money.
All of these industrial professions required practiced skills and knowledge. With the skills and the knowledge we can understand ourselves better and be proud of everything we achieved.
Sunderland museum miner’s strike collection from Tyne and Wear archives. Photographed and composed by Jo Howell
Furthermore, in 1984 and 1985 there was the miners strike. Massive protests against Maggie Thatchers pit closures. People were left to starve and many on picket lines were attacked by mounted police. The miners received support from across the world including a huge charity concert by Bruce Springsteen held in Newcastle!
Poverty and destitution was inevitable as all of our major industries were wound down until they were gone. This took place from 1984 to 1993 when Monkwearmouth pit finally closed and mining was completely ended in the area.
These social upheavals had wide ranging and long term knock-on effects. Next came the high youth unemployment. With high unemployment comes the other social problems of drug use, homelessness, addictions and a low quality of life.
Jobless and poor with no prospects. These times of Dickensian poverty as we marched into the new millennium have left scars upon the people that will take generations to heal.
Sunderland museum miner’s strike collection from Tyne and Wear archives.
The dirt is visceral. But they’re all just kids trying to enjoy life by playing in abandoned buildings and back lanes. They had nothing, and their parents had nothing because over the course of the worst decades the North East had ever seen – every industry that gave us pride, community, and wealth, were all closed with no alternatives offered in place.
Pyrex 100 film by Lonely Tower films produced as part of the Pyrex 100 celebration at Sunderland Museum.
In the 90’s another looming loss to the community was playing out in slow motion. There were intense pressures on the City’s glass manufacturers from mass produced glass coming in from China. Flooding the English market with cheap glass. Pyrex was struggling to compete with rising energy prices on top of the product competition. Slowly but surely the demise of industrial glass was on its way.
In 2007, Pyrex finally completely closed its Sunderland plant and moved all operations to France.
Final publication of the in-house magazine of Pyrex, Sunderland curtesy of Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens
All hope was seemingly lost but in 1992 to 1993 tentative hopeful whispers began in the meeting rooms of Sunderland. We had just been awarded City status.
No longer the depressed town of Sunderland. It helped us to secure more help and funding from government. We were one of the first of the 90’s new city’s without a cathedral.
Sunderland University has always placed itself at the centre of our cultural innovation as both a town and a city. In 1992 with the new City status our local polytechnic became a university.
Sunderland University puts its history here as far back as 1901. The University’s modern roots lie in the Sunderland Technical College, which opened at the Galen Building in Green Terrace in 1901.
Pyrex 100 celebrations at Sunderland museum 2022 photography by Jo Howell
The old shipyards had been demolished.
Our very polluted river began to slowly heal from the centuries of industrial use. There was a lot of work to be done.
Work to the landscape and to the people. After all of that poverty, loss and struggle those up on high decided to throw the City a bone.
The new University, Sunderland city council, the arts council, the V and A, local glass businesses, and the Tyne and Wear development corporation began to imagine a new era.
A striking new monument to glass blowing and shipbuilding. The National Glass Centre. Opened by (then) prince Charles in 1998. With aspirational ambitions to safeguard the skills. Too show the people what we can do and to secure a legacy fit to fill the boots of all that was before.
Sunderland was not entering the new millennium with nothing but starving kids.
We were going to take a piece of polluted brownfield land and we were going to turn it into a shiny new beacon of hope.
Celebrating our long history with glass in St. Peter’s ward in Roker and honouring the titans of industry. Protecting the skills and giving new life to destroyed land. We were awarded a ship shaped building with wizards housed inside who crafted molten glass.
The National glass centre. Pure magic.
Hailed as an architecturalgem by RIBA master architect Piers Gough. It was glorious. And it went a long way in changing the hearts and minds of disenfranchised mackems across the city.
No longer would we toil in mines, and shipyards. No longer would the youth be feckless and unemployed. Here was the age of the artists and artisans.
Photography by Mike Blenkinsop courtesy of TWAM archives
Before the rhetoric of ‘levelling up’ and the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ there was a genuine investment into arts and culture.
Back in 1999 a certain young 14 year old attended to watch the wizards shape molten glass into objects. I went from only hearing about mining and ship building to having my eyes opened to the immense possibilities of the arts.
National heritage secretary Virginia Bottomley yesterday visited the north east and announced that the national lottery has already made 115 awards, totalling £29.7m, to the region – and that was just the beginning.
The national lottery was an engine for regeneration and job creation, she added.
Speaking at the launch of the Media Programme of Visual Arts UK in Newcastle, Mrs Bottomley said that the national lottery was this year’s great British success story:
‘The arts, sport and heritage now have access to more money than ever before. The national lottery is an entirely new element in the funding picture which, after only one year, is already transforming our national heritage. And it is also a boost for jobs making a real contribution to local economies through job creation and regeneration.
‘Here in the north east a wide range of projects, large and small, have benefitted. High profile awards include the £6m to the National Glass Centre and the £5.7m to Newcastle’s Smiths Park. Awards have an enormous and beneficial effect on their local economies. They bring jobs to the areas and improve the quality of life of local people in the longer term. There have been dozens of small-scale projects which have also received awards.’
In the maelstrom of millennium projects and joyous investments in to education a new generation of Mackem’s emerged. Mackems who were innovative, culturally rich and hungry for more.
As I trawl through the TWAM archive photographs I took in June I will add more to this written series. If you think I am missing out any important points, let me know!
Until next time, get yourself down to the National Glass Centre. Have a brew. Take in some amazing art. Enjoy watching wizards in the hot glass demonstrations. Take a class.
The fantastic support from the Liberal Democrat councillors, and the Conservative Councillors in the Sunderland area has been something to be proud of.
Councillor Wood presented the petition to the council for consideration and informed them of our public meeting. This brought many opposing political parties together, once more demonstrating the intrinsic value of having such a fantastic public building dedicated to glass making.
The petition will be discussed as a point in the next meeting. The public are encouraged to submit a question to the council for their next meeting.
You can watch the full meeting on the council’s YouTube in the live stream section:
Keep questioning, keep visiting the National Glass Centre, and keep harping on to anyone who will listen about why saving the National Glass centre is so important to us all.
Save the National Glass Centre campaign opinion article 14/08/23
By Melanie Shee, FRSA, a lover of glass and glass blowing, (who had a cat called Hartley)
Colin Rennie teaching in the National Glass Centre by Emily Kitching
Along the banks of the River Wear, the teaching of skills has been taking place for centuries. From the shipwrights passing on their skills to apprentices in the shipyards, to the glaziers producing the first stained glass in the UK for Bishopwearmouth Monastery.
Through the ages to the present day, Sunderland has always been a centre of learning. A place where University professors teach an array of subjects to eager students; and of course, the skilled expert glass makers and glass blowers located at The National Glass Centre who are passing on these highly specialist skills locally, nationally and internationally.
In fact in 2008, whilst working at an art college in the region, a Tees Valley glass company contacted me regarding the need to up-skill some of their workforce and in turn increase productivity.
Glass blowing at the National Glass Centre by Emily Kitching
I turned to the skilled expert staff at the National Glass Centre to undertake bespoke training for staff working at the art college. And, they then went to to train the workforce at the glass company. This project was heralded as an example of best practice between colleges and employers by the CBI in their publication Reaching further – Workforce development through employer-FE college partnership, January 2009.
In the UK, stained glass window making is now on the most recent list of craft skills at risk by Heritage Crafts, and it is included on the Red List of Endangered Crafts.
Shining a light on craft skills on the verge of extinction in the UK.
Glass making is a highly specialised skill. This is why it’s so important to inspire people, and to throw a light on the depletion of these skills.
Student learning to blow Glass at the National Glass Centre by Emily Kitching
In 2018, Jade Tapeson was selected to showcase these her glass work in a national careers programme focusing on the creative industries.
Jade was awarded Second Prize in the CGS New Graduate Review 2016, and featured in the British Glass Biennale 2017 where she was awarded the Glass Sellers’ Student Prize. As a freelance glass artist based at the National Glass Centre, both Jade and the National Glass Centre were featured on the Department for Education England Creative Careers Programme https://discovercreative.careers/video-programme/crafts-fashion-textiles/national-glass-centre/.
Student learning to blow Glass at the National Glass Centre by Emily Kitching
In addition, the the National Glass Centre hosted a group of art and design students from the local college. This was to highlight glass making during a week-long National Creative Careers Programme.
So, wouldn’t you therefore think that the University of Sunderland, itself a teaching institution, whose very business is the business of learning and passing on skills would want to preserve the centre?
They are the owners of the National Glass Centre, the only one in UK with specialist kit and highly expert skilled staff. Wouldn’t you think that Sunderland University would be eager to support the development, and safeguard glass making in UK?
Surely, it is better to ensure that it’s removed from the red list of endangered craft? And, thus contributing to securing our heritage?
Student learning pottery at the National Glass Centre by Emily Kitching
Open to the continuation of teaching those at risk, highly specialist skills? In a rather wonderful iconic 29th century building rather than just accepting it’s demise, to become history alongside the shipyards on which the National Glass Centre currently stands.
Melanie Shee, FRSA, a lover of glass and glass blowing (who had a cat called Hartley)
What do you think?
We accept submissions of writing, photography, art and video about the National Glass Centre.
Exhibition photograph inside the National Glass Centre by Gill Helps
I’d just like to say the NGC and St. Peter’s Church belong close to eachother, as the first piece of stained glass in Britain – a skill learned from artisans from Gaul – was installed in St. Peter’s Church. I can’t imagine the NGC being anywhere else, because of these strong historical links with St. Peter’s. Nothing else makes sense.
Also, if it was relocated, where would the NGC be relocated to? What site has the space for glass blowing, studios, exhibition, meeting and learning spaces, shop and large café/restaurant? Would it cost more than refurbishing the NGC, and would people be less likely to visit if it was on a different site?
Exhibition photograph inside the National Glass Centre by Gill Helps
Over the years the NGC has been well loved by many. My own family have enjoyed making happy memories such as Mother’s Day lunches, half term pancake events for children, glass blowing, and of course, walking over the glass roof, to mention a few. I often walk along the riverside sculpture trail and as a keen amateur photographer, I have taken many photos of the NGC. I sometimes stop for a cuppa and meet friends there. The NGC is amazing, something for Sunderland to be proud of.
I am passionate about keeping the NGC in its current location and pray that somehow the money can be found to save it.
Gill Helps
Save The National Glass Centre by Gill HelpsSave The National Glass Centre by Gill HelpsSave The National Glass Centre by Gill HelpsSave The National Glass Centre by Gill HelpsSave The National Glass Centre by Gill HelpsSave The National Glass Centre by Gill Helps
Do you have a story about why we should save the National Glass Centre? Are you a glass artist? Architect? Teacher?
We want to hear from you!
Contact SaveTheNGC@gmail.com with your submissions.
Retired planning inspector, and staunch supporter of #SaveTheNGC
Welcome, by David Vickery
I decided to revisit the National Glass Centre for the first time since the University’s announcement that it is to be closed. Well, reader, I was blown away!
The first thing to say is – admission is free. A bargain these days.
I entered from the car park and suddenly emerged at first floor level looking directly down onto the shop and cafe, and out towards the River Wear. The inside is vast and airy with breathtaking views through double storey high glass windows which are supported by steel girders. The panorama includes the harbour on one side and the city centre on the other. The place was quietly humming with people and purpose.
Whilst I was there, a party of awed primary school kids were being shown around, their crocodile file politely giving way to other visitors. The cafe and shop were busy and clearly well used. The glass demonstrations, especially the glass blowing, were brilliant. Students and researchers were in the learning areas and research library. And the exhibitions were interesting, beautiful and informative. What more could anyone want?
View across the shop looking towards the sea, by David Vickery
I was entranced and amazed.
And, judging by the many positive reviews on Tripadvisor, so too were many other visitors: “an extraordinary building … wonderfully light & airy”; “the glass demonstrations are always brilliant…the location on the side of the river is beautiful”; “wow what a place…” One comment that I especially liked: “Fell in love with a reptile skeleton made of glass.”
This is unlike any other visitor centre or exhibition space that I have ever visited. I had forgotten how unique and exciting it all feels. There is so much to do and to see. The huge glass building looking out onto the river, sea and Sunderland; the stunning exhibitions, including the Northern Contemporary Art Gallery and Studio Glass; the spacious cafe by the riverside; the glass demonstrations; the shop selling all sorts of local craft and gift products (NGC glass vases £40); the Research Library and more.
Glass blowing, by David Vickery
The two keys to the Centre’s popularity are its amazing harbourside location and that everything to do with glass making is all under one roof. Which is why the Centre is visited so much – 230,000 people a year. There is so much to do and see that visitors can spend a whole morning or afternoon there, if they want, and come back again. Some visitors have been 4 or 5 times.
I reflected that the University’s plan to dot just a few of the present facilities around Sunderland – with no glass blowing – was therefore almost certainly doomed to failure. Just another glass exhibition space on its own would attract few people, and small, isolated cast-offs from the Centre would very soon close for lack of support. Hardly the way to attract the “new audience” that the University proclaims is its intent. I’d rather keep the “status quo”, thank you.
I stocked up in the shop with gifts celebrating the Centre – tote bag, mug, tea towel, key ring, and some postcards. I was told that they are selling fast now that the closure announcement has been made, so I got as much as I could to remember the Centre by in future. Just in case, you understand.
Iconic, by David Vickery
Fellow visitors muttered over coffee about the proposed closure. One local said, “I can’t believe that it would cost £45m just to repair the roof. That’s more than Sunderland’s new City Hall cost.”
Looking towards the city centre across the top of the cafe, by David Vickery
I looked it up afterwards on Wikipedia, and they were right. City Hall, completed in November 2021, cost £42m which is £3m less. And for that £42m Sunderland got two large glass and steel office blocks, one of five-storeys and the other of six-storeys (190,000 square feet), connected by a glass atrium. How can it cost £45m just to repair a roof?
Even the University’s lowest estimate, which is hardly reported, of £14m for the roof repair is over-inflated. Even so, the University is sticking officially with its highest £45m estimate, hyped up with as many optional extras as it can find, such as solar panels. I can see why it has done this – it’s called shock and awe.
I wandered outside onto the wide, paved public footpath that runs in both directions along the river’s edge. People were sitting on the benches admiring the view and cyclists were whizzing past in the bright sunshine. Idyllic.
Evidence of neglect, by David Vickery
Looking up, I could see evidence of the dreaded corrosion problem which is the cause of the proposed closure. It looked bad, with large areas of rust underneath the girders and chipped support pillars. It must have taken years, I thought, for the large rust spots to have gotten into this terrible state. What, I wondered, was the University doing allowing the building to degenerate so badly over all those years?
I went back into the building to finish my visit, and was confronted by a bold sign saying that the University is the “proud” owner of the National Glass Centre. You could have fooled me.
Signage, photographed by David Vickery
By David Vickery, retired planning inspector and staunch supporter of #SaveTheNGC
We are so close to 5000 signatures! I’d love to hit 5,000 for when I eventually sort out meeting wor Julie (Elliot). I also need you all to put pen to paper and write to or email wor Julie stressing how wrong she is about the will of the people.
Let her know that we love our heritage and all of the wonderful opportunities that the National Glass Centre brings with it! Julie Elliott
Send your post, emails, tweets and calls to wor Julie. Information below:
Telephone 0191 5655327
Email julie.elliott.mp@parliament.uk
Post
Julie Elliott Member of Parliament for Sunderland Central Suite 204 The Place Athenaeum Street Sunderland SR1 1QX
Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023
As the campaign reaches further and further afield, people from all over the world have offered their support.
Photo by Michael Janis 2012
The national glass centre in Sunderland has a global reach. The world of glass artists and artisans is fairly small and well connected. Many have reached out to tell us of their dismay at the peril the National Glass centre’s news of closure and relocation.
There is a lot of unrest and concern surrounding the loss of heritage craft. International researchers who the NGC and the university draw into the city, will no longer have any reason to come here.
Why is this important?
Back in 2011 Creative Cohesion headed a glass exchange program with Washington DC Glass, our sister City. The link between Washington DC and Washington in the North East goes back to the president, George Washington, for whom both were named. In conjunction with creative cohesion and the National Glass Centre lots of local artists benefited from the exchange, and we have kept lasting friendships with our Washington DC colleagues.
Without those organisations, and the magnetic draw of the national glass centre for research, we wouldn’t have had any of the opportunities that we have enjoyed since that program. International trade, introduction to the American market, skills shares, exhibitions, conferences and so much more.
Photo by Michael Janis 2012
Please read Michael Janis’ blog from the time. It has recently passed 11 years since their visit, and it still resonates with everyone who was privileged enough to be involved.
Besides working with the University students and faculty, we also were able to create informal workshops on how technology and social media is changing the art world. These talks were extremely popular – with the standing room only audiences that came from the student body of the University as well as working artists from Sunderland, Newcastle, and as far away as Edinburgh, Scotland. The audience stayed long after the talk, and topics from the discussions continued to come up during our entire Fulbright program stay (and indeed, afterwards via the internet) showing the strong relevance of the concepts.
Since our mission, we were invited to show as artists at galleries in London and at the Sunderland Museum, and we had the Sunderland artists featured in an international exhibit held in Washington, DC the following year.
While our mission as Fulbright Scholars was to impart information, we left having learned many lessons.
Michael Janis, Fulbright Scholarship
Photo by Michael Janis 2012
These artist exchange programs and research fellowships are the life blood of creativity in Sunderland. They are one of the few things that has global reach and appeal. Without this amazing national institution and it’s powerful ethos of exchange and support, how can somewhere like Sunderland truly level up?
We don’t pick and choose our heritage or our culture. It grows as a natural response to our history and how we view our future. Up until last year the National Glass Centre was still being billed as the gem in Sunderland’s crown. There have been many recent project’s highlighting our glass heritage People’s Pyrex, art deco Joblings glass, Love Pyrex. To name just a few.
Michael Janis 2012
Glass is still very much at the heart of Sunderland. We need to work together to make it known that the National glass centre, and all it embodies, is cherished and respected the world over.
To deny public consultation on such important local issues is culturally insensitive at best, and woefully ignorant of the community’s they serve at worse.
Do you have a story about the National Glass centre? We are actively looking for articles to publish on the blog to keep up the momentum we have built so far.
Thank you for reading! Sign our petition. Share far and wide!
A brief history of the National Glass Centre Building
by David Vickery, retired senior planning inspector
The National Glass Centre (NGC) celebrates its 25th anniversary this coming October under threat of closure and likely demolition. It was opened by HRH Prince (now King) Charles in October 1998.
This amazing building lies on the north bank of the River Wear on the former site of the J.L. Thompson and Sons shipyard, facing the mouth of the River Wear and Sunderland’s port. It is close to the site of St. Peter’s Church, built in 674, where Abbott Benedict Biscop instructed French craftsman to glaze its windows, starting Sunderland’s long connection with glass making.
Instax haiku about St Peter’s Church, photo by Jo Howell 2019
In 1994 the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation held an open competition for the design of the NGC, with the objectives of celebrating the heritage of glass making in Sunderland and to support the development of new glass production for the 21st century. This competition, with over 80 entrants, was won by the London architectural practice GolliferAssociates Architects (now Gollifer Langston Architects). Their proposal aimed to make the activities and production going on inside the building visible to visitors.
Front cover of Pyrex magazine, courtesy of Tyne and Wear archive, scanned by Jo Howell
The NGC was the recipient of the first major Arts Lottery Award in the North East. It was also funded by the Arts Council, the University of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Development Corporation, the European Regional Development Fund and Sunderland City Council.
The building was one of the first in Sunderland to mark the beginning of the city’s regeneration, breathing new life into the depressed docklands area.
The complex design incorporates all the various uses into a glass envelope, supported by an exposed steel shell. The industrial finish looked striking and unusual when it opened in 1998, and it still does so today.
The NGC almost looks as if it is leaning towards the water, like a ship being launched. This is because the architects wanted the building to resemble a sea-bound vessel.
The building is built into the slope as the land runs down towards the river, with the public areas located to the south looking onto the riverside. The “back of house” areas are located to the north of the building, built into the slope.
Along the riverside the building has a long length of tall steel and glass walls, with an overhanging glass roof, exposed steelwork and external stairs.This modern, bold design means the NGC is instantly recognisable from the riverside public footpath and from the opposite river bank.
Inside, the high glazed walls and roof, mezzanine, open stairs, exposed steel work and ducts, and a concrete lift shaft give the visiting public a uniquely open, futuristic, brightly lit experience with views through the glazing to the river beyond.
The building looks fantastic when it is lit up at night, with light streaming out through the huge glass walls and roof.
The building was awarded Millennium Product status by the Design Council in recognition of its creativity and innovative environmental approach. It was one of the first buildings in the UK to use an earth tube to bring pre-cooled air into the public areas while the excess heat from the factory was recovered to heat public areas in the winter months.
Detail of Phil Vickery blown glass made in the National Glass Centre hot shop, photo by Jo Howell
It cost £7.2m to build in 1998, and was “revamped” by the University in 2013 at a cost of £2.25m with a new gallery, restaurant, remodelled glass studio and shop.
It is open to the public, and around 230,000 people visit it each year, making it a major cultural venue and visitor attraction in the north-east. So go and see it while you can…
After the stinging news that the National Glass Centre (NGC) is under threat of closure, many people have come forward to share their memories and concerns for the future of glass in the City of Sunderland. Here are my thoughts.
In 2012, I arrived at the NGC to do a Foundation Degree in Art and Design. I made friends and lots of good memories. I went on to do a B.A. (Hons) Illustration and Design, then an M.A. Design (Illustration) on the University of Sunderland’s City Campus. In fact, I returned to the NGC to work with the technicians on some glass sculptures for my final exhibition. In January 2018, I founded Regeneration NE Community Interest Company with my long-term friend, who himself studied Ceramics at the NGC.
In 2019, The Art Studio, a mental health charity in Hendon, closed down due to lack of funding. Having volunteered and worked as a tutor there, regular service-users, who were living with serious mental illness looked to me and Regeneration NE for help. It was the NGC where we would meet up, have a coffee and perhaps do some sketches overlooking the river.
Above: The glass sculpture, Regeneration 2017, created by Gary Nicholson at the NGC.
Among the meeting rooms in the NGC, I attended Artworks-U Networking and Support meetings which gathered local artists to discuss projects, problems, new ideas and potential collaborations. It was a safe place for new graduates like me to watch and learn from more experienced creatives who travelled from across the region to be there. Kids and families often head over to the building to see the exhibitions and amazing glass-blowing demonstrations as an educational and cheap day out. Local artists can also hire the facilities to create and run their businesses. You can even buy affordable and unique glass pieces created by the artists on site.
The NGC is a landmark and a place of education, history, heritage, community and culture. It links modern Creative Industries with the City’s proud industrial past. It has impacted the local economy by attracting students who want to study Glass and Ceramics. In the past 10 years, other universities have dropped Art, Glass and Ceramics courses from their prospectus, (e.g. Falmouth, Kent, Roehampton, Wolverhampton), which makes the dedicated centre for the tuition of Glass and Ceramics all-the-more precious at a national level.
It’s true, sentimentality won’t pay the NGC bills. However, the same Sunderland people had the self-belief, business and creative expertise to be shortlisted for City of Culture 2021. Regeneration NE urges them to now work on saving the NGC. It will be a logistical and safety nightmare to squeeze everything into shared spaces in the City Centre. It would be just plain wrong to let it slip away without a fight.
We need your memories! Would you like to know how to help our campaign? Well, we would love to publish your articles on our blog! Let us know how the National Glass Centre has helped or influenced you.
If you want to remain anonymous, that’s ok as well. The campaign is about saving these much loved national organisations, so keep it clean, concise, and cheerful.
Phil Vickery Glass in 2012 working with Roger Tye in the National Glass Centre, Sunderland
The University of Sunderland is running a slick public relations campaign to rid itself of the prestigious National Glass Centre (NGC) at little cost. It may even make a good profit. It no longer wishes to have a large public exhibition space, café, shop, expensive glass furnaces and multi-purpose teaching facilities which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. The University considers that the NGC no longerforms part of its key academic objectives.
The University’s strategic aims, as set out in its Annual Report and £250m Investment Plan(January & February 2023), is to concentrate on technology and health. It’s the white hot heat of technology and not the heat of outdated glass furnaces that it desires. And the University wants to ramp up its politically sexy Canary Wharf London campus, close to Government and the country’s financial centres. Perhaps it should now be called the University of London and Sunderland?
To justify its closure proposal, the University commissioned in early 2022 architectural, structural and cost reports (published in March 2023) which artificially inflated the cost of bringing the NGC up to modern standards. Instead of the report’s lower £14m estimate, the University has chosen to go with a much higher £45m estimate, partly by including the replacement cost of 25 year old mechanical and electrical plant which has already been written off over 5 years of depreciation.
Studio glass detail shot from NGC 2021
Having inflated the cost, and before publicly announcing the imminent closure of the NGC in early January 2023, the University convinced Sunderland’s local MP, Julie Elliott, Sunderland Culture, and Sunderland City Council that the NGC’s retention was not economically feasible. And, no doubt, that keeping it could prejudice future University investment in its St Peter’s campus and elsewhere in the city. All have, in consequence, accepted the NGC’s closure in principle.
The University have made a small gesture by saying it might be possible to retain some glass “academic work” and exhibition display space elsewhere in central Sunderland (no glass furnaces). But at the same time it hedged the retention possibility by saying this would only happen “as far as it is practically possible and viable”. No-one knows where a reduced NGC could go. The proposed Culture House has been mentioned as a possibility, but it is relatively small and already has much of its recently reduced floor area pre-allocated for a library, café, local history collection and other cultural uses. It is unlikely glass teaching and exhibition space, let alone furnaces, could be fitted into the building on a sufficient scale to justify calling it a“National” glass centre.
Dotting the NGC’s present functions around the city would destroy its attractiveness as an institution and visitor attraction. The joy and unique selling point now of the NGC is that you can visit everything in one place – see an exhibition, watch glass being blown, have a meal or drink, and take a course.
What no-one has so far mentioned is what the University will do with the vacated NGC site, which is in a much sought after riverside position, just right for luxury residential development. And the University has not said whether any of the funds from the disposal or redevelopment of the NGC site will be returned to Sunderland people.
Detail shot of studio glass made in NGC 2021
A number of important questions remain to be answered:
– Why has the University artificially inflated the cost of retaining the existing iconic and nationally regarded NGC building?
– How much money is the University prepared to “gift” towards the alternative NGC provision that is currently being sought?
– Why have the City’s representatives so quickly accepted the NGC’s closure withoutclosely examining the University’s cost figures and without having any confirmed alternative provision?
– What happens to the NGC site?
And, lastly, the most important question:
– Will Sunderland’s representatives agree to the plan by a financially driven University, keen on increasing its liquidity level and being net cash positive, to close down and divest itself of a cultural, artistic and architectural jewel which provides work, education and pleasure for many thousands of people, both locally and nationally?
At best, at the end of all this, what will be left will be just a small and inconsequential glass exhibition and teaching space, possibly scattered throughout the city. It would be a forlorn shadow of its present greatness.
At worst, an alternative site(s) for the NGC will not be found.
Whatever the result, the University will congratulate itself on having successfully removed an unwanted liability from its books whilst at the same time making a financial killingto add to its existing £51.5m cash reserves.
This is not the way for a renowned and rich“anchor” institution to treat Sunderland’s people, or its artistic community, or its proud history and heritage.
As the uk government pulls apart our right to protest, this merry band of believers begins in earnest to try to save our riverside arts venues: the National Glass Centre, and the National Gallery of Contemporary Art.
Sunderland has a great history of successful protest. Apparently, we were the home of the first strike. We also have a great history of art. The university building in back house park is the oldest purpose built art school. We are a city of innovators, engineers, artists, and grafters.
We are often misrepresented in the press with negative views like it’s grim up north. We are a city targeted by right wing propagandists, and the military always comes here to recruit.
Photo by Hester Dowling 05/03/23
We are a City that is trying to change its fortunes. There has been a lot of investment driven to the riverside with our new City Hall, and a big film studio about to to be developed. There are good things happening here that make us hopeful for a richer future full of opportunity. Unfortunately, it seems we can’t find the motivation to invest in the cultural successes we already have.
We see the National Glass Centre and the National Gallery of Contemporary Art as two of our most important cultural assets. We have other great things going on but I think if we let them go that they will be replaced with a subpar offering.
Should the next 3 years see the end of our longer than 1300 year love affair with glass blowing and making? If cared for and invested in, these organisations would surely compliment the new investments?
Glass art is often used in filmmaking. If there’s a period drama or fantasy (think Game of Thrones) they need glasses to drink from. An artisan blower is who they go to. Or, what about science fiction? There is always some unusual glass art in sci fi. Our film studios would have the additional bonus of having high end prop makers right next to them!
It’s a lot of money and responsibility entailed in saving, and future proofing, this building. But, it can be done. If we commit wholeheartedly, and do it right, a massive investment now could save it for another 25 year’s minimum. Bare minimum.
Linishing glass, by Jo Howell 2022
The steel structure need’s stripping and re-galvanised to stop it rusting further. Can the port help? They may have specialist knowledge about saving steel from the corrosive effects of sea water.
The building is thermally inefficient, and will not be able to contend with the energy crisis unless another round of investment includes some very clever green technologies. Photovoltaic panels, wind power, heat exchange, battery storage, and any other innovations that take us towards real efficiency.
We’re aware that we are asking a lot, but shy bairns get nowt.
A community campaign to gain access to the current plans for the continuation or closure of the National Glass Centre building
What do we want from this campaign?
Ideally, we want to find a way to save the building as it is. To do that we need to know what it needs. That way, we can try to formulate a plan of action for both organisations to be saved, and for the building to be improved. This could be an opportunity to radically address the problems, including the extreme energy consumption, to make both of our national organisations leaders in the cultural sector.
Information about long terms plans, time lines, and the recent consultation report about the building, has not been released.
< Edit this has been released but we want more clarity. See the consultation on our links page.
Naturally, this has left local businesses and creatives wondering about the future of these two National organisations.
We seek to gain information, and an audience with the custodians of the building, Sunderland University; with an intention of saving the skill of glass blowing in St Peter’s ward.
Email, logo and hashtag
How can you help?
You can join our mailing list, and give us a testimonial that we can use to demonstrate public love for the NGC and NGCA.
We are going to need active participation in lots of different ways. We are going to need organisers, event coordinators, social media content and management, councillors, MPs, governors, and cultural organisations to support us.
#SaveTheNGC
Link to article below:
The closing of Sunderland’s National Glass Centre
We need all the help that any of you can offer. #SaveTheNationalGlassCentre #SaveTheNGC
Save the National Glass Centre 