The Building
National Glass Centre Capital Development
As part of the University of Sunderland’s ‘Two Campus Strategy’, the National Glass Centre will see major changes and physical improvements to the building in 2012 and 2013. Visit Re-shaping the National Glass Centre to learn more.
The Building
The National Glass Centre was built as a result of a competition, initiated by the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation, and funded by the ERDF and the Arts Council / National Lottery. It set out to design a building that would celebrate the heritage of glassmaking in Sunderland. It was the first major Lottery award in the North East and it was the first Lottery-funded building to be constructed.
Gollifer Langston Architects won the commission over eighty architectural practices that entered the competition. Gollifer and Langston proposed to make the activities and production going on inside the building, visible to visitors and combine the different elements of the centre under one roof, which in itself was intended to be a public space incorporating glass.
The National Glass Centre was officially opened by HRH Prince Charles in October 1998.
