£5million planned revamp of Sunderland City Museum and Winter Gardens - including new Mowbray Park entrance - gets funding boost

Sunderland City Council is bidding to win around £5millon from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a major revamp of the popular venue.

Plans include moving the main entrance to the terrace to better connect the museum to Mowbray Park, transforming the ground floor with a new central atrium space, new galleries and more family friendly activities and exhibitions, and creating a new learning and engagement zone focusing on the museum’s collections, the natural world, biodiversity and climate change.

Applications for Heritage Fund grants of more than £250,000 are assessed in two rounds – and now the council has been granted £299,425 in round one development funding, allowing it to press ahead with drawing up detailed plans which will then be considered in the second round in 2024.

‘The Museum and Winter Gardens has an important role to play’

Councillor Linda Williams, Cabinet Member for Vibrant City, said the public had been closely involved in creating a new vision for the museum: “This is all about transforming, re-energising and rejuvenating Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens in line with what our residents and visitors have told us they want to see.

"We want to make sure that the whole museum is a modern, accessible, bright and innovative space that shows off our rich and vibrant stories to everyone near and far.

"We want to improve the Winter Gardens as a place to both learn and relax, using the natural surroundings to inspire and reconnect.

"And I'm really excited about the plans to create a stronger connection between the museum and Mowbray Park, opening up a whole new way for residents and visitors to experience both spaces.

"As we invest in Sunderland’s cultural assets and work hard to increase the contribution that culture and heritage can make to our communities and our city’s development the

Museum and Winter Gardens has an important role to play - enabling activity and learning, sharing stories that, and bringing communities from across the city and beyond together."

‘A much-loved part of our city’

Sunderland Culture chief executive Rebecca Ball said the first grant would ‘ensure the museum is able to continue to develop new and innovative ways to both safeguard and share the city’s stories for all our communities’.

“Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens is a much-loved part of our city and Sunderland Culture is extremely proud to work in partnership with Sunderland City Council on the delivery of the exhibition, learning and engagement programmes,” she said.

The council's plans were shaped by the 1,000 people who responded to a consultation earlier this year. As work progresses, there will be further opportunities for individuals and community groups to continue to help shape the new look and feel of the museum.

Funding sought from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and other sources will be match-funded by the City Council via its capital budget.