Bold overhaul for Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens moves forward with new exhibitions and creative spaces

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has submitted an application to its own planning department seeking permission for changes to the Grade II-listed cultural institution.

Following the closure of the city library’s Fawcett Street site in 2016 due to budget cuts, the library subsequently moved into the Museum and Winter Gardens and has remained there since.

However, the towering Culture House development at Keel Square is set to house city library services when it opens in autumn, 2025, and the move would leave free space within the city’s historic museum.

Earlier this year (2025), major plans were revealed at a council scrutiny committee to “transform and rejuvenate the museum” with planned improvements to the electrical and mechanical systems and gallery spaces, as well as turning the main entrance of the museum into Mowbray Park, with the plans linked to a major external funding bid.

The planning application linked to this work has now been submitted to council officials, and members of the public can view plans and leave comments via the council’s planning portal website.

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Plans are largely the same as previously announced, including an “internal reconfiguration and refurbishment of ground floor areas”, along with “general refurbishment of other areas of the building” and the “creation of new galleries and exhibition spaces; new visitor and staff facilities [and] repair and improvements to building services”.

In addition, a “new visitor entrance and associated public realm improvements” are planned, as well as the “renewal and insulation of flat roof areas, including new safe access; repairs to the windows and other fabric repairs.”

Details of the proposed works are set out in a design and access statement and heritage impact assessment submitted with the plans.

Those behind the scheme said the “museum last received a refresh more than 20 years ago [and] the exhibitions are now tired, and facilities are well below visitor expectations”.

It was argued that refurbishment was needed “to maintain current audiences, attract new visitors and for the museum in the longer term to be commercially independent”.

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The design and access statement adds: “The redevelopment project will include significant investment of the ground floor of the museum, including the relocation of the current visitor entrance to the south, and will address long-standing M&E [mechanical and electrical services] issues throughout.

“Relocating the entrance allows the museum to repurpose the existing shop/entrance as a new learning hub named the ‘Growing Space’ based on a natural environmental and green issues, which will read across the entire museum as a design ethos.”

Project bosses described the works included in the planning application as “a series of development projects to repair and improve the building”.

It was also noted that “fabric repairs and conservation work to the 19th Century building” are already under way, and that energy efficiency and decarbonisation improvements are subject to a separate application.

The design and access statement for new plans at Sunderland’s Museum and Winter Gardens outlines specific details on plans for the building’s spaces.

Plans for the ground floor aim to “enhance the building experience for visitors and staff by simplifying spaces and circulation routes” and to “create better connectivity between the ground floor areas, external terrace, and Mowbray Park”.

Ground floor plans include an exhibition space adjacent to the new entrance lobby, along with a relocated reception desk and museum shop linked to this entrance, new toilets to serve the nearby Learning Space and Growing Space and new gallery fit outs.

This includes “Window on Wearside”, which would feature “vibrant displays of star objects and new favourites, tactiles, interactives and AVs to enjoy Sunderland’s story of sports, music, events and more”, planning documents state.

The soon-to-be-vacated library space would become “Sunderland Story” under the redevelopment plans, allowing visitors to “connect with the river and land to explore the innovative and industrious history of Sunderland from its very beginning” through “mass displays of early archaeology, ship models and mining lanterns, interactive games and stories”.

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The new Growing Space exhibition also aims to serve as a “focal point for communities to discover how to live sustainably” and “a space for collaboration, participation, and working together” and would feature a huge “central island tree sculpture” overhanging circular modular tables and chairs.

The exhibition space would be based in the glazed area facing Burdon Road which currently houses the museum shop and would be a “programmable, multi-audience space to learn about the environment, growing, sustainability and how we can minimise our impact on the environment”.

In addition, the space would “enable fun and messy play [and] provision for live plants, with practical floors, sinks, natural lighting, blinds and shading”.

Plans for the proposed first and second floors are described as “more limited” but include improvements to “address circulation issues around the existing passenger lift”, the creation of a new meeting space and the “renewal of floor, wall and ceiling finishes” where appropriate.

The third floor gallery is also expected to see a new gallery fit out to create ‘The Hold’, an open storage display where “visitors can step into the ‘stores’ and explore collections from a new perspective”.

City “pottery and glass collections will take their spotlight here”, planning documents state, with visitors able to “explore how Sunderland forged this incredible creative industry of makers”.

Plans would also see the relocation of tiled panels on the museum’s Mowbray Park elevation by the artist Walter Hudspith, described as “among the first examples of public art to be commissioned in Sunderland” and the elevation would be replaced with windows to “maximise the visual connection to Mowbray Park”.

The “indicative location” for the relocation of the tiled panels is“internally within the Museum Street circulation space”, with the exact location to be finalised.

In addition, the museum’s 20th Century Gallery would be updated to “reflect life in the 21st Century” with a “new series of displays capturing a true sense of Sunderland’s community today by inviting communities to co-create the displays.”

A decision on the redevelopment plans is expected later this year following a period of council consultation.

For more information on the plan, or to track its progress, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 25/01073/LP3