Revamp bid for Sunderland's Museum and Winter Gardens wins backing as part of green push

The Sunderland City Council application for the Grade II-listed site near Mowbray Park was given the go-ahead at the latest meeting of the local authority’s planning and highways committee.

It comes after earlier this year major plans were revealed to “transform and rejuvenate the museum” including proposed improvements to the electrical and mechanical systems and gallery spaces.

Council officers at the time confirmed “public sector decarbonisation funding” had been secured to support the council in “some decarbonisation work programmed in 2025.”

A new planning application for the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, submitted in February, subsequently sought permission to install 10 air source heat pumps and pipework on the roof, along with “associated thermal upgrades.”

Other proposed works included converting the existing café store into a “plant room” with a replacement fire door and housing air source heat pump controls within the existing staff kitchen with a “new partition and doors to segregate.”

It also included replacement light fittings and the installation of “wireless passive infrared sensors”.

The proposals were unanimously approved by the council’s planning and highways committee at its meeting on Tuesday (April 29).

Councillor Iain Scott welcomed how the application will provide “renewable sources of energy for the building” and noted he looks forward to seeing other similar applications come forward from the local authority.

He added: “It’s really going to go some way to meet the low carbon plans that we have for the city.”

Council planning officers had recommended the museum plan for approval and stated works will “reduce its carbon footprint and associated energy costs.”

They added the proposals were “sensitive and sympathetic interventions which will conserve, enhance and aid future conservation of the listed asset which, by extension, will enable continued optimum viable use.”

A design, access and heritage statement confirmed the council had been “awarded a grant through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme for Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.”

Applicants previously said the location of the air source heat pumps aims to “minimise the impact on key views of the listed museum from Mowbray Park and to ensure they are safe to access for maintenance.”

It was also noted the number of air source heat pumps had been “determined […] to provide the maximum decarbonisation to the heating system within the capacity of the existing electrical substation.”

Submitted planning documents state the energy efficiency and decarbonisation improvements to the building will take place during 2025 and that the scheme has been designed to be delivered as a “standalone project”.

Future plans for the “wider refurbishment and redevelopment of the building” will be subject to a separate planning application.