Sunderland’s new glassmaking hub edges closer despite challenge over campaigners’ concerns

Sunderland City Council’s ruling Labour cabinet in July made key decisions linked to emerging plans for the Glassworks Sunderland project in Sunniside.

They had agreed to procure and appoint consultants and contractors to deliver “design and enabling works” at the ex-Peter Smith Antiques building.

They also agreed to enter into a “partnership and delivery agreement with Sunderland Culture” linked to the project and associated works.

The approval meant the council was set to leverage a UK Shared Prosperity Grant of £2.405m from the North East Combined Authority to deliver a programme of essential repairs and enabling works to secure the integrity of the heritage property, built in 1882, in readiness for future fit-out.

The building has previously been announced as a replacement provision for the National Glass Centre, which is planned to close at the end of July, 2026, a date previously announced by the University of Sunderland.

However opposition Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors triggered a "call-in" request due to concerns around the cabinet decision.

This included worries that there was "not sufficient clarity over the project's aims and outcomes to feasibly build a glassmaking facility in the proposed location."

This put a temporary block on the plans and forced council bosses to go before the local authority's scrutiny co-ordinating committee (on Thursday, September 11).

The scrutiny panel, after hearing cases from both sides, could either note the decision taken by cabinet and take no further action, allowing it to go ahead, or refer it back to cabinet for reconsideration, setting out their reasons for doing so.

Along with Wearside Lib Dem leader Cllr Paul Edgeworth and Conservative group leader Cllr Antony Mullen, Nigel Taylor from the Save the National Glass Centre campaign group spoke at the meeting against the cabinet decision.

However the scrutiny committee ultimately decided to support the cabinet ruling and allow the proposals to progress by majority vote - with all Labour councillors voting in favour and the two opposition representatives against.

Council leader Cllr Michael Mordey, speaking at the meeting, said the cabinet decision will help "preserve the integrity of existing buildings" and "maximise potential for future investment in the Sunniside creative hub, that could preserve the future of glassmaking" in the city.

He stressed although the building is the "preferred location for Glassworks Sunderland ... the development of that project is down to Sunderland Culture", who will operate the site.

Cllr Mordey said: "The council's focus continues to be to work with local, regional and national partners to secure the future of glassmaking in Sunderland, ensuring artists and creatives have a place to continue their valued work in the city which has a proud history of glassmaking, and that the council is determined to seek to preserve. "

He added the cabinet decision will "make the former Peter Smith Antiques building watertight, safe and secure" in order "that it can be appropriately and successfully repurposed."

The call-in request was signed by seven councillors in total - including four Lib Dems and three Conservatives.

Cllr Edgeworth, Lib Dem group leader, said: "We’re not convinced that it's feasible to build a viable glassmaking facility in the proposed location.

"Those currently working at the glass centre would have to find workshops or employment elsewhere and are very unlikely to be able or willing to return to a future glass facility and I think that puts the whole project at risk as well.

"I think without guarantees on these issues councillors should not be approving the spending of public money on a project which could be doomed to fail from the very start."

Meanwhile Cllr Mullen, Conservative group leader on the local authority, said it "seems the council had a building in search of a purpose, rather than a purpose built building."

He added: "The design of the new fit out has not been done in conjunction with glass specialists from the National Glass Centre and their belief is that the final proposal for the building will require more funding than the council has acquired.

"If the specialist fit out of the new building proves to be problematic or the architecture design stage costs more, where is the money coming from to pay for those?"

Nigel Taylor, from the glass centre campaign group, speaking at the meeting, raised concerns around the funds required for the project and argued the better option would be to refurbish the National Glass Centre.

He said: "It's just not the right building, it's not in the right place and we need to look at refurbishing the National Glass Centre.

“We’re going to put it down in a building that is totally unsuitable and it will be nothing like what we’ve got, we’ve really got to fight to try and keep it where it is.”

Cllr Mordey responded by noting the detailed design of the proposed Glassworks Sunderland facility and the development of a business model are to be progressed separately by site operators Sunderland Culture.

He added the cabinet decision therefore "is not specific to the delivery of the Glassworks Sunderland project."

Labour’s Cllr Mordey said: "The University of Sunderland has taken the decision to close the National Glass Centre, rightly or wrongly, like it or not, that's a decision of the University of Sunderland.

"Glassworks Sunderland is a project for Sunderland Culture, as a council we’ve said we can support that, we can move forward because in politics, in everything, you have to deal with the world as it is, not how you want it to be.

"So we’ve seen an opportunity to partner with Sunderland Culture to develop Sunderland Glassworks but ultimately the delivery of the project will be down to Sunderland Culture."

He added therefore if Sunderland Culture decided not to proceed with the glassworks project the council would still benefit from the £2.405million grant funding to carry out improvements to the former Peter Smith Antiques building.

The council leader noted at the point of acquisition "the building was in a poor state of repair and was in need of intervention to prevent water ingress and further structural decay."

In regards to concerns around employment and "human rights", specifically the right to work, Cllr Mordey said the cabinet decision "relates specially to investment in vacant buildings to enable them for future use."

He added: "It is clear that the council and its partners are invested in creating job opportunities for local people and the decision taken does not threaten anyone's human rights."

A spokesperson for the Save the National Glass Centre campaign group, speaking after the meeting, said they expressed "deep disappointment" at the scrutiny committee's decision - noting their "concerns remain unanswered" around the project.

They added: "We will not stop speaking up for our city’s glassmakers and its proud heritage."

Plans have not yet been submitted for the Glassworks site, but design work and the submission of a planning application is expected to “commence in September 2025 and complete by the end of March 2026”.

Nick Malyan, chief executive of Sunderland Culture, who are leading the plans for Glassworks Sunderland, previously said: “This is another exciting step towards the creation of a new creative hub in Sunniside that will allow generations of glassmakers to continue to create, right here in Sunderland.”

It comes after the University of Sunderland said the National Glass Centre is closing due to the cost it would take to repair the existing building.