The National Glass Museum at the University of Sunderland has reopened its doors following a £2.25m redevelopment programme.

The centre celebrates Sunderland’s glass-making heritage presenting a rich temporary exhibition programme and facilitating international level research in new approaches to glass and ceramics.

The recent investment was used to make improvements to the gallery and learning spaces, doubling the exhibition capacity, upgrading and modernising the gallery spaces, education and resource rooms and enabling the centre to better meet the needs of the visitor, schools and groups.

The centre will now host three major exhibitions annually and up to 15 smaller scale exhibitions in the new gallery spaces. There is also a new ‘rotating museum’ which will present a selection of high profile glass and ceramics collections on a yearly basis.

The redevelopment the National Glass Centre secured £750,000 from the Arts Council England’s Large Capital Programme, £337,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), £100,000 from the Sir James Knott Trust and £50,000 from the Foyle Foundation. This was coupled with the £975,000 investment from the University of Sunderland.