Surveys to see if glass centre can be saved
BBC/Jim ScottTwo independent surveys will be commissioned to assess whether the National Glass Centre (NGC) can be saved from demolition.
Sunderland City Council will pay about £25,000 to check if the now-permanently closed facility can be flattened without the owner, the University of Sunderland, first obtaining planning permission.
The university said it continued to follow guidelines ahead of demolition, and the closure was based "entirely" on independent reports into required repairs and future financial viability.
Council leader Chris Enyon, of Reform UK, said: "As long as this building still stands there is a chance to save it."
He said the surveys would help to inform an Article 4 direction which, if implemented, could mean planning permission is needed.
Carolyn Basing, from Save the National Glass Centre, said she welcomed the surveys, adding the local authority was now "investing in its future".
Meanwhile Arts Council England, which provided £5.9m of the funding needed to create the site in 1998, and a further £750,000 towards its refurbishment in 2012, confirmed to the BBC that a deed of covenant was put in place to protect the building for the "public benefit".
However, that expired in January 2023 - the same month the university announced plans to close the NGC.
'Not for sale'
The centre was transferred to the university by the then Labour-run council in 2010.
It involved an undisclosed fee, which campaigners believe was relatively small.
Asked why the council cannot negotiate to take back the site, Eynon said it was clear the building was "not for sale".
He said the site had never been listed for sale, nor had the university offered to sell the NGC to the authority or another party.
BBC/Jim ScottCouncillor Brandon Feeley, deputy leader of Sunderland Labour group, said the university had "brought shame on the city" with its decision to close the centre.
"I don't think anyone envisaged the situation we are in, back in 2010.
"According to people around at the time, the building was handed over in good faith.
"The university was very supportive of it... but it's fallen out of favour."
The University of Sunderland said since the closure "no individuals or organisations" had approached it "about selling the building to them", nor have they come forward with a "feasible plan to meet the significant running and capital costs".
It said the decision to close was "entirely based" on independent reports into the NGC's structure and consideration of the university's ability to sustain the "substantial financial liabilities" of it.
The university said it would "continue to, follow all legal requirements in relation to the proposed demolition".
