Doomed glass centre looked for revenue consultant
BBCA university tried and failed to hire a consultant to boost the National Glass Centre's (NGC) revenue before deciding to shut the facility.
In 2021, more than 12 months before the University of Sunderland announced its decision to close the NGC, it looked to recruit someone to produce an "ambitious four-year plan" to increase the attraction's income. The university has since acknowledged no consultant was hired.
Save the Glass Centre activist Carolyn Basing claimed this offered proof the university had not tried hard enough to increase the venue's revenue.
A spokesperson for the university, which finally closed the NGC in July, declined to comment on why no consultant was hired.
The job advert posted in December 2021 read: "We think there is potential for resulting increased revenue."
It said the hot glass studio was a "huge visitor draw" and the team wanted to know how they could "capitalise on this in a more tangible way".
But Basing said the £6,500 budget offered to potential consultants for the NGC job was not good enough.
"It was never going to be successful," she said.
Financial data provided by the University of Sunderland suggested the NGC has been losing money each year since its reopening in 2013.
Its biggest loss was £1.1m in the 2014-15 financial year, while its smallest was £573,000 in 2020-21.
Visitor numbers took a hit after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a freedom of information (FOI) request.
The NGC had been attracting more than 200,000 people each year but, following lockdown, that fell to a low of 84,040 in 2024.
Numbers rose again closer to the site's closure, with 76,027 people visiting the attraction in the seven months it was open this year.
Basing said she and her fellow campaigners were working on their own business plan for the site which involves renting out space to businesses and for conferences.
The university said it had conducted a "range of conversations" with individuals and organisations about the site's future but no "feasible plan" had emerged.
It said the site remained closed and the building would be demolished.
