Museum secures funds for repairs to iconic Winter Gardens

Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens has secured £488,000 grant funding towards vital repairs to its iconic Winter Gardens.

The MEND4 funding from the Arts Council England Cultural Investment Fund - Museum Estates and Investment Fund will be used to address issues with corrosion, glazing failure and mechanical systems within the Winter Gardens, protecting its tropical plant collections.

Sunderland City Council is planning to match fund this latest Arts Council funding with £171,000 from its own funds, bringing the total investment in repairs to the Winter Gardens to £660,000.

The much-loved Winter Gardens houses more than 2,000 species of plants below its glazed dome, with a curving staircase leading up to its treetop walkway. It also features a pond with Koi Carp and an impressive water sculpture.

Welcoming the funding, Councillor Beth Jones, Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Tourism at Sunderland City Council, said: "We're delighted to have secured £488,000 funding from the Arts Council England to carry out repairs to this very special part of our much-loved museum. 

"The funding will help safeguard the future of this immensely popular green/tropical oasis in the heart of our city centre, which plays a major role in helping make Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens one of the most popular tourist attractions in the North East.

"It's all about ensuring the vitality of one of our most loved venues for future generations to enjoy at the same time as retaining and enhancing its significance as a landmark building within the city. So it's brilliant to see it supported using funding by Arts Council England."

This latest funding announcement comes as work nears completion on repairs to the roof and masonry of the original Grade II listed 1879 Museum & Winter Gardens. This was carried out with the support of a £349,000 MEND2 grant from an earlier round of Arts Council funding in 2023, with the remaining £151,000 coming from the City Council. 

This latest funding forms part of a package of funding that Sunderland City Council is pulling together for the museum, including plans to submit a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund in May 2025 for a multi-million pound redevelopment of Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.  The project will transform and rejuvenate the museum, better connecting it with Mowbray Park and introducing new ground floor galleries to take advantage of the space vacated by the library once it moves to the new Culture House currently under development in Keel Square.