Local leaders joined UKRI and BEIS on 4 February 2022 to mark the ground-breaking of the new Glass Futures Centre of Excellence in St Helens.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) were welcomed to the site by:
- Glass Futures
- Network Space Developments (NSD)
- St Helens Borough Council
- Liverpool City Region
- MPs Marie Rimmer and Connor McGinn.
The £45 million project is funded through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, administered by UKRI.
Transformational glass facility
The 165,000 square foot transformational global glass research and innovation facility is expected to complete in January 2023, ready for fit-out.
It is being delivered by NSD at Saints Retail Park, a site with links to the historic glass industry for which the town is famed.
NSD has in-part redeveloped this former United Glassworks site as a new stadium for St Helens Rugby League.
Social and economic benefits
The centre’s construction will bring a host of social and economic benefits to St Helens and the wider Liverpool City region including:
- 50% of people working on the project coming from within the Liverpool City region
- 50% of project spend being local
- 735 apprenticeship hours for the duration of the project and beyond
- a commitment to saving 1000 tonnes of CO2 emissions
- 100 volunteer hours committed to local ‘green’ projects.
