A planning application has been submitted for a £54 million Global Centre of Excellence for glass, according to a recent report on The Glazine website. The proposed site is an 160,000 square ft area at St Helens, Merseyside, which has strong historical ties to the UK glass industry.

£15 million of the funding is to be provided by the government, as part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) scheme, Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge. The rest of the funding will be from a combination of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, St Helens Borough Council, and Glass Futures.

Glass Futures are a not-for-profit organisation who promote the use of glass as the low carbon material of choice, by delivering new technologies, training, and processes.

Glass Futures chief executive, Richard Katz, commented: “The planning submission is a great step forward in creating a facility that will deliver innovative technologies to make glass net zero. The Centre of Excellence will help us work collaboratively with our members, the supply chain and academia to achieve that aim.”

The St Helens site will be used to deliver research and development projects which have government backing. It will have a multi-disciplinary glass melting facility, and will have the capacity to produce 30 tonnes of sustainable glass per day, for use in products such as windows, shopfronts, doors, bottles, jars, and glass fibre.

The Centre will focus on reducing the carbon footprint of glass production, and will also be able to offer industry-wide testing and trials. The new development will regenerate the former United Glassworks site, and will create new opportunities for research in the industry, as well as new jobs and economic stimulation for the Merseyside region.

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