St Helens to host Glass Futures event

The 'Glass Futures' event will be staged at The World of Glass, St Helens.

Representatives from the UK glass industry, global glass manufacturers, the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram, and academics from northern universities will join local business ambassadors.

They will be informed of the £50m project to create national centres of excellence in innovation in the glass industry.

At an event in the House of Lords on February 7 project leaders announced the proposed sites which included Pilkington's mothballed line at Watson Street.

Fifty jobs could be created directly by the centre, while more could follow indirectly, say the scheme's supporters.

Eamonn McManus, chair of the St Helens Economy Board, said: “St Helens is a place that encapsulates ‘industry to ingenuity’.

"We are a borough built on innovation – in glass, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing, and we can achieve such transformations again in the future.

“By combining the knowledge we have of the industry, our association with the likes of Pilkington and NGF and our proximity and accessibility to academics within northern universities, we can be part of that innovation and just shows the shift in ambition being achieved.”

The £50 million Glass Futures scheme brings industry and academia together in a consortium including British Glass, Pilkington, NGF, Guardian Glass (USA), the Universities of Liverpool and Leeds, Siemens and Swarovski, with many other major glass manufacturers and universities.

The aim of the scheme is to put the UK at the forefront of global glass manufacturing.

The Watson Street facility is one of two twin centres earmarked for the scheme with the other set for the University of Leeds' new research and innovation campus in West Yorkshire.

The project will see facilities bring together world class experts to carry out research into energy and emissions reduction, glass formulation and new high-tech products.

If it goes ahead, the St Helens site would focus on the ‘hot’ side of glass production, with a large experimental glass furnace capable of producing 30 tonnes of product per day for windows, bottles or fibre glass.

Research would concentrate on raw materials and alternative energy sources to reduce carbon and other emissions by more than 80 per cent.

The Leeds site would focus on the ‘cold’ side of glass production, with research into coatings, structure and the use of glass in medicine.

Glass Futures is a not for profit company specifically set up by the industry to bring industry and academia together.

The £50m project brings industry and academia together in a consortium including many major glass companies and universities with half the project cost expected to come from industry with matched funding sought from government.

St Helens' history is steeped in the glass making industry, with the town being home to manufacturing giant Pilkingtons, founded in 1826.

Friday's event will include speeches from Richard Katz (Glass Futures), Marie Rimmer MP and Steve Rotheram (LCR Metro Mayor).

The event will highlight the innovative use of glass in the future and how bringing together world class experts to carry out research into energy and emissions reduction, glass formulation, new high-tech products, architecture and packaging, can bring real benefits to the regional and UK economy.

The St Helens site would focus on the “hot” side of glass production, with a large experimental glass furnace capable of producing 30 tonnes of product per day for windows, buildings, bottles and fibre glass.

The Leeds site would involve the “cold” side of glass production with research into coatings, structure and the use of glass in medicine.

If the bid goes to plan - work will start on the site in St Helens later this year and be operational next year.

Richard Katz, director of Glass Futures, a not for profit company specifically set up by the industry to bring industry, the supply chain and academia together, said: “This event shows that local politicians are behind what is an exciting plan.

"If our proposals for centres of excellence here in St Helens at Pilkington and over the Pennines in Leeds are successful, it will bring jobs and prosperity, and also a brighter future for the industry.

“We want the glass industry to be sustainable and to be part of the ‘clean growth’ of manufacturing in the UK, by developing new manufacturing methods and substantially reducing carbon output.

“We also want the glass industry to be innovative and to lead the way with new research, looking at new applications for a material that has been around for thousands of years, and will be around for many more to come.”

Steve Rotheram, Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor, said: “St Helens has long been synonymous with glass and, like the rest of the Liverpool City Region, has a proud tradition of innovation.

“Glass Futures fits perfectly with the Government’s Industrial Strategy and it makes perfect sense to establish this centre in St Helens, where it can benefit from the proximity of established industry players, as well as the city region’s world-leading excellence in materials science, and support from the North’s foremost universities.

“This is exactly the kind of pioneering initiative that we need to encourage and I pleased that the combined authority is able to support it.”