How to Find Us

How to find us

WE ARE BASED IN ST PETERS GATE ON THE NORTH SIDE OF SUNDERLAND

NRG Digital How To Find Us

Please phone ahead to make an appointment! Click here for Google Earth Map.
  • From the A19 or A1 take the A1231 to Sunderland and follow signs for the  Stadium of Light and National Glass Centre then City Centre.
  • If you are coming in from Durham (or south) come through Sunderland into the City Centre then across Wearmouth Bridge then down Roker Avenue
  • Follow the signs for the National Glass Centre until you have turned right after traffic lights opposite a green Allied Carpets building on your left.
  • Keep in the left hand lane but DO NOT turn left for the National Glass Centre.
  • Follow the road as it branches right into Dame Dorothy Street. You are now following the signs for University St Peter’s West. Then when you see factory units 'Excalibur Fabrications' and 'Warmplan Merchants'
  • Turn left turning to University St Peter’s
  • (Keep left lock on and ) Turn first left again onto Charles Street.
  • St Peter’s Gate is the building on your right. The car park immediately in front of the building is for visitors and disabled. There is also a large car park behind the building. 
  • Pop into reception and ask for NRG Digital, the friendly staff there will let us know you are waiting
Location, Location, Location!

St Peters Gate

Located at the University of Sunderland Science Park on the North side of Sunderland, our new office overlooks the River Wear.

Although the greater part of Sunderland lies to the south of the Wear some of the oldest and most historic parts of the modern town are on the northern bank of this river. Undoubtedly the most historic part of Sunderland is that area on the north bank by the coast called Monkwearmouth. Sunderland was originally part of Monkwearmouth and in fact the name Sunderland derives from `Sundered Land', that is land that was sundered or seperated, from the monastic estates of Monkwearmouth in Anglo-Saxon times.For centuries Sunderland was only a part of Wearmouth and although the name Sunderland was commonly used for the whole area, it was not until 1719 that Sunderland itself achieved the status of a separate parish. In 1897 roles were finally reversed and Monkwearmouth officially became part of the town of Sunderland.

Wearmouth was the site of one of the most famous monasteries of Saxon Northumbria, St. Peter’s. Parts of the church dates to the Saxon period. It was probably here that the Venerable Bede the first and most famous English historian did much of his work. There is no doubt that the settlement at the mouth of the Wear continued beyond this period despite the Viking raids and the Norman devastation of the North although it does not figure very much in written records until the later 16th century when it was a small fishing port which also began to produce salt using local coal and seawater, both of which were in free, easy and plentiful supply.

This was the basis of the coal export trade which was the first major industry of Sunderland and which spawned all sorts of related derivative industries such as glass, pottery, rope and sails and, of course, shipbuilding. Indeed Sunderland was to become - emphatically the first shipbuilding port in the Kingdom - and was also the first place in the world to produce rope using steam powered machinery.  

The National Glass Centre is located in Monkwearmouth on the north banks of the River Wear. The centre is close to the site of St. Peter's Church, part of the original Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory built in 674. It was here that Benedict Biscop introduced glass making into Britain, by hiring French glaziers to make the windows for the priory. The glass-making industry exploded in the eighteenth century, driven by an abundance of cheap coal and high-quality imported sand. Sunderland glass became known throughout the country. In later years, the Pyrex brand of glassware was manufactured in Sunderland. In 2007, the last two remaining glass firms in Sunderland - Corning Glass Works and Arc International (who make Pyrex) - announced they would close.

Despite the decline in the industry, in 1998 the centre was opened for £17 million. It was funded by the Arts Council in conjunction with the University of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Development Corporation and Sunderland City Council. The centre, located alongside the university's St. Peter's campus, continued the regeneration of the banks of the Wear.