£91.2m Gift Sets Sainsbury Centre Renovation in Motion
The Sainsbury Centre in the east of England has secured a £91.2 million donation from David Sainsbury through Gatsby, his charitable foundation, in a move that will fund a major renovation of the Norman Foster-designed museum building. The project will focus on the grade II* structure completed in 1978, one of the most closely watched examples of late 20th-century museum architecture in Britain.
According to the museum, the work is expected to halve energy use. Foster + Partners will oversee improvements to the building envelope, the outer shell that includes the foundations, exterior walls, roof, windows, and doors, while photovoltaic panels and renewed solar controlled blinds are added to support renewable energy and bring more natural light into the galleries.
The renovation will also address practical needs that have accumulated over decades of use. Entrances, lifts, signage, flooring, bathrooms, the café, kitchen, and staff spaces will be updated, and landscaping will better connect the building to the sculpture trails across the surrounding University of East Anglia campus. The project aligns with UEA’s aim of reaching net zero by 2045.
David Sainsbury’s family has been central to the institution from the beginning. His parents, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury, donated their collection of art and artefacts to UEA in 1973. Known for its Modernist holdings, the collection includes works by Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Francis Bacon, and Henry Moore, along with modern ceramics and cultural objects from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. David Sainsbury also funded the original building, which cost £4.2 million.
The museum’s architecture has long drawn praise. In the year it opened, the Sainsbury Centre won the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Award, and Gordon Graham, then president of the institute, called it one of the most outstanding buildings of the 20th century. Yet the same innovation that made the building so influential has also made it expensive to maintain. In 2022, Arts Council England awarded the museum £325,000 for repairs to damaged glass panel structures. In 2025, the Department for Culture, Media & Sport provided a further £1,276,711 for urgent works, including replacement of environmental systems and the addition of a service lift.
“My father always regarded his commissioning of Norman Foster to produce the Sainsbury Centre as one of the best things he ever did, and it gives me great pleasure to provide the funding to enhance its future,” David Sainsbury said in a statement. Jago Cooper, the museum’s executive director, said the gift secures the institution’s future and will help revitalize Foster’s vision for a new generation of visitors.
Dates for the capital project have not yet been announced.
