Sainsbury Centre receives one of largest ever UK museum donations

The Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia has received a £91.2 million donation from British politician and businessman David Sainsbury via his Gatsby charitable foundation, described as one of the largest gifts ever made to a UK museum. The funding will support a major renovation of the Grade II* Norman Foster-designed building completed in 1978, including envelope upgrades expected to halve energy use and the addition of photovoltaic panels, aligning with UEA’s net-zero-by-2045 goal. The museum’s collection originated with Robert and Lisa Sainsbury’s 1973 donation and includes Modernist works by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Francis Bacon, and Henry Moore, alongside objects from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. Dates for the capital project have not yet been announced, and the building has previously required significant repair support, including a £325,000 Arts Council England grant in 2022 and a further £1,276,711 grant in 2025.

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