Sage Gateshead renamed Glasshouse International Centre for Music

The Sage Gateshead has been renamed and will now be known as the Glasshouse International Centre for Music.

The name for the unique building, which hosts the biggest cultural charity in the region, was picked from more than 100 ideas from members of the public.

A search for a new identity began last year when it emerged an arena and conference centre being built next door would also be called the Sage.

The new venues are being named after their software company sponsor.

Abigail Pogson, the Glasshouse's managing director, said: "When we knew that was happening we decided that we needed to change our name to create a difference between ourselves as a charity and them as a big multinational firm."

Bosses at the cultural venue asked people across the North East what the charity meant to them and how music had shaped their lives and, from the responses, they decided on the Glasshouse as the new name.

"What people were telling us was that they wanted to reflect music, they wanted to reflect warmth, they wanted to reflect a place where music lives and grows," Ms Pogson added.

"And we knew that our building was created out of glass, so obvious there is a literal thing there, and light comes through and inside magical and amazing things happen."

The new name and rebranding for the Glasshouse is also designed to reflect the unique shape of its building.

US singer-songwriter Patti Smith once called it a "big silver peanut" - but that was not on the list of the suggestions considered.

Other names that did not make the cut were the Slug, the Bug, the Armadillo, the Onion and the Space Potato.

It is hoped the major new investment on this part of the quayside will turn it into a mini version of London's Southbank.

Ms Pogson added: "And people are often telling us that they have life-changing experiences, they meet new people - we've even had marriages come out of encounters here.

"People were talking about how this is a living, breathing, growing place where musicians develop their skills."

Ms Pogson said having a forced rebrand was made easier by getting members of the public involved in the process.

"We told people last summer that this is what we were going to do and we were really overwhelmed by the amount of information that people got in touch with us about, how they wanted to contribute and we knew that in doing that, that would help us create something that really, really reflected what people felt," she said.

"And when we had done that, we felt that this is going to work for us."