£4.5m of Heritage Lottery Funding will transform Glasgow's Kelvin Hall into a new health and fitness centre as well as providing a a new centre of cultural excellence
Glasgow's Kelvin Hall is set to become a state-of-the-art
Glasgow Club health and fitness centre and an exciting new cultural
centre providing collections' storage, teaching and research.
The redevelopment of this historic building is a unique partnership
between Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council, the University of
Glasgow and the National Library of Scotland.
Safe, secure and publicly accessible museum storage will be
created for the internationally-important Hunterian and Glasgow
Museum's collections. Around 1.5million objects, currently stored
in various locations around the city, will be relocated to the new
facility. This includes the only surviving complete suite of
interiors by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Mrs Cranston's Ingram
Street tearooms which will undergo conservation works in public
view. The National Library of Scotland's Scottish Screen Archive
will also be partners in the project which will provide a new
home for the archive and improved access for the public to
more than 100 years of Scottish history on film and video.
A new digital portal for all three partners will bring the
collections seamlessly together online.
A community learning base will be created where the public can
explore and learn about the collections, while a Collections Study
and Research Centre will promote object-based research and
teaching. Using the strengths of the partner organisations, a
Centre for Cultural and Heritage Skills will be created as a
national hub for in-service training, staff development and
knowledge and creative exchange. The Kelvin Hall will continue to
house sports facilities, with plans for a state-of-the-art Glasgow
Club included as part of the redevelopment.
Source: Glasgow Life