The radical redevelopment of a major building in Glasgow will give it the potential to be the "Tate Modern of Scotland".
The executive committee of Glasgow City Council has given the green light to £8m in improvements to the Kelvin Hall, in particular roofing works and other improvements.
The upgrade will help the landmark building secure up to £35m of additional investment for a new Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, as well as the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum, and also boost its ability to form partnerships with other bodies, including the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS).
Read more: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art works to go on show at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall
Plans for a gallery of contemporary art at Kelvin Hall are at an early stage but The Herald understands that key figures believe having art from the NGS and the Hunterian in the same place would provide the same scale and prestige for Scotland as the Tate Modern does for London.
One option includes the Kelvin Hall site being used to display Artist Rooms, Anthony D'Offay's key collection of contemporary art which is now co-owned by the Tate in London and the NGS.
New artist renderings of the sheer scale of the interior of the building demonstrate its potential for being a major new site for art, museum exhibits, events and other uses.
Read more: Kelvin Hall's £40m makeover to be completed by summer, new Hunterian set for 2020
The new investment comes as the first phase of improvements at the Kelvin Hall nears completion, with the venue set to re-open to the public later this summer following a major £35m refurbishment.
The project is a collaboration between Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life, the University of Glasgow and the National Library of Scotland.
Kelvin Hall is one the key developments for the council and Glasgow Life, which runs galleries, libraries and museums in the city, in the coming years.
It is three times the size of its near neighbour, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, and the completion of the first phase of its revamp will bring the Hunterian’s 1.4m objects, and 400,000 Glasgow Museums objects, into a store to which the public can book tours.
The National Library of Scotland will provide public access to their Moving Image Archive.
Read more: Revealed - how Kelvin Hall will look after revamp
This will still leave two thirds of the building’s floor area to find a new purpose.
The uses of the second phase are still being discussed, but could include the Hunterian Museum, including the Mackintosh House, as well as a Charles Rennie Mackintosh attraction and the NGS contemporary art display.
The Kelvin Hall, if plans come to fruition, could become one of the key cultural sites in Scotland the UK with collections of national and international importance.
Glasgow City Council will contribute a total of £6.2million to the new roof project including a projected £1.2million that was committed for the first phase of the works that has not been spent.
Councillor Frank McAveety, the leader of Glasgow City Council, said: "Kelvin Hall has long been one Glasgow’s most iconic landmarks.
"Our planned investment will help secure this iconic building for the next generation. Glasgow is Scotland’s sporting, cultural and academic powerhouse and the redevelopment of the Kelvin Hall will help us build on that position in the months and years to come."
The first phase of improvements at Kelvin Hall will create one of the largest indoor sports facilities in Scotland as well as a shared museums and education resource centre.
It will house an eight-court multi-purpose sports hall, three dance studios and a gymnastics hall.
A spokesman for the University of Glasgow said: "The University of Glasgow is delighted to be a partner in the redevelopment of the Kelvin Hall. Our participation in phase one will open up a huge repository of more than a million artefacts and items for study, research and teaching.
"The new Kelvin Hall will create a rich and vibrant addition to the cultural life not just of the city of Glasgow, but of the whole of Scotland. We look forward to discussing our part in the next stage of the evolution of this iconic building."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel