£1.5M in green funding for iconic museum storage facility

Glasgow Life has been awarded a grant of just over £1.5m for important upgrading works which will enhance energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre – a facility which houses millions of precious objects in the city’s Collections.

The works will include the replacement of gas boilers with air source heat pumps, the installation of solar panels, the replacement of windows, an upgrading of the electrical supply and building management controls, and repairs to minimise heat loss. The energy efficiency project – which will start in August and be completed by the end of the year – is being managed by facilities management and project management advisors CBRE Global Workplace Solutions (GWS).

The vast purpose-built storage facility and visitor centre in Glasgow’s South Side houses around 1.4 million objects in Glasgow City’s Collections, which are managed and cared for by Glasgow Life Museums. Publicly accessible for free tours and educational talks, the massive building comprises 17 environmentally controlled ‘pods’ which are filled with artefacts ranging from fossils to fine art. Only 2% of the Collections can be displayed at the city’s museums at any one time so the majority of the remaining objects are stored at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.

Glasgow Life head of infrastructure support, Isabel Brown:

“The improvements at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre will make a huge difference; we estimate they will enable annual savings of around 156 tonnes of CO2. This important project reflects Glasgow Life’s environmental sustainability strategy and ongoing commitment to achieve net zero goals. During 2023/24, across our property estate we invested £1.8 million in a wide range of energy-related projects, including the installation of more efficient heating and lighting technologies at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, and Glasgow City Halls. And throughout 2024/25 we continue to drive forward our energy-efficiency programme, through multiple projects, with a £3.8m investment in sustainability solutions.”

The Glasgow Museums Resource Centre grant is one of more than a dozen awarded through Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund to projects that will replace heating systems with zero direct emissions solutions and retrofit additional measures to improve energy efficiency.

Funding is being delivered by Salix Finance on behalf of the Scottish government. Salix delivers funding schemes across the UK to support councils, schools, leisure trusts, arm’s length external organisations and universities to boost their energy efficiency, reduce their impact on the environment and save money.

The £1,521,543 grant is being boosted by capital funding from Glasgow City Council as part of Glasgow Life’s capital programme, taking the value of the investment to £1.9m. Glasgow Life is the charity that leads culture and sport in the city on behalf of the local Council.