Glasgow Museums Resource Centre receives £1.5m grant

Glasgow Life announced (Friday 2 August) that it has been awarded a grant of just over £1.5 million for important upgrading works which will enhance energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre - the unique facility which houses millions of precious objects in the city's Collections.

The funding has been granted through Scotland's Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund, which helps public buildings tap into investment for environmentally sustainable solutions. 

In line with its climate change action commitment to achieve net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2045, the Scottish Government made £20 million of grant funding available within the 2024/25 financial year. 

The Glasgow Museums Resource Centre grant is one of more than a dozen awarded through the scheme to projects that will replace heating systems with zero direct emissions solutions and retrofit additional measures to improve energy efficiency.

About the project

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.

The energy efficiency project at the facility will start in August and be completed by the end of the year. 

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.