Glasgow Museums Resource Centre: Glasgow Life awarded £1.5m for museum storage facility energy upgrades

A storage facility housing millions of objects from Glasgow’s museum collections has been awarded over £1.5m in funding for energy upgrades.

Glasgow Museums Resource Centre has received the grant from Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund, which helps public buildings benefit from investment for environmentally sustainable solutions.

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.

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.

Glasgow Life Head of Infrastructure Support, Isabel Brown, said: “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 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.”

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 tim,e so the majority of the remaining objects are stored at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.

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.

The energy efficiency project at the facility – 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 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.

Salix programme coordinator, Chris Cain, said: “Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund plays an important role in enabling public sector organisations to transform and decarbonise the buildings that make up their estate.

“Glasgow Life has utilised Salix’s loan funding in the past to achieve significant energy savings and the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre project will only accelerate the organisation’s path to net zero.

“The project showcases the important role of grant funding in unlocking projects across the country that reduce emissions and lower energy consumption while also cutting energy bills to deliver tangible benefits for communities.”

CBRE GWS Managing Director Oliver Metcalfe said: “The Glasgow Museums Resource Centre is a unique property asset as it accommodates one of Europe’s most important museum collections, so we are delighted to be supporting Glasgow Life’s estates team on this innovative energy efficiency upgrading project, from concept through to implementation.

“This project will play an important part in contributing significantly to the net zero goals of both the facility and the organisation’s portfolio of estates across the city.”