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Kelvingrove Museum

The facts

Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Client: Glasgow City Council
Start/Completion: 2003 - 2006
Contract Type: Management Contract
Project Value: £35m
Services provided: Project, Cost and Construction Management

The project

Capita Symonds provided project, cost and construction management on a £35m programme to restore and expand the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum in Glasgow.

The A-Listed Building is the most popular ‘free to enter visitor’ attraction in Scotland and is the most visited museum in the UK outside of London. It houses an art collection that includes works by the Old Masters, French Impressionists, and Salvador Dali’s Christ of Saint John of the Cross, as well as one of the finest collections of arms and armour in the world and a vast natural history collection.

The project was designed to completely restore the building while increasing the amount of display space by 35% and the number of objects on display by 50%.

Our initial role involved preparing a Stage 2 Heritage Lottery Application that comprised costed project proposals to RIBA stage ‘D’, a detailed conservation plan, a landscape conservation statement, and the integration of proposals for the display of exhibits being prepared by gallery staff. Thanks to the team’s work on the submission, the project was awarded Scotland’s largest single Heritage Lottery Grant.

The next stage of our work involved the delivery of the physical alterations to the building which included the creation of a major new gallery designed to accommodate travelling exhibitions while providing carefully controlled environmental conditions. Following successful completion of the restoration and expansion of the museum, we then provided construction management services for the displays element of the project.

The project presented many of the usual (significant) challenges associated with managing a complex listed building refurbishment and expansion project within strict cost, quality and time constraints. A culture of co-operation and collaboration between key stakeholders, which was vital to the success of the project, was evident throughout.

The major building works and displays were completed on programme and budget in time for the public re-opening in July 2006. The revitalised Kelvingrove museum saw visitor numbers peak at some three million in 2007, making it a top five UK attraction.