Peep behind the scenes of £66m project to transform the Burrell
WALLS are being demolished and corridors laid bare as the Burrell Collection museum prepares for the most significant stage of its multi-million pound revamp.
The Glasgow museum, in Pollok Country Park in the south side of the city, has had contractors onsite since July, preparing the way for the major work to modernise the building next year.
We have been allowed a rare peek inside the building work, one of the biggest single cultural capital projects in the UK.
The significant project is second only to the new Dundee V&A in cost and scale.
The £66m project has seen the museum closed since October 2016, and it is planned to re-open in 2020.
At the moment, the halls and corridors of the building are being altered so that a series of major changes can be wrought to the museum.
New entrances will be created, a large special exhibition and events space, a store which will be accessible to the public, and updated plant and a new roof.
The main contractors for the work are Kier Construction Scotland.
The art and objects from the museum are still on show – they are currently on tour in Japan, the USA, France and in the UK.
Exhibits are also at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, in the Collecting Medieval Treasures show.
Glasgow City Council hope the re-opened Burrell Collection will become a key part of the city’s tourism attractions.
The collection was gifted to the city by Sir William Burrell, a shipping magnate and art collector, in 1944.
The unique cache of art, sculpture, antiques and historical artefacts was given a new home when the Burrell Collection building, designed by Barry Gasson, opened in 1983.
However, the building has been in need of a revamp for some time, especially its roof, which leaks.
The revamp is being led by John McAslan and Partners.
The collection ranges from ancient prehistoric artefacts to ground-breaking works by Impressionists such as Manet and Degas.
It is also known for its late medieval art, Chinese ceramics, bronzes and jades, Islamic pile carpets and French nineteenth-century paintings.
At present, only 20 per cent of the collection is on display, but Glasgow Life hopes that 90 per cent will be on show on re-opening.
One of the major changes will see the basement of the building opened up to visitors.
This area, which had previously been off limits, will become a public space, and a kind of open store.
It will be show an exhibition as as kind of public treasure trove, with artefacts, antiques, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, furniture and other items closely on display.
Sir Williams’s Deed of Gift in 1944 stipulated that his collection could not be transported abroad.
In 2013 a special committee of MSPs at Holyrood, the Burrell Collection (Lending and Borrowing) Bill Committee, backed the city’s bid to lift the restrictions on overseas lending.
The project is second only to the new Dundee V&A in cost and scale