Revamped Glasgow museum crowned 'Scotland's building of the year' after £68.2m makeover

Glasgow’s Burrell Collection museum reopened in 2022 after a £68.25 million revamp. | Hufton+Crow

One of Glasgow's leading museums has been named "Scotland's building of the year" after undergoing a £68.25 million makeover.

The Burrell Collection, which was created in Pollok Country Park to house the vast art collection donated to the city by the shipping magnate and philanthropist Sir William Burrell, was closed for more than five years to allow the revamp to be carried out.

Glasgow’s Burrell Collection museum reopened in 2022 after a £68.25 million revamp. | Glasgow Life

The Royal Incorporation of Architects has honoured the project, which was led by Glasgow architect John McAslan saw the biggest overhaul of the museum carried out since it opened in 1983, with its coveted "Doolan Award."

A full-scale refurbishment of the Burrell Collection, which includes more than 9,000 art treasures spanning more than 6,000 years, was ordered more than a decade ago by Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Life, which runs most of the city's public-owned museums and galleries, after the building was branded "no longer fit for purpose."

An exhibition by French Impressionist artist Edgar Degas has been staged at the Burrell Collection in Glasgow since it reopened in 2022. | SNS Group

Problems included rainwater regularly leaking into the A-listed building through its roof, poor insulation and energy efficiency, and a shortage of display space for the vast collection, which was gifted to Glasgow in 1944.

The Burrell Renaissance Project, which has helped attract more than 1.5 million visitors since the revamp was completed in March 2022, increased the amount of gallery space by more than a third, allowing objects which had not been seen for decades or had never been on permanent display, to be showcased in the new-look attraction.

The Burrell Collection reopened in 2022 after a Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

A new central stairway was created to allow visitors to access the lower floor of the museum for the first time and create a new temporary exhibition space, while new galleries were created on the upper floors to allow public access to more parts of the building.

More than 600,000 visitors flocked to the new-look Burrell in the first year after it opened and the attraction went on to win the Art Fund's UK-wide "Museum of the Year title.

Glasgow’s Burrell Collection museum reopened in 2022 after a £68.25 million revamp. | Picture: John Devlin

Previous winners include revamps of Aberdeen Art Gallery, Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Gardens and the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Other contenders for this year's Doolan Award included an expansion of Edinburgh's Fruitmarket Gallery, which included the transformation of the former Electric Circus nightclub and music venue, and a new science and a new science teaching hub at Aberdeen University.

The Doolan Award judges hailed the Burrell revamp as “an outstanding example of problem-solving and future-proofing that has rejuvenated an old friend”, without the building losing any of its "architectural integrity."

Glasgow’s Burrell Collection museum reopened in 2022 after a £68.25 million revamp. Picture: Glasgow Museums

They added: "The refurbishment makes a bold declaration about the role of architecture – a renewed confidence and belief in it – at a time when Glasgow and Scotland’s creative and cultural industries are in peril.”

Mr McAslan said: "When we first became engaged on the Burrell in 2012, the building and its magnificent collections were at risk, visitor numbers had dramatically dropped over the years, and there was no funding on the horizon to repair this wonderful but forlorn cornucopia of art.

"However within the next decade we were part of the team that had saved the building, transformed it into an exemplar of ecological renovation, engaged over 15,000 members of the local community in its renewal, and helped encourage 1.5 million visitors to visit this beloved treasure trove of 9,000 cultural artefacts spanning 6,000 years of civilisation. Projects don’t come more worthwhile than this."

Glasgow Life chair Annette Christie said: "What Glasgow wanted to achieve in re-imagining this magnificent building has been more than delivered through the vision and skill of everyone who worked on the design, construction and display.

"A building already widely appreciated and loved now shows more of the collection it houses, creates even stronger links to the nature it is surrounded by, and at the same time reduces its impact on the environment."