Alistair Hardaker | Image: A rendered design for The Art Works
Plans for ‘The Art Works’ in Granton advance for a Passivhaus store housing more than 130,000 works from Scotland’s national collection.
The National Galleries of Scotland has secured £8.5 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards The Art Works, a planned collections store in Granton, north Edinburgh, bringing the project closer to construction.
The Art Works is a planned free-to-visit store that will house more than 130,000 artworks. According to the National Galleries of Scotland, less than 3% of Scotland’s art is currently on display in its venues or out on loan, with the remaining 97% stored across several sites in Edinburgh, many not designed for the long-term care of the works.
The building will include public viewing spaces, conservation studios, digitisation facilities, education rooms and spaces for local groups to book. It will act as a hub for loans, touring exhibitions and research, and will create opportunities for training, apprenticeships and employment in conservation, art handling, digitisation and collections care. Once open, it will be free to visit.
The store will form part of the wider National Collections Hub complex in Granton, supporting partnership with organisations including National Museums Scotland. It will also store collections from the Royal Scottish Academy, the Demarco Archive Trust and ARTIST ROOMS, which is jointly owned with Tate.
Anne Lyden, director-general of National Galleries of Scotland, said: “The majority of Scotland’s art has been hidden from view for far too long. The Art Works will change that, protecting more than 130,000 artworks while making them more accessible than ever before.”
The National Galleries of Scotland says the building is expected to be the largest cultural Passivhaus building in Scotland, reducing energy use while providing stable environmental conditions for the works. Research commissioned for the project estimates that the increased access it enables will generate social and economic benefits worth more than £350 million, with more than £2 returned to Scotland for every £1 invested.
Eilish McGuinness, chief executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, called The Art Works “an exciting project which will ensure that this world class collection is not only protected but also shared in unique ways, by opening up public access and supporting a co-design approach with local communities in north Edinburgh.”
The Scottish Government committed £56 million towards the project earlier this year. The National Galleries of Scotland continues to work with partners and funders to secure the remaining investment needed to deliver The Art Works.
‘The Art Works’ anchors new National Galleries of Scotland strategy
