Kelvin Hall is being transformed into one of the UK’s biggest museums and research centres, with the facility expected to open in the autumn.
The September intake of students at Glasgow University will be among the first to benefit from the £35 million redevelopment of Kelvin Hall in the west end.
The building will offer teaching and research rooms, and vast new storage areas are being prepared to house around 1.5 million museum items, currently spread across nine separate sites.
It will also house the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive and digital collections, while retaining its legacy as a former international sports arena.
A health and fitness centre will incorporate an eight-court, multi-purpose sports hall, a gymnastics and martial arts hall and the city’s largest fitness gym.
The project is a joint partnership between Glasgow University, the Hunterian, Glasgow Museums, the National Library of Scotland and Glasgow Club.
Professor Murray Pittock, pro vice-principal of Glasgow University, said: “Kelvin Hall is a hugely exciting and unique project which brings together for the first time anywhere in the world civic organisations, higher education and national organisations under one roof.
“Kelvin Hall will help students wanting to study at the University of Glasgow to engage through the many objects housed at Kelvin Hall, it will enable postgraduate students to train using direct access to collections and the new digital portal, with more than 200,000 images, which can be utilised for research purposes.
“It will be a world-leading facility and is excellence available to all.”
Kelvin Hall opened as an exhibition centre in the 1920s and was used for musical performances before becoming a sports arena and home to Glasgow’s Museum of Transport.
Over the years it has hosted major sports events including the 1990 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
Glasgow University principal Professor Anton Muscatelli has said that when complete, the Kelvin Hall area will be the “best museum district outside of London”.