Glasgow's People's Palace to close for refurbishment

Members of the public are being encouraged to visit the People’s Palace before it closes for major refurbishment

People are being urged to visit one of Glasgow's best-known museums before it closes for a major refurbishment.

The People’s Palace on Glasgow Green will shut on Sunday 14 April.

The refurb project received £850,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund earlier this year, which means the first stage of redevelopment can begin.

The People's Palace building and Winter Gardens glasshouse will be completely restored and renovations are expected to cost £35.9m in total.

The museum is expected to reopen in 2027.

Glasgow Life, the charity which runs the city's cultural attractions, said it wanted to encourage locals and visitors to visit the popular displays in the palace over the next eight weeks.

The museum first opened in 1898 to provide a cultural facility for working people in the east end of Glasgow.

The current displays tell the story of the city through displays including a tiny "single-end" flat, recreations of a traditional "steamie" and a Buttercup Dairy.

The bright Barrowland sign and the iconic banana boots worn by Billy Connolly are also among the popular exhibits.

Bailie Annette Christie, Glasgow Life chairwoman, said they were keen to start revitalising the museum.

"It’s what the local community have been calling for," she said.

"Like them, we are eager to move forward with our vision to reimagine the whole place and create a dynamic community-led museum and flexible space, which will foster new ways to promote inclusion, access, and participation, and minimise its impact on the environment."

The first development phase will take around 16 months and the overall project will see the new museum open in 2027.

The cost of the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens project is £35.9m.

The project secured funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund that paves the way to a wider £7.5m award.

Glasgow City Council has already committed £2.9m to the project.

A further £11m contribution will come from Glasgow City Council, while Glasgow Life continues to work with other public and private sector funders to secure the remaining investment required.

The main building reopened in 2018, but the Winter Gardens glasshouse remained closed - resulting in the death of the many trees and plants inside

A specialist project team will be brought together, collaborating with local people and using their views to shape the refurbishment.

The aim is to transform the space and displays to make the building more accessible.

Glasgow Life said it would start to develop the main stories that will feature in the new People’s Palace, ensuring more heritage is on display in the refreshed museum.

In December 2018, the museum was closed over structural and safety issues.

Following its closure, £350,000 of improvements provided a new fire escape, café and retail space.

Operational services and the fabric of the building will be refurbished in the new redevelopment.

Glasgow Life said the project would improve the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens’ environmental sustainability, creating a greener, world-class, local museum.

It added that it would put the east end of Glasgow on the tourist map.

Work will start with the transfer of the People’s Palace Collection to publicly accessible Glasgow Museum stores.