PLANS to transform the iconic Kelvin Hall arena in Glasgow into one of the UK's biggest museums have been unveiled, on the eve of the last big event at the venue.
Details of the £35 million cultural centre and sports facility come days ahead of the expected approval of the plans, which would see the world-famous Hunterian Museum and Gallery moving to the Kelvin Hall, creating a museum hub with the nearby Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery.
The B-listed building, immediately opposite the hugely popular Kelvingrove and a short walk from the Transport Museum, would accommodate touring shows and internationally significant collections and exhibitions.
It would also see the city's west end being branded Glasgow's "museum quarter", with the local authority confident the area could rival South Kensington in London, home of the V&A, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum , as a cultural hub for tourism and academia.
The last sporting event, staged tonight under the title of the Kelvin Brawl, will see a celebrity match between two of Scotland's leading comedians, Still Game's Greg Hemphill and Burnistoun's Robert Florence, on a night of pro-wrestling.
Opening as an exhibition centre in 1927, the venue has been a music hall, indoor arena and barrage balloon factory, and hosted rock concerts including Jerry Lee Lewis and The Animals, who were booed off stage,
Legends The Kinks also issued a recording of their April 1967 date entitled Live at Kelvin Hall.
But the venue is best remembered for Jim Watt's famous world lightweight title-fight in April 1979 when he took over Roberto Duran's title. He fought three more times as world champion at the Hall in 1979 and 1980.
Glasgow City Council, Glasgow University, arts and cultural trust Glasgow Life and the National Library of Scotland have been involved in developing the plans which would see the Hall redeveloped in two phases.
The first stage will include a community sports centre and a collections study centre that will improve access to collections held by the local authority and Hunterian, as well as the Scottish Screen Archive and Scottish Sound Archive held by National Libraries of Scotland. The main construction works would begin in early 2014 and the completed building would open in 2016.
The second phase will include a new exhibition space, bringing together the displayed collections of the Hunterian Museum and the Hunterian Art Gallery. It will also create display spaces for the city's contemporary art collection, temporary fine art galleries and a new home for the Royal Highland Fusiliers museum.
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