Project
Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project, 2006-2011
From 2006 to 2010, the Mackintosh Conservation & Access Project (MCAP) conserved the fabric of GSA’s A listed Mackintosh building and its archive and museum collections, enabling enhanced access to the School’s heritage assets.
An extensive conservation programme treated items from GSA’s textile, furniture, art on paper, plaster cast and archive collections. This work has ensured the future preservation of these items while allowing them to be accessed by researchers and displayed to the public under appropriate conditions.
A new Archives and Collections Centre and three environmentally controlled stores to house GSA’s historical records and collections were created as part of the project. In addition to these spaces, a new furniture gallery showing pieces from our Charles Rennie Mackintosh furniture collection; and a new public tour reception and interpretation area were developed.
The project cost in the region of £8.6 million, including a contribution from the HLF of £4,466,000. Other substantial contributions have been donated by Historic Scotland, Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise and Strathclyde European Partnership.
In May 2011 the Archives and Collections hosted a successful one-day seminar in partnership with ICON-SG (the Institute of Conservation’s Scotland Group).The seminar brought together (for the first time) the extensive network of specialist object and building conservators employed by GSA during its recent Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project. Presentations covered a wide range of topics from stonework repairs and the treatment of original timber surfaces in the Mackintosh Library to the conservation of individual watercolours, textiles and furniture, and the cleaning and re-packaging of the GSA archive.
Following the illustrated presentations, delegates were given the opportunity to tour the Mackintosh Building and to view the ‘in-situ’ conservation work and the newly completed A&C stores and exhibition galleries.
Please click on the links below to see the seminar programme and recordings of some of the presentations given:
