The work on the basement was one of the most ambitious aspects of the project.
The area had been used for storage, and for workshop and office space. The plan was to convert this into visitor areas.
Excavation work created 1,789 square metres of space, and allowed the created of:
- a new main entrance at ground level
- the Hunter Education Wing
- a shop
- a café restaurant
- a lecture theatre
- introductory exhibition space, and
- a new temporary exhibition space which would for the first time give Kelvingrove a dedicated exhibition space for major touring exhibitions from around the world.
When we discovered that no floor slab existed in the basement, the builders developed and laid a concrete floor with a polished finish.
Though it had been used on a small scale in northern Europe, this is the first this technique had been used on a large scale in the UK.
The brick and rubble excavated from the basement has been used to provide in-fill for the new car parking areas.