Hoskins Architects was appointed in 2012 to develop a masterplan for the redevelopment of National Museums Scotland’s Collection Centre in Granton, Edinburgh. The masterplan process is an ongoing and live document, enabling future flexible developments of the site without compromising connection between existing buildings, and other national collections that share the wider site. A strategic review of existing storage and collections’ working requirements was carried out. These new proposals will accommodate the consolidation of collections for other National Museum storage sites, while enabling the collections to be stored and accessed in their appropriate environmental conditions.

Phase 1 was completed in 2014. This includes new environmental archive storage and collection workspaces, totalling 6,020m² for two of the museums’ collections. This new collections facility brings together the Natural Science collection previously housed in several buildings across the site. It houses a wide range of objects requiring tailored environmental conditions from entomology to cetacean skeletons; to the Scottish History & Archaeology Collection, which includes some of Scotland’s most treasured cultural artefacts, such as: prehistoric pottery, bronze-age metal and Viking jewellery.

The overall aim for the project has been to provide a sustainable environmentally controlled atmosphere to secure the long-term preservation of the collections and increase public access by providing specific areas for research and conservation.