March 29 2021

A campaign to create a shipbuilding museum dedicated to celebrating the industrial legacy of the River Clyde has been launched.

The Shipyard Trust has been working on the idea for a dedicated shipbuilding hub since 2017 and is now at a point where it wishes to stimulate broader engagement via a public consultation.

Inspired by Bilbao's Guggenheim, Titanic Belfast and the V&A in Dundee the trust first aim to find a suitable riverfront site to host an architectural landmark, from which the full story of shipbuilding will be told.

Gil Paterson, chair of the Ship Yard Trust, said: “The Clyde’s past is a fantastic, untapped asset and coupled with what Clydeside is engaged in now and into the future, the trust wants to bring together and showcase this to the world, we can then celebrate our past and help pioneer our future”.

Following the engagement exercise, the trust will liaise with outside parties and agencies to help realise their vision which follows plans for a steamship-inspired mixed-use development at Yorkhill Quay. 

7 Comments

#1 Posted by Ross C on 29 Mar 2021 at 17:41 PM

Govan Graving Docks, for the love of all things shippy, use the Graving Docks!

#2 Posted by Darren on 30 Mar 2021 at 00:09 AM

If only the Glasgow city council and the Scottish Government had had the foresight to buy the QE2 when she was decommissioned. She could have formed a centre piece to something like this as a floating hotel/museum. Putting Glasgow on the map with a global world class attraction.

#3 Posted by Damp Proof Membrane on 30 Mar 2021 at 09:50 AM

USE. THE. GRAVING. DOC...

#4 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 30 Mar 2021 at 14:00 PM

Another sorry tale straight out of Nat Scotland -- why build for the future when you can wallow in the past?

If the same amount of effort was put into the present then maybe we would be able to build a ferry?

#5 Posted by Tom Manley on 30 Mar 2021 at 14:43 PM

The Graving docks is clearly missing a trick and there is the potential to recreate a working dry dock as well as hosting a variety of watersports and community activities. With the Riverside Museum and Fairfield in Govan, I'm not sure if the city needs a new testament to its industrial maritime connections. The graving Docks is a huge potential asset to the city and would be great to see it brought into shape as an open expanse, wild in places, and facilitating walking and gathering, outdoor events and performances. A new urban park would itself celebrate the industrial legacy of the river and be a good thing, encouraging more people to get out and experience the river, and the money spent would do a lot to encourage a closer connection between the city and The Clyde.

#6 Posted by Jimbob Tanktop on 30 Mar 2021 at 16:59 PM

Didn't they spend a decade trying to get people to go to the Clydebuilt Museum at Braehead, which eventually closed because 50,000 people marched straight past it every day to get to Superdrug and H&M?

#7 Posted by Tom McKendrick on 2 Apr 2021 at 08:45 AM

It’s a grave but understandable error at this stage in this project to think of our vision as a dusty repository for stale memories. This is a dynamic project encompassing this river in its entirety. The achievements of our culture our people and our history are an unshakable foundation on which to build a future. We can build an iconic structure that will focus the attention of the world simply because we have done it 1000 times in the past. Perhaps it would be prudent not to judge to harshly until this vision unfolds.
Tom McKendrick SYT Board member.

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