government ministers will be asked to back a £60million plan to transform Kelvin Hall into one of the UK's biggest museums.

Glasgow Life has applied for permission to work on the Category B-listed building, which closed last month.

The project will result in the building becoming home to 1.5m treasures from the city's collections, from Glasgow University's Hunterian Museum and the Scottish Screen Archive.

Tomorrow, members of the city council's planning committee are expected to agree to ask the Scottish Government to approve listed building consent to allow work to start.

If it gets the go-ahead, the first phase of the work will involve a comprehensive redevelopment and refurbishment.

Two of the later brick additions on the west elevation will be removed and a new extension will be created at the Burnhouse Road side of the building.

A feature window extension will be formed at the entrance that previously gave access to the Transport Museum.

Substantial work will also be carried out to the inside of the building, giving it a new lease of life.

The building, which stands opposite Kelvingrove Art Gallery, dates from 1927 and replaced an earlier timber and brick structure built for the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901.

The main part of the building behind the frontage is made up of brick walls, with a massive vaulted concrete ceiling supported on 22 concrete columns, which planners describe as "utilitarian rather than decorative."

Kelvin Hall housed the popular Museum Of Transport until the exhibits were transferred to the new Riverside Museum.

Richard Brown, the council's executive director of development and regeneration, said: "The building has been adapted to meet varying needs over its lifespan.

"With the transfer of the transport museum to its new home, a large area of the facility has lain dormant.

"The national indoor arena has now also been built in the East End of the city, effectively leaving the existing sports facilities dated and less attractive.

"The majority of the space internally is no longer in beneficial use.

"With the 2014 Commonwealth Games facilities, such as the Emirates Arena, becoming the preferred venue for events that the Kelvin Hall used to host, there is a need to find long-term, sustainable uses for this landmark building to ensure its special interest is retained.

"The proposed works constitute a substantial package of refurbish- ment to ensure the building remains fit for the cultural and leisure uses it was originally built to house more than 100 years ago."

vivienne.nicoll@ eveningtimes.co.uk