Heritage chiefs have announced plans to boost visitor numbers at a £6.5 million centre amid a row over poor public access.
A family fun day is among events which will bring residents to the Aberdeen Treasure Hub” on Granitehill Road, Northfield, this summer.
The facility was built to house the local authority’s collection of around 200,000 artworks and artefacts while they are not on display in museums and galleries.
Public access was claimed to be a “key” part of the scheme, which ran almost twice over budget.
But the Press and Journal revealed yesterday that only around 800 people had toured it since November’s opening – with one month attracting only three.
The figures were described as “shocking” by Liberal Democrat group leader Ian Yuill, one of many to demand an improvement.
The council has now announced plans to increase the Treasure Hub’s profile and attract more people to enjoy its extensive collection of masterpieces and remnants of north-east history.
An upcoming family fun day at the centre on July 27 has already been fully booked with 42 people, and further events will be held throughout the coming months at the site as part of the council’s “Say Hello To Summer” campaign.
It was created to encourage the community to take advantage of Aberdeen’s galleries and museums during the holidays.
A spokesman for the city council said: “The Treasure Hub’s primary function is as a storage facility for the safe and secure storage of the city’s heritage assets, safeguarding the internationally important art collections and nationally important history collection.
“It was designed to make the collections more accessible for staff and researchers, in a simpler way to the city and shire archives in Old Aberdeen, but with the added advantage of a small class-sized space to allow schools and groups to visit and see behind the scenes of the working storage repository.
“So there is an element of managed public access and we welcome visitors to the site on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and special open days that take place on three or four Saturdays throughout the year.
“However, it should not be compared with the Maritime Museum or the Art Gallery in that it is not an open museum.
“We are still moving collections from our other stores to the site in Northfield, and will be doing so until well into 2019.
“However, the building is now open and operational and no further significant capital costs have been incurred with the current spend being £6.549m as reported in February this year.”
