Resilient Storage: Enabling Heritage Institutions to Effectively Manage High-performance Storage Areas

Abstract

Heritage institutions find themselves increasingly compelled to lower costs related to energy use, without disowning their primary task of optimally preserving the collections they are entrusted with. Now, more than ever, resilience, autonomy and cost-effectiveness are key to managing heritage sustainably. With over 1,000 museums in Belgium, the energy savings that its institutions may obtain by optimising their indoor climate management represents an important opportunity to alleviate strain on institutional budgets, and to help reach the ambitious energy-saving goals Belgium and the EU have set for themselves. Heritage institutions must be proactive in implementing such strategies, choosing from among a long list of measures to optimise their climate systems and indoor environments. This can be an overwhelming task. Indeed, museums and heritage institutions often lack in-house expertise to tackle these issues, which is why clear, practical and intuitive protocols, tools and concrete examples are required. As a case study and presentation of research-in-progress, this article describes Resilient Storage, a Belgian project that aims to validate a protocol to optimise the functioning of climate systems in museum storage areas. Developed by the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) and KU Leuven, Resilient Storage assembles an interdisciplinary team of public representatives, museum staff and experts in energy performance and conservation. It aims to help stakeholders optimise storage area management, simultaneously reducing its carbon footprint and optimising its preservation conditions. Resilient Storage aims to unearth synergies among these stakeholders, promote collaboration, develop a common language and transmit expertise to Belgian's small and medium-sized museums.