The Fairfield Heritage Centre is situated on
Govan
Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
Road,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. Built as the offices of
Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co Ltd between 1889 and 1891 the building was used as the principal offices for successive owners of the adjacent shipyard until 2001, when it was vacated by
BAE Systems Marine
BAE Systems Marine Limited was the shipbuilding subsidiary of BAE Systems, formed in 1999, which manufactured the full range of naval ships; nuclear submarines, frigates, destroyers, amphibious ships.
In 2003 BAE Systems Marine was split into ...
. After deteriorating unused for eight years it was bought by social enterprise charity Govan Workspace in 2009. Following a restoration costing over £5.8m it was re-occupied as a heritage centre and commercial offices in 2013.
Heritage Centre and Offices
The Fairfield Heritage Centre includes the former boardroom, management offices and directors dining room as well as the main entrance and lobby. 18,000 sq. m of modern office suites are located in the former drawing offices on the first floor and the former counting house on the ground floor.
The heritage area, which is free to visit 7 days 1pm to 4pm, tells the story of over 150 years of shipbuilding at the yard using artefacts, graphic panels, interactive media and audio-visual presentations. Exhibits and information address technical innovation, the period of building ships to contest the
Blue Riband
The Blue Riband () is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest average speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. T ...
for fastest Atlantic crossing, the two world wars, the 1960s
Fairfield Experiment in management/labour relations and the