- Project Lead: Nicola Grahamslaw
- Organisation: SS Great Britain Trust
- RICHeS Investments Accessed: Perfform: built heritage for communities and collections, A national mobile and fixed lab for collections, historic buildings and sites
Project summary
This project will investigate how historic marine iron, including the hull of Brunel’s SS Great Britain, responds to different levels of temperature and humidity to develop more sustainable approaches to its long-term conservation. Using advanced analytical techniques and controlled environmental testing, the research will measure corrosion rates across a range of conditions, improving understanding of how marine iron deteriorates and identifying whether higher humidity levels can be safely maintained without increasing corrosion risk.
The findings will help the SS Great Britain Trust optimise the ship’s climate-control system, reducing energy consumption, carbon emissions and operating costs while ensuring the continued preservation of this internationally significant vessel. The resulting evidence will also benefit museums and heritage organisations caring for marine iron collections worldwide, providing a valuable dataset to support more climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable conservation of historic iron artefacts.