LAUSR

ABSTRACT Like many museums and galleries following a prolonged period of austerity, the National Gallery has increased its public, private and corporate activities on an unprecedented scale and embarked on an extensive building programme to develop the site and its heritage-listed building. Together with an expanding loans and exhibitions programme, institutional attention has been drawn towards using the collection and building in ways not done before, both to attract new audiences and to develop new income sources. However, such new and escalating activities have the potential to expose the collection to risks not previously considered and are increasing cumulative exposure to certain environmental factors. A new group, the Preventive Conservation Working Group (PCWG), working at an operational level, has recently been established as a forum for discourse, collaboration and innovation at this time of transformation, and its activities and areas of current focus are presented. The role of this group in safeguarding the collection while helping the institution to respond to the expectations of modern life and the contemporary audience are discussed, as well as some of the other positive benefits resulting from the group's formation.