Glasgow City Council has approved £85,000 of funding to complete a master planning exercise for the city’s historic Kelvin Hall.

The council’s executive committee met last week to discuss five different proposals for the future of the hall, which opened in 1927.

The first option involved carrying out £2.5m of improvements, to be carried out over seven years. The second involved £3.5m of work to get the hall ready for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Option three included upgrading the indoor athletics arena so it could be used as a boxing venue in the Games, as well as building a fitness suite, dance studios, five-a-side football pitches, a café and a museum store – at a cost of £15.6m.

The fourth option was a £16.8m plan to build a larger sports complex and museum store, while the final choice was to close the hall.

However, the council has now narrowed the options down to three and four. The latter centres on a strategic partnership with the University of Glasgow and would be based on providing community sports facilities, additional dedicated sports facilities for university use and a shared museum/research facility.

The first option would predominately be funded by the council.

The council’s executive member for Commonwealth Games delivery, Archie Graham, said: “The Kelvin Hall has been an integral part of Glasgow’s civic, sporting and cultural calendar for more than 80 years. It is important that as the facility enters a new stage in its life, we consider the best options for the future of this iconic building.

“Both of these preferred options would provide exciting long-term solutions that would leave a substantial sporting legacy to the city.”