£4.5m funding boost from Heritage Lottery Fund
27 January 2015
V&A Museum of Design Dundee has today been awarded an additional £4.5m by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) at a meeting of its UK Board. The funding is in addition to the grant of £9.4m (of which £8m was for capital) awarded in January 2014.
Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, welcomed the decision:
“This generous support from the Heritage Lottery Fund represents a significant boost to the new museum. Together with important recent decisions by Scottish Government and Dundee City Council it opens the door to an impending site start. We can now look forward to getting on and building this outstanding new museum, the first in the UK to be dedicated to design outside London.
“The renewed support of our funding and founding partners underlines the momentum and determination driving forward V&A Dundee, which will do so much to change the fortunes of this city. We very much appreciate these commitments and would like to thank to all involved.”
Carole Souter, Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), said:
“V&A Dundee will provide Scotland with a world-class museum of design while making a transformational contribution to the cultural, social and economic regeneration of the city. As a key member of the funding partnership, HLF’s UK Board has agreed to commit an additional £4.5m budget to the project to help cover increased building costs. We can now look forward to seeing this iconic building start to take shape and realising its full potential.”
Dundee City Council administration leader Councillor Ken Guild, said:
“We are delighted to hear of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s decision. We are aiming to construct a world-class building with significant economic benefits for Dundee and for Scotland. This is great news for the city.”
The announcement augments the approval given yesterday by Dundee City Council’s Policy & Resources Committee, to authorise officers to finalise the funding strategy to enable the museum to proceed and to make appropriate allocations in the Council's Capital and Revenue Plans; and to delegate authority to accept the fixed price tender by BAM Construction Ltd.
Discussions are ongoing between the Scottish Government and Dundee City Council regarding joint working on the development of a growth acceleration model (GAM) proposal for Dundee Waterfront, to be submitted to Scottish Government for consideration over the coming months.
Work is programmed to begin on site at the end of March, with the building itself projected to be complete by end 2017. Fit out of the galleries and first exhibitions will follow, leading to an anticipated public opening of the museum by June 2018.
The museum’s first national touring exhibition, Design in Motion, launches in Dundee on Friday 13 February, as part of its pre-opening programme. A collaboration with the Travelling Gallery, the tour will take in over 70 venues the length and breath of the country, including cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen as well as rural locations including Lewis, Harris and Skye. For further information see: vandadundee.org/DesignInMotion
ENDS
For further information please contact Graeme Cleland at the BIG Partnership, 0131 557 5252 or email firstname.secondname@bigpartnership.co.uk
Notes to editors:
About V&A Museum of Design Dundee
• V&A Dundee is being delivered by Design Dundee Ltd, a partnership between the Victoria and Albert Museum – the world’s greatest museum of art and design – and Dundee City Council, the University of Dundee, Abertay University and Scottish Enterprise.
• The Scottish Government has committed £25m in capital towards the project’s £80.11million budget. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a total of £13.9m (of which £12.5m is for capital). Dundee City Council has contributed £6.5m towards the capital cost. Creative Scotland has awarded £5m (of which £4.5m is for capital). The remaining amounts will fund activities in the pre and early opening phase. A GAM proposal is under consideration of which £12.61m will contribute towards the capital cost. A further £15m is also being sought from a fundraising campaign. Substantial progress has already been made towards this goal, with generous pledges and gifts to the value of £8.5m already secured from trust, companies, individuals and other sources.
More information about the Heritage Lottery Fund
• To date, HLF has awarded grants totalling £680m to over 3,500 projects in Scotland.
• In January 2014, HLF awarded the V&A Dundee a grant of £9.4m
• From the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife, we use National Lottery players' money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about. www.hlf.org.uk.
