A report by client Dundee City Council sets out how a fixed price tender with BAM was agreed at £76.16m for the main construction works. As we reported in September, BAM was selected for the job on the basis of a £45m contract price.
Dundee City Council’s policy and resources committee will meet on Monday 26th January 26 to discuss the spiralling costs. The committee is being asked to authorise the finalisation of a funding strategy to enable construction to proceed.
Work could still start in March this year, with the main building completed by the end of 2017 and opened to the public before June 2018.
The spiralling costs were attributed to under-estimates in build cost inflation as well as in the cost of construction to the Japanese-designed building, particularly forming and cladding the cast insitu concrete shell.
Dundee City Council leader Ken Guild, convener of policy and resources, remains fully behind the project: “This is a crucial development in the aspirational project to provide Dundee and Scotland with a world-class museum which will help to provide jobs and wider economic benefits. Building the V&A Museum of Design Dundee will help attract further investment into Dundee and we expect to see new hotels, retail housing, office and commercial developments coming to the city. We are already experiencing unprecedented levels of investor interest in Dundee and the city’s ongoing and ambitious regeneration will reach another level when the construction phase begins.
“The council and its partners believe that the time is right to press ahead and deliver for Dundee. We have seen the results of similar projects across Scotland and the world and I want to see those benefits come to our city.”
Further private fundraising is anticipated to secure an additional £6.6million while a further £4.5million is being sought from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Meanwhile, the city council is in discussions with the Scottish government regarding additional funding. So far, an extra £10m has been agreed.
V&A Museum of Design Dundee will be an international centre for design, housed in a new landmark building on Dundee's waterfront. The intention is for it to host exhibitions, celebrate Scotland's design heritage, promote contemporary talent, and encourage design innovation.
V&A Museum of Design Dundee forms part of the V&A's growth plan to take the London-based collections to a wider audience.
V&A Museum of Design Dundee is being delivered by Design Dundee Ltd, a partnership between the Victoria & Albert Museum, Dundee City Council, the Universities of Dundee and Abertay Dundee, and Scottish Enterprise.
The new building has been designed by Japanese architectural practice Kengo Kuma & Associates. It will be Kengo Kuma's first British building and the first design museum to be built in the UK outside of London.
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