Alex Salmond outlines vision of city’s future

ALEX Salmond has revealed his vision for the future of Dundee in a wideranging interview with the director of the city’s V&A museum.

V&A Dundee chief Philip Long told the former First Minister that progress for the Kengo Kuma-designed building remains on track for a 2018 opening.

The pledge came in an interview between the pair posted online, during which Mr Salmond outlined his hopes for the city for the next two years.

He said that when driving through Dundee he imagined “oilfield decommissioning work in the docks” while Dundee’s universities and colleges were doing “wonderful digital work in the games industry” with the “magnificent” V&A museum on the seafront.

Mr Salmond, who authorised the V&A project in its earliest stages when he was First Minister, said that this would represent the “new balance of industry and culture in the city of Dundee”.

During the conversation, Mr Long replied: “The picture that you paint is one t h a t ’s just round the corner.

“In 2018 V&A Dundee is getting ready to open. Work is well under way.

“We’ve more work to do clearly to complete such an ambitious project.

“The museum project is really capturing people’s imagination, certainly in the city, regionally and increasingly across the world.

“It’s a city which I believe has a great future … it’s a very exciting place to be at the moment.”

He added: “I think Dundee’s got a great future and V&A Dundee is a great symbol of that, it’s at the forefront of that but there’s a lot going on in the city as well.

“Dundee wants to change its future through design.”