V&A museum brings in more than £10m to Dundee’s economy

500,000 people visit waterfront building in just seven months

The long- awaited V&A Dundee delivered a boost of more than £10 million to the city’s economy in its first seven months, a new report has revealed.

The £80m waterfront museum, designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, opened its doors to the public in September last year.

Dundee City Council committed £15m to the construction costs of the building while the remainder of the costs came from private and charitable sources and government grants.

The £15m share from private and charitable donations was the largest ever philanthropic donation to such a project in Scotland.

A final evaluation report by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which also contributed to the funding of the museum will be considered by Dundee City Council’s policy and resources committee on Monday.

It says the museum gave an estimated £10.3m boost to the economy.

The report states: “The opening marked the culmination of over 11 years of planning to realise the new museum and its contribution to its local community, Dundee’s redevelopment, and our understanding of design heritage and encouraging new creativity.

“Since opening, the museum has welcomed over half a million visitors, exceeding the original estimated.

“Standing at the centre of Dundee’s waterfront transformation, it has been widely recognised for its contribution to the repositioning of the city and a great place to live, visit, study and invest in.”

The report says more than 100,000 people across the globe were part of the museum’s pre-opening programme.

It says 96,000 people purchased tickets to see the Ocean Liners exhibition, while 380,000 had visited the Scottish Design Galleries.

In total, more than 500,000 people visited the museum by the end of March.

Under its key findings, the report praises Dundee City Council’s leadership of the project, stating its “ongoing commitment” had made it a success. But it notes the original £45m price tag for the building had underestimated how much it would cost to realise Kengo Kuma’s vision.

Picture: Kris Miller. V&A Dundee was part-funded by Dundee City Council and charitable donations.

Picture: Kris Miller. V&A Dundee designer Kengo Kuma outside the building after seeing his vision come to life.