Probe demand as cost of V&A museum hits £80m

Dundee’s landmark building is labelled fiasco as price soars £31m over budget

MINISTERS must investigate the spiralling costs of one of Scotland’s most prestigious new buildings, critics say.

The call came after it emerged the landmark V&A museum on Dundee’s waterfront has risen dramatically from £49 million to more than £80m. Leading Scottish architects have described the escalating costs and delays in the project, an ambitious design by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, as a “fiasco”.

Scottish Labour asked how an “SNP-led council and the SNP Government” had allowed the budget of what was hoped to be an iconic museum to spiral so dramatically.

The building, which will show exhibits from the V&A in London as well as a permanent exhibition of the history of Scottish design, is a key part of Dundee’s £1 billion waterfront regeneration project but will open a year late, in 2018.

A new report by the city’s director of development shows that the project, to be built by BAM Construction Ltd, is now costed at £31m above its previously approved budget. The city’s council is in urgent discussions with the Scottish Government, which still backs the plan, over a request for extra funding totalling £22.6m.

The council has only secured £39.9m for the building so far and will now have to ask for further Lottery funds, secure private funds of more than £6m and use £6.5m from council resources to raise the total bill of £80.1m.

The report said that the cost rise was driven by “the highly complex nature of the building’s structure” and “the unprecedented levels of construction inflation impacting on the tender process, which are much higher than any regional inflation indices would suggest”.

It also warns that if building does not start in March this year, “the construction contract will be delayed by at least a further six months with consequent impacts on the museum’s opening date and on inflation to the construction costs.”

Claire Baker, Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Culture, called for the inquiry.

She said: “The people of Dundee need an inquiry into how the SNP-led council and the SNP Government at Holyrood have allowed this to happen.

“Everything must be done by all relevant bodies to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum and timescales kept. Questions must also be asked as to why there has been such a substantial rise in cost and delay to the museum.”

She said the Government must fully commit to the scheme.

Dundee Labour group leader, councillor Kevin Keenan, said: “I want to see a successful project brought to fruition that brings jobs to the people of Dundee.

“I am very, very concerned that the risk still appears to lie with Dundee City Council and the hard-pressed council taxpayers of Dundee.”

Professor Alan Dunlop, one of Scotland’s leading architects, said the situation was a fiasco and laid part of the blame on the organisers of the museum who chose the ambitious Kuma design, which has already been altered significantly.

He said: “It is a fiasco but it is entirely predictable, I am afraid.

“From the start it seemed obvious that the cost would rise. I feel sorry for Charlie Sutherland [Scottish architect shortlisted for the project] but they went for the superstar Japanese architect.

“You have to believe Dundee will have to make it work – it would be a disaster for the city if it does not. But it is a fiasco and it has to be asked whether the costs will go up again. It does not show Scotland or how we handle architectural competitions in a good light.”

Councillor Ken Guild, leader of Dundee City Council, said the project would bring jobs and an estimated £11m boost to the city, and added: “The council and its partners believe that the time is right to press ahead and deliver for Dundee.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government is currently involved in discussions with the project board about how the identified funding shortfall can be addressed.”