V&A’s spiralling lottery hopes

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is asking for £15 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to build the Libeskind-designed extension, known as “the spiral”. The request is expected to be considered at HLF’s July meeting. Because the building is primarily for showcasing contemporary art and design, there was initially some surprise that the HLF was being approached, although it does assist with “heritage” that can be as recent as 10 years old and some of the displays in the spiral will cover earlier work by contemporary figures. The V&A has also gone to the Arts Council Lottery Fund, and the museum hopes to hear this month whether it will be encouraged to submit a detailed proposal. If so, the Arts Council Lottery Fund can award a maximum of £5 million. The V&A has already secured £31 million from private donors, but even if both Lottery applications are eventually successful, it would still have to raise a further £24 million towards the £75 million project.