Nine institutions across London have major building projects, totalling more than £500m. They include the UK’s two most ambitious museum extensions, both of which have reached their full height. At Tate Modern the central core of its extension was completed in March and topped out. Its opening is scheduled for 2016. The building housing the British Museum’s (BM) World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre was topped out in February. It is due to open in March 2014.
With government grants falling, it might seem foolish to embark on expansion projects, but the BM and Tate are confident, for different reasons, that any increased running costs will not be a financial burden.
The only public area at the BM’s new centre that will require additional warding staff is the temporary exhibition gallery. Most of the building will be for back-of-house operations, which will be much more efficiently run with modern facilities. “There will be minimal increases in running costs, but these will be offset by efficiencies and income generation from the new building,” says a spokeswoman.
Tate Modern will have three floors of galleries, which will need guards, but the extension will also have a shop, cafes and a restaurant. According to a statement from the Tate, the extension will bring in an extra one million visitors a year and thus greater revenue from catering, shops and exhibition tickets. There is, however, still a risk that both extensions could prove a challenge for the museums to run in the long term.
In sheer size, the projects are similar: the BM’s extension is 18,000 sq. m, slightly larger than Tate Modern’s which measures 16,000 sq. m. However, this figure does not include the additional 4,800 sq. m added by the underground Tanks which opened last summer.
Although both have temporary exhibition galleries, the two projects, despite their similar size, fulfil different needs. They also differ architecturally: the BM’s extension is discreet, hidden away in a corner of the site with a low-key façade while the Tate Modern’s extension is a bold, high-rise addition to the former power station. In terms of cost, Tate Modern’s £215m project, which includes the Tanks, is considerably more expensive than the BM’s at £135m.
British Museum
The BM extension is a large rectangular block, designed by the architects Rogers, Stirk, Harbour and Partners, with an underground addition at one end. There are three basement levels for storage: one for Greek and Roman antiquities and two for the museum’s collection of ethnographic material which is currently housed at a site in Islington, north London. A room on the lowest level will be set aside for human remains. The uppermost basement level is for object handling and scientific laboratories.
The ground floor, which is to be linked to the Great Court and the Wellcome Trust Gallery, will be for temporary exhibitions. A show on the Vikings is due to inaugurate the space. Offices will occupy the floor above the exhibition gallery and conservation studios will take over the entire top floor.
The BM has raised £118m of the £135m it needs for the centre. This includes £42m from the museum’s own resources, £25m from the trusts of Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover and the late Simon Sainsbury, £22.5m from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and £10m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Tate Modern
The Herzog & de Meuron-designed extension for Tate Modern has two main elements: the rectangular galleries and the dramatic tower. The galleries, which abut the Turbine Hall, are on three levels, with the upper one linked to the existing galleries by a bridge high above the hall. The extension’s lower level gallery will normally be used for temporary exhibitions and the upper two for the permanent collection. The adjacent 64.5m-high tower with its sloping façades stands above the Tanks. Its 11 levels house public facilities, including catering and shops plus education spaces.
The Tate has raised £172m of the extension’s £215m cost. This includes £50m from DCMS, £7m from the London Development Agency and £5m from the Wolfson Foundation. The Wolfson donation was announced last month.
Other building projects in the capital
Tate Britain
Refurbishment of south-east quadrant galleries, the entrance and the rotunda, Caruso St John Architects, cost £45m, opening November 2013
Serpentine Sackler
New annex to the Serpentine Gallery, Zaha Hadid Architects, cost undisclosed (with £5m from the Sackler Foundation), opening autumn 2013
Imperial War Museum
Upgrade of galleries and building, Foster and Partners, £35m, summer 2014
Design Museum
Move to converted Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington (right), John Pawson, £80m, opening late 2015
Victoria and Albert Museum
Extension with underground temporary exhibition galleries and new entrance on Exhibition Road, Amanda Levete Architects, £42m, opening spring 2017
Hayward Gallery
Upgrading of interior and back-of-house facilities as part of wider South Bank scheme, Feilden Clegg Bradley, around £120m (entire scheme), possibly open by 2017
Royal Academy of Arts
Development of Burlington Gardens and link to Burlington House, David Chipperfield Architects, £47m, due to be completed in 2018
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'London’s big growth spurt'