Nottingham gallery faces overspend
Nottingham City Council (NCC) has confirmed that a project to establish a new art gallery in the city centre is to cost £3.25m more than had been previously expected.
Nottingham Contemporary, which is set to be one of the largest contemporary arts centres in the UK, will now cost £19m to complete, compared with an initial estimate of £13.9m. Facilities at the 3,000sq m (32,292sq ft) site will include four large galleries, education rooms, a study and resource centre, a cafe bar and a shop. In addition, the centre of the building with rise to two-storeys incorporating a performance space.
Caruso St John is the architect behind the design of Nottingham Contemporary, which is scheduled to open to the public next year. Funding is being provided by the city council, the Government Office for the East Midlands, Arts Council England (ACE) and the East Midlands Development Agency. ACE's executive director for East Midlands, Laura Dyer, said: "This is a complex site and a high quality building. Costs have increased for a range of reasons and this is not unusual in a project of this scale and complexity.
Corporate director of community and culture at NCC, Michael Williams, said: "Creating such an individual building on such a complex site has been a huge challenge, with the hardest work behind us. "This will be a first-class facility which plays a vital part in boosting Nottingham's position among the UK's major cities and its reputation for contemporary art."