Last week it emerged that the expected cost of building the V&A Dundee (above), which is designed by Japanese practice Kengo Kuma & Associates, has risen dramatically from the original approved budget of £49m, with the BBC reporting that preferred contractor BAM Construction has now “agreed a fixed price of £76.16m for the construction of the building”.
This news of another “iconic” cultural project running hugely over budget, as cities try to outdo each other chasing the “Bilbao effect”, prompted Construction Manager to run up a list of its Top 10 Cultural Cost Calamities.
1. Philharmonie de Paris
Another project that was in the headlines last week was the Philharmonie de Paris, as architect Jean Nouvel refused to attend the opening of the building he designed. He told Dezeen: “Today the Philharmonie de Paris opens. Too early. The building is not finished.” Originally scheduled for completion in 2012 the cost of the building has doubled from the original estimate of €170m, with the final estimated cost predicted to be €387m.
2. Colchester First Site
The Rafael Viñoly-designed lottery backed regional art centre in Colchester was originally projected to cost £18m. By the time the building opened in 2008, three years later than planned, main contractor Banner had gone bust and the cost of the building had risen to £28.2m.
3. Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences
Perhaps no cultural project has run over budget more spectacularly than the complex designed by Santiago Calatrava, which includes an aquarium, museums, and an opera house, to turn Valencia into a world class tourist destination. The project was projected to cost €300m. However, this amount has more than tripled with the estimated cost now believed to be €1.1bn.
4. The Public, West Bromwich
Seventeen months [corrected from six months – 21/01/15] into construction of the theatre and art gallery complex in West Bromwich, architect Will Alsop went into receivership, followed soon after by the charity set up to oversee the project also going into administration. The delays caused meant that the project was completed two years late and £12m over budget at £54m.
5. Elbphilharmonie concert hall, Hamburg
This long-delayed concert hall designed by Swiss architect Herzog & de Meuron was originally costed at €204m in a pre-design feasibility study. However, costs rose when construction started in 2007, and contractor Hochtief renegotiated the contract in 2008 for €503m. Costs on the project have continued to soar and by the time the concert hall opens its doors in 2017 the scheme is predicted to have cost €785m.
6. The Curve Theatre, Leicester
Another scheme designed by Rafael Viñoly, the Curve theatre in Leicester was described by the city’s mayor as the “most expensive and disastrous project this city has ever seen in its history”. The initial price tag for the theatre was £26m when the project was unveiled in 2000, with the city contributing £4.4m. However, by the time the first curtain rose in 2008 changes to the design meant the cost had doubled to £61m with the council paying £36.8m.
7. M-Shed museum, Bristol
The retrofit of a 1950s-built transit shed into a Museum of Bristol was initially expected to cost £10m when the project was mooted in 2002. This cost rose to an estimated £19m in 2007 when work by LAB Architecture Studio to design the project began. However, by the time the museum opened, two years late in 2011, the cost had risen to £27m. Although over budget, this figure is still substantially lower than the £72m spent by Liverpool on its city museum.
8. Glasgow Transport Museum
Like the V&A Dundee the Transport Museum in Glasgow was a competition-winning Scottish project, which was also built by BAM Construction. Initially predicted to cost £50.5m, the building designed by Zaha Hadid was finally completed for £74m, with rising material costs and the complexity of the building’s design being blamed for the price hike.
9. Tate Modern Extension?
Could the Herzog & de Meuron-designed extension to Tate Modern be on this list in the near future? In August last year the £215m project was rated “amber-red” in a review by the government’s Major Projects Authority – a designation that means “successful delivery of the project is in doubt, with major risks or issues apparent in a number of key areas”. A spokesperson for Tate Modern at the time indicated that the project would shortly go public on a new cost estimate, but nothing has yet been released.
10. Scott Monument, Edinburgh
Running over budget is not a new phenomenon, with hundreds of historic projects costing more than expected and completing years after they were predicted. For example, the original estimate for building the Scott Monument, completed in 1844, was £10,175 10/. However, the actual cost rose to £16,154 7/11d with the extra money raised by from private donations and a door-to-door collection throughout the city.
