When Kengo Kuma’s concept for the new Victoria and Albert Museum of Design (V&A) in Dundee, Scotland, was unanimously chosen as the winning design in late 2012, the jurors had stated that the proposal has been “subject to exhaustive scrutiny, including having external assessors do a detailed examination of projected costs.” They stated that they “did not have to exclude any of the submissions on grounds of affordability.” It is now reported, a little over two years later, that the original £45million budget has now exceeded £80million in spite of the fact that the building has already been ‘redesigned’ once in order to try to reign in soaring costs.
A report by Dundee Council has said that their preliminary studies into the ballooning costs are down to “the highly complex nature of the building’s structure […], the unprecedented levels of construction inflation [and] the unexpectedly low level of market interest from main contractors which reflected the risk levels associated with such a complicated and unique project.” With the building cost said to be now set at £76million, the remaining £40million is said to be coming from both private and public investors.
The V&A Museum of Design intends to open its doors by June 2018.