Edinburgh’s answer to London’s ‘revolutionary’ V&A Storehouse stalls

Funding shortfall threatens to leave Granton's showcase cultural attraction in limbo

An artist’s impression of how The Art Works would look inside, complete with Roy Lichtenstein’s pop art Masterpiece. Pic: NGS

It is supposed to be Scotland’s answer to London’s newest and coolest museum.

The V&A Storehouse threw open its doors in the unpromising surroundings of a former data centre at the weekend, in Stratford, the rapidly regenerating home of the 2012 London Olympics. Already, the critics are purring, with The Financial Times’ Edwin Heathcote among those blown away by what he describes as a “genuinely radical” attraction.

This is the storage facility as visitor experience, the latest concept in major museum and gallery development, and one that is proving remarkably popular.

Edinburgh has unsurprisingly been an early adopter, with plans for one of the UK’s most exciting new cultural attractions in Granton in development for 10 years.

Building work was supposed to start last year, but is yet to begin. Amid rampant inflation in the UK construction industry in recent years, the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) now says it no longer has sufficient funds in place to press ahead.

The Art Works was originally priced at £75million in 2017. NGS has not updated that figure, but with average UK construction costs having risen by around 40% since then, the final bill may end up being more than £100million.

The Galleries are in talks with the Scottish Government, which has been an early funder of the project, and has approached the UK Government, but as yet further investment has yet to be secured.

Centrepiece of city’s new Cultural Quarter

A free to enter attraction, a short walk from the city’s Waterfront, The Art Works is the centrepiece of Edinburgh’s emerging new cultural quarter.

Crammed with world-class art and exhibits charting the history of the city’s world-famous Festivals, it would provide a secure home for the roughly 120,000 items which the National Galleries currently holds in storage. Most are in a now out-of-date warehouse facility on another site in Granton.