Tate Modern’s extension is due to open on 17 June next year. The ten-storey building, on the south side of the existing Turbine Hall, will increase display space by 60%. Designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, the irregularly shaped tower is quite different in style from the original 1961 Bankside power station, which was converted for Tate Modern in 2000.
The final cost of the extension has now risen to £260m, 21% higher than the £215m figure given in 2006. Most of this increase is due to inflation of construction costs and for additional work done on the existing building. The largest funder is the government, which is providing £50m, along with £7m from the Greater London Authority. The remainder is mainly coming from private donors, including the billionaire investor Leonard Blavatnik. The gallery still needs to raise the final £30m.
The Tate initially planned to complete the extension by 2012 for the London Olympics, but this schedule proved overoptimistic, partly because of the fundraising challenge and the complex design of the building. The extension’s increase in Tate Modern’s display space will add to running costs. Tate has therefore asked for an increase in its annual government grant-in-aid, and The Art Newspaper understands that George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, has earmarked a further £6m.
When the new extension opens it will initially be used to display recent acquisitions, although within a few years part of it will house major exhibitions. In 2014-15 the gallery had 5.7 million visitors and this figure is expected to rise to more than six million.
Chris Dercon, the director of Tate Modern, is to oversee the rehang of both the existing building and the new extension. He will then leave in summer 2017 for a new job in Berlin, as head of the Volksbühne theatre. Nicholas Serota, the director of Tate since 1988, who has successfully spearheaded the fundraising, will also preside over next June’s opening. Tate claims the extension will be the UK’s most important new cultural building since the British Library in 1998.
