APPENDIX 15
Memorandum submitted by Tate Modern
This memorandum has been prepared in response
to a request from the Select Committee on Culture Media and Sport
and follows the suggested framework.
PROJECT OUTLINE
The Tate Gallery of Modern Art (now known as
"Tate Modern") was a £134.5 million project to
create a dedicated gallery of international modern art in London.
The project involved the transformation of the 8.5 acre site of
the redundant Bankside Power Station on the south bank of the
River Thames, opposite St Paul's Cathedral.
The project was realised by the Tate Gallery
who were the recipient of a £50 million grant award from
the Millennium Commission. The Tate Gallery is a non-departmental
public body, receiving grant-in-aid from the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport.
Tate Modern tells the story of modern art from
1900 to the present day, through the display of the Tate Gallery's
collection and the presentation of a programme of exhibitions,
projects, and educational activities to the general public. It
celebrates both the best of Twentieth Century and contemporary
art thus giving insight both into Twenty First Century society
and thinking and our immediate past.
In addition to three floors of gallery space,
the facility also offers three cafes and three shops, education
workshops, an auditorium and various workshops, and sits in landscaped
grounds on the bank of the River Thames.
As a visitor attraction, Tate Modern is projected
to attract in excess of two million visitors from around the world.
In its first two weeks of opening it is averaging attendance of
over 25,000 per day (if sustained this would lead to annual attendance
in the region of 9 million). It has also acted as a catalyst in
re-defining and re-shaping the area of Bankside, which falls in
the London Borough of Southwark, a local authority with some of
the highest levels of social deprivation in the UK.
THE ROLE
OF THE
MILLENNIUM COMMISSION
The Millennium Commission made its in principle
offer of funding to the Tate Gallery in October 1995, as one of
the Commission's first round of funding decisions. There then
followed an interim period during which we entered into negotiations
on the grant agreement documentation and fulfilled the conditions
of grant.
The first release of funding took place in 1996.
Grants were then made by the Commission on the basis of an agreed
cash flow and expenditure projection, regular monitoring of progress
against plan, fulfilment of Commission conditions, and meeting
of milestones.
Throughout this process a monthly financial
review meeting and site walkabout was held, attended by Tate and
Commission officers. This was the forum for resolving any outstanding
issues and reviewing the documentation described above. This was
backed up by monthly meetings between our Project Accountant and
the Commission monitor to go through the financial details. The
Commission and their monitor also attended our own monthly building
review meeting with our professional team (as observers) and received
the accompanying monthly report from our construction managers.
In addition, we had meetings with the Director of Projects at
the Commission to review overall progress, particularly in relation
to fund-raising.
Throughout this process the Commission and their
monitors clearly operated their own processes and procedures to
match the interface with ourselves. We would observe that the
officers and monitors that we dealt with were familiar with the
construction industry and with development projects. This was
of direct benefit in discussing issues relating to the project
and our proposals for any problems we encountered. We found our
dealings with the Commission to be business-like and professional
at all levels.
PROJECT BUDGET
The initial project budget submitted to the
Millennium Commission was at Quarter 1 1995 prices (ie £106
million). Once inflation was subsequently added into the budget
(in October 1995) the project budget was set at £130 million.
This remained the budget for the Millennium Commission project
scope through to completion. However, an additional level of galleries
was added to the project scope in 1999. This was funded by the
Arts Council of England Lottery Scheme and brought the overall
budget to £134.2 million. In March 2000 the Tate Gallery
Trustees agreed to increase the project budget to £134.5
million to enable the project to add a light cap to the top of
the chimney prior to opening. The project has been realised within
budget.
PROJECT TIMETABLE
The project began in 1994 with a scheduled opening
in May 2000. The detailed construction programme changed during
the duration for the project. However the opening took place as
planned on May 12 2000.
LONG-TERM
VIABILITY
Tate Modern's long-term viability is dependent
upon a range of revenue sources including an agreed government
subvention, ticket sales, sponsorship and donations and retail
and catering activity. The gallery's operating model projects
break even on estimated visitor levels of between 2.6 and 2.9
million. (See project outline for early attendance figures).
May 2000
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