Page 205 - FINAL_Guildhall Media Highlights 2019-2020 Coverage Book

11 March 2020

£288m concert hall will be ‘the Tate Modern for music’

The proposed Centre for Music will operate without public subsidy after the Government decided it
was too expensive.

An artist's interpretation of one of the centre's planned 'education hubs'
A £288m concert hall planned for London will “transform the way music is made, discovered and shared,”
partners behind the project say.

The Government decided in 2016 that the proposed Centre for Music, a 2000-seat auditorium and education
centre, did not “offer value for money for taxpayers and is not affordable” after spending £1.25m. The remaining
£4.25m set aside by Former Chancellor George Osborne for a business case was returned to the Exchequer.

Now the City of London has committed £1.95m to prepare a masterplan and explore a funding model for the
facility, which will be built and run without ongoing public subsidy. A partnership between the city and
stakeholders The Barbican, London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and Guildhall School of Music and Drama says four
floors of commercial office space, a restaurant, venue hire and ticket sales will “create a solid funding base for
the future”.

“We believe the Centre for Music’s potential transformative power for music is equal to that of Tate Modern’s
impact on the London visual arts scene.”

The centre will occupy the current Museum of London site after the museum reopens at Smithfield Market in
2024. Construction will take about four years.

‘Optimistic’ about fundraising

This latest commitment from the City of London brings its funding to date for the centre to nearly £7m. A 2015
feasibility study estimated the project’s cost at £278m but construction cost inflation has pushed the price tag up
by £10m.