Government Cuts Avoid Tate Extension

Government Cuts Avoid Tate Extension

Published on 20-10-2010 by Skyscrapernews.com
Although the British government spending has had plenty of victims and many howls of pain, one project that won't be junked is the new extension for the Tate Modern in London, set to open in 2012.

Early construction work has already begin on the oil drum chambers that are located to the south of the Tate with them having been excavated whilst the gallery has been busy raising funds and as of mid September had secured £101 million.

Work is also being done on the foundations of the existing Bankside power station to shore up the foundations so that it will be able to help carry the additional weight of the planned extension.

The project however has an estimated cost of £215 million, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osbourne has announced that the scheme will go ahead despite the spending reviews. Quite what this means in actual detail has yet to be ascertained but is likely to mean that the British government will cover any shortfall between the fund-raising of the Tate Gallery and the construction costs.

The extension is to be built above the oil drums and will rise 65 metres in height with a central staircase running from top to bottom. It's been designed by Herzog & de Meuron with 26,000 square metres of space and a largely outer brick skin that has been heavily perforated giving it a semi-transparent look from a distance.

Strips of horizontal windows will cut through the angled brick shape giving it a look that somehow combines the Victorian industrial solidity of the former power station with that of a new high-tech building. Comparisons have also been drawn between it and a Jawa sandcrawler in Star Wars.

With the government having now stepped in, it seems that rather than drag on for years with building work and fundraising done piecemeal, the extension could yet be finished in time for that all important event - the 2012 Olympic games.

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