'Down payment' of £5m for Dundee V&A

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma will be appointed to lead the V&A design team

The Scottish government has pledged £5m to the V&A Museum planned for Dundee's waterfront.

The cash will enable a design team to be appointed and other fundraising to start, Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop said.

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma will head up the team after winning the competition to design the £45m building, due to be opened in 2014.

The museum will be sited at Craig Harbour on the banks of the River Tay.

The V&A at Dundee is being built in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Local partners in the project include the University of Dundee, the University of Abertay, Dundee City Council and Scottish Enterprise.

'Iconic building'

Announcing the funding at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design - part of Dundee University - the culture minister said: "The V&A at Dundee will be great for the city as well as benefitting the whole of Scotland, acting as a magnet for visitors from all over the world.

"Scotland's strong and vibrant creative industries are a high growth sector which already employ more than 63,000 people and contribute more than £5.2bn to the Scottish economy annually.

"Alongside the city's very successful games sector, the V&A at Dundee presents quite an opportunity to grow Dundee's reputation as a centre for the creative industries sector."

Ms Hyslop said that the Scottish government's pledge provided a "sound funding basis" to which the partnership could add, creating an "iconic building" on the waterfront.

Competition

Professor Pete Downes, Principal of the University of Dundee, said the project would now progress at "full speed" in the year ahead.

He added: "It is particularly fitting that we are here in Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design for this announcement today.

"The college's reputation for excellence is a significant part of what attracted the V&A to Dundee in the first place and contributing to the growth of creative industries is a major part of the university's future strategy."

Mr Kuma beat off competition from five other short-listed companies in November with his vision for the development.

More than 120 firms took part in the competition to design the landmark building.

The Japanese architect said the V&A at Dundee would combine the tradition and heritage of London's Victoria and Albert Museum with new ideas.