Budget hits £337m as Stanton Williams, Asif Khan and Julian Harrap submit plans
The Museum of London’s budget for its new home at West Smithfield has risen to £337m, it has emerged – as Stanton Williams, Asif Khan and Julian Harrap’s proposals for the project were lodged for planning.
Museum bosses revealed the £5m cost hike from last summer’s £332m figure as they announced the development milestone yesterday. They said that the City of London Corporation had recently agreed to up its contribution to the project to £197m.
A statement from the corporation said the funding increase would allow for “extra resource” that revisions to the plans required and would “also cover the expected additional cost due to construction inflation”. It committed the cash after a consultation on the proposals launched last summer.
Stanton Williams is lead architect for the transformation of the historic market buildings at Smithfield near Farringdon station which will host the museum when it relocates from its current Powell & Moya building beside the Barbican.
The practice won the design competition for the project as part of a team including Asif Khan and conservation specialist Julian Harrap in 2016 – beating a shortlist that included BIG, Caruso St John and Sergison Bates.
Even by the time the competition concluded, the budget had already more than doubled from an originally indicated £150m.
The Museum of London said it expected a decision on the project from the City’s planning and transportation committee by the end of the year.
Director Sharon Ament admitted the museum still had “money to raise” for the project, despite the sum committed by the City and a further £70m pledged by mayor of London Sadiq Khan. The museum has already raised a total of £28m but needs a further £42m to deliver the project.
Last week Hawkins Brown and Studio Egret West were announced as the winners of a City of London-led competition to reimagine the Smithfield East and West Market buildings, adjacent to the proposed Museum of London site.
No comments yet