The Scottish Government has agreed a £20m bail out for Edinburgh's first new concert hall for more than a century as it emerged that its cost has soared above £160m.
Philanthropist Carol Colburn Grigor, who has been pursuing the project for more than a decade, has agreed to match the additional funding signed off by First Minister John Swinney.
The government is to triple its funding to “secure the future” of the 1000-capacity New Town venue, which will create a new home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, which began looking for a suitable site for the project more than 35 years ago.
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However the venue is expected to showcase a wide variety of music, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and electronica, as well as spoken word events.
The additional funding from the government has allowed a £162 million construction contract with Balfour Beatty to be signed, which was hailed by the SCO as a "landmark moment for music in Scotland."
Ms Grigor’s Dunard Fund is now putting £55m into the complex, which will host Edinburgh International Festival concerts every summer, with more than £100m in private funding now said to be committed to the project.
Construction work on the project - first announced nine years ago, when a 2021 opening was envisaged – will finally get underway within the next few weeks on a gap site behind the Royal Bank of Scotland’s historic headquarters on St Andrew Square, but is not expected to be complete until 2029.
The cost of the project, which has been led by the charitable trust IMPACT Scotland, which the Dunard Fund supports, has soared by £117m since initial plans were approved by the city council in 2019.
By then the Scottish and UK governments had already agreed to commit £10m each, with the city council contributing £5m, as part of a £1.3 billion Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, which was signed in 2018.
The project has been dogged by difficulties and delays over the last six years, including a protracted legal dispute with the developers of the neighbouring St James Quarter, which was only resolved after the concert hall plans went back to the drawing board and were scaled back to reduce its impact on views from a new luxury hotel.
Work to clear former RBS offices at the back of the bank’s historic Dundas House building got underway at the start of 2023.
However the project, which has been designed by award-winning British architect David Chipperfield and Tokyo-based concert hall experts Nagata Acoustics, ran into new trouble before the end of that year when it emerged that the cost of the project had leapt up from £75m to nearly £115m.
Although the site earmarked for the project has been cleared for around 18 months, the start of work had to be put off due to a growing funding gap, soaring construction industry costs and the breakdown of talks with previous main contractor McAlpine.
The fate of the project is understood to have been hanging in the balance before the additional £20m was agreed by the government.
Mr Swinney said: “I greatly welcome the signing of this contract as the next step towards the establishment of an exciting new cultural venue in the heart of Scotland’s capital.
“The Scottish Government is proud to support the Dunard Centre in recognition of its potential to significantly boost Edinburgh’s cultural offering and provide a new home to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
"I am therefore delighted to pledge a further £20m in Scottish Government funding to secure the Dunard Centre's future, subject to our funding conditions being met, which has been very generously matched pound-for-pound by Dr Carol Colburn Grigor.
“This public investment is in addition to the £10m we have already made available, as part of our £300m investment in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.
“The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with IMPACT Scotland and the Dunard Centre as the project progresses.”
Dunard Centre chief executive Jo Buckley said: “This is a huge milestone for the Dunard Centre, and an historic moment for the city, which has looked forward to this new venue for many years.
“With a contract signed, we can now get to work on building Edinburgh’s first new concert hall for more than a century.
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Balfour Beatty, who will lead the construction of this bespoke, world-class building and bring David Chipperfield and Nagata’s visionary design to life.
“We owe so much to the belief and tenacity of many individuals and organisations, whose support from the earliest stages through to today has brought this project to fruition.
“We are particularly grateful for the strong partnership between government and private supporters, who together have shown how public funding can be used as a catalyst for exceptional philanthropic giving — a record, indeed, for Scotland.
“This announcement would not have been possible without the extraordinary additional pledge from Scottish Government, and the match funding it has unlocked, in recognition of the long-lasting impact this project will have on the people of Scotland.
“As a living, breathing community centre with a concert hall at its heart, the benefits of this landmark investment will be felt daily by countless individuals and communities for generations to come.”
The Dunard Centre is predicted to attract an annual audience in excess of 200,000 and support nearly 300 jobs each year. The concert hall is hoped to be worth more than £266m to Edinburgh's economy over its 20 years of operation.
IMPACT Scotland chair Ronnie Bowie said: "Ambitious projects like this really do only come about once in a century and they are driven forwards by the strength of their partnerships.
"Delivering a major infrastructure project of this kind, amidst the global and economic challenges we have seen in recent years, has been no small feat and is a testament to the strength and perseverance of the team."
"Signing this contract with Balfour Beatty is another celebratory step towards making our vision a reality."
SCO chief executive Gavin Reid said: "The signing of the Dunard Centre construction contract is a landmark moment for music in Scotland.
"As the future home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, this world-class venue will enable us to reach new audiences, inspire creativity, and deepen our engagement with communities across Edinburgh and beyond.
"We are immensely grateful to all partners and supporters who have made this vision a reality, and we look forward to sharing the Dunard Centre’s extraordinary possibilities with everyone."
Balfour Beatty managing director Nick Rowan said: "We are proud to be entrusted with delivering what will become a nationally significant cultural venue in the heart of Edinburgh and have worked meticulously to plan every stage of this complex build, from construction logistics in a tightly constrained site, to the precision needed to achieve world-class acoustic performance.
“Our focus now is on safe, efficient and high-quality delivery, working closely with our local supply chain while creating meaningful jobs, apprenticeships and skills opportunities throughout the programme.”
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