Building work starts as bosses discuss Tate's Turners
The Tate has over 30,000 pieces of work by JMW Turner in their collection, including 300 paintings, and it is hoped some of them will be exhibited when the gallery opens in spring 2011.
Marketing director John Haywood said: "We’re currently working on the opening exhibition and we’re also in discussion with the Tate on a Turner presence in the gallery."
As 40mph winds whipped the sea into a frenzy, excited crowds watched the Turner Contemporary finally get underway after nearly a decade of waiting this week.
Top brass from KCC and Thanet council were on hand to dig the first turf of the £17.4 million gallery.
School children from Holy Trinity and St John’s held up mirrored letters that spelt out "the sun is God".
but high winds prevented it from going ahead. Waves crashed against the sea walls spraying the car park and the 100-plus people gathered to watch the ceremony.
Thanet council leader Cllr Sandy Ezekiel , said: "I’m very proud that the work has got underway and I think it’s time that those doubters in the opposition celebrate the gallery. This is fantastic news for the Lower High Street and particularly the Old Town. It is an occasion to remember and an event to mark down in history."
The 44-year-old, 248-space, Rendezvous car park is to be turned into a hotel, homes and shops to coincide with the opening of the gallery.
County Hall bosses hope the income will help to pay for the gallery’s estimated £2.3 million annual running costs.
For the next few weeks builders R Durtnell and Sons will be securing the area and moving in the huts they will be based in for the next 30 months. The site has been marked out and channels will be dug for the electricity supply.
Over the Christmas period the site will close down for two weeks and work will resume on January 5.
Kent County Council has spent more than half a million pounds in its legal battle with original Turner design firm Snohetta and Spence.
Litigation with the designers has cost £619,000.
County Hall chiefs are trying to recoup the £6 million spent on the original proposal, including £2.5 million in design fees for the failed project.
The authority has accused the architects of negligence over the ambitious project cancelled in February 2006 when costs spiralled from £30 million to £50 million. A claim for breach of contract against the lead consultant Snohetta has started at court and trial has been listed for June 2009.
The current home of the Turner is the former Marks and Spencer building in Margate High Street. From October 2009 the gallery will be closed down and there will be no further exhibitions until the gallery opens 18 months later.
The long term plan for M&S is under review due to the current economic climate. Original plans involved opening it up through to Cecil Square. The plan for the building now is for it to be used by an alternative occupier when the Turner vacates, but no one has been lined up as yet.
The success or otherwise of a new gallery is certainly not an easy thing to predict.
The Centre for the Visual Arts in Cardiff lasted just 14 months after opening in September 1999 when it became clear that estimates for visitor numbers were overly optimistic.
However, the Tate St Ives opened in 1993 and has attracted so many visitors that a new extension has now been proposed.
The long and winding road to 2008.
• First mooted in 1994 it was not until 1999 that the project was made public.
• In 2001 serious discussion began with regard to a flagship art centre for Kent and in October of that year Norwegian-based firm Snohetta and Spence Associates were named as the designers of the gallery. They were chosen from almost 150 entries, from which six had been short-listed as finalists. The building was scheduled to open in 2004 expecting to attract 159,000 visitors and creating over 100 jobs.
• Planning permission was granted in 203 by Thanet council. Town Hall bosses predicted the gallery could be open by 2006.
• The building's designers called in marine engineers to make sure it would not suffer as a result of battering from wind and waves. A scale model of the building, the pier, the seabed and the coastline was constructed to allow engineers to measure the potential effects of the sea.
• In 2004 professional brand consultants decided to change the name of the building to the Turner Contemporary.
• A six-metre high obelisk was mounted next to Margate's stone pier in January 2005, marking the spot where the art gallery would stand. Director of Turner Contemporary, Victoria Pomeroy said: "I think we'll come up with some innovative ideas on how to use it post its testing."
• Two days later it fell into the sea.
• Come August 2005 building work on the £25 million gallery was due to begin.
• A month later it was announced costs were to rise to £29.5 million.
• In February 2006 plans for the gallery were scrapped after cost projections estimated the budget would nearly double to £50 million.
• By March engineers were conducting exploratory work on the Rendezvous site at Fort Hill to see whether the gallery could be built there.
• At a public meeting in March 2006 KCC promised the people of Margate that the gallery would cost no more than £15 million. An opening date of 2009 was announced.
• In July 2006 designer David Chipperfield was appointed.
• In November 2006 it was announced £7 million of taxpayer’s money had been written off by KCC. £4.3 million was carried forward for the new design.
• June 2007 and David Chipperfield unveils the first designs for the gallery to a shocked crowd at the Winter Gardens. The gallery will now be opened in 2010 and costs have risen to £17.4 million.
• Following near universal criticism David Chipperfield unveiled his redesign at a packed Theatre Royal meeting. Gone was the ugly concrete block replaced with a sleek white finish with huge glass windows. North Thanet MP Roger Gale described the new designs as "Turner Extraordinary."
• In December it was announced that while the gallery was being constructed Turner would have a temporary home in the former Marks and Spencer building in the High Street.
• In February 2008 Thanet council unanimously granted planning permission for the two-storey gallery.
• In July 2008 it was announced John Kampfner would head up the Turner Trustee board. The gallery opening date is now spring 2011.
• In October R Durtnell and Sons, whose 400 years of trading makes them the country’s oldest building firm, was awarded the contract to build the gallery.
• November 25 2008 leader of Thanet council Sandy Ezekiel, KCC leader Paul Carter and Turner Trustee Mike Hill dig their spades into the turf marking the start of building work.
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